An important note about how I have used AI for content creation

Part of my role as a communications professional now inevitably involves understanding both the capabilities and limitations of emerging AI tools, and mastering their operation in order to be in a position guide teams or clients on what to do and what to avoid. I have completed training in Content and Fundraising using AI (a first of many that will have to follow) and am exploring this new ecosystem alongside everyone else in our profession.

It is important to use AI for content creation transparently and with full disclosure. Where have I gotten to so far? I have been exploring how to use AI to figure out my own best practices and where it is useful and where it is not. I have been experimenting with tools such as the Acrobat Assistant to summarise and analyse long documents and reports, ChatGPT or Claude to get ideas and research for articles or analyses data, Adobe Firefly for illustrations while dabbling with Canva's automated offerings. I verify every summary (and often detect and remove dubious interpretation or correlations), check every link (and find a few that are non-existent), every citation or quote (and yes, they have been fake from imaginary people) and scrutinise every embellishment. Eventually, I rewrite most of it to match my own tone.

When it comes to photo-realistic imagery – which I haven’t yet used for this website – extra care and diligence is necessary to ensure that depiction is anatomically or scientifically accurate, free from harmful stereotypes, which may or may not be obvious at first glance.  

There are important discussions and reflections to be had on AI tools' carbon footprint in proportion to their value, as well as their new aesthetics. These topics will certainly provide material for future blog posts.