When I was a kid in the 80s, one of my favorite shows to watch on Saturday afternoons was the PBS home renovation show This Old House. Back then, Bob Vila was the host, and I loved hearing him say, “ Hi! This is Bob Vila, and welcome to This Old House,” and seeing what he was working on that week. 

Saying people thought it was weird that this little Black girl who lived on the South Side of Chicago and had never handled a hammer for more than a few minutes, let alone power tools, loved the show is an understatement, but they let me watch uninterrupted anyway. 

I especially enjoyed watching Bob and his partner, Norm Abram, create dovetail joints to connect two pieces of wood to make cabinets. The most important thing I took away from the show was that a special tool exists for every task in woodworking and that choosing the right one from the start saves you a lot of time and effort. 

When it comes to choosing the right tools, woodworking isn’t that different from content writing. When you have the right tools in your tool belt, you can do your best work and create a product you’re proud of. Now that artificial intelligence is on the scene, the content writer’s tool belt has expanded way beyond Microsoft Word and a good Thesaurus to include AI-powered apps that can help you sharpen your writing, correct your grammar and proofread your work. 

My Take on Using AI-Powered Tools: A Tangent

Not too long ago, I was scrolling through Instagram when I came across a post of a college professor reacting to an article about an undergraduate student who received a failing grade on a paper because they used the AI-powered writing tool Grammarly to correct their grammar and punctuation. When I say my mouth fell completely open, I mean, it really did. It appears the instructor considered using Grammarly equal to plagiarism when it really isn’t.

Let me tell you, friend, there’s a humungous disconnect between how AI is viewed in academia and how it’s viewed in the business world. Professionals, freelancers and entrepreneurs are being praised for using AI tools and, in many instances, encouraged to do so, while students who are preparing to enter the workforce are being penalized. 

Students need to know how to use AI-powered tools to write, or they will be at a major disadvantage when they try to land a job. When used correctly and responsibly, AI tools can increase productivity, streamline processes and shorten the time it takes to write, but they don’t make you a good writer. They do have the potential to make a good writer even better by helping them increase efficiency and clean up their work. 

My Favorite AI Tools for Content Writers

I use several AI-powered tools to help my content writing and content creation process move as smoothly as a well-oiled machine. Without them, it would take longer for me to get things done and even require me to learn more technical skills—and I don’t have the time for that at the moment. 

Here are three free AI-powered tools that I simply adore that I think every content writer should use.

1. Grammarly 

No matter your writing level or ability, Grammarly can help you write stronger sentences and clean up your work. More than a basic spell-check tool, Grammarly can show you where your writing is unclear, help you select the best tone, show you how you can improve your word choices and much more. 

I’m a solid writer, but I know that correct comma placement is my weakness. It’s literally been a challenge since elementary school. Most, if not all, of my work needs to be error-free and proofread before submission, so I rely on Grammarly to check my final drafts, and without fail, it highlights places commas need to go. Grammarly is like that second pair of eyes you need to take a final look at your work to make sure it’s alright. I’ve added the Google Chrome extension, so it also corrects my commas anywhere I type on the Internet. 

2. ChatGPT

ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot that is steadily taking the world by storm, is quickly becoming my go-to for brainstorming and ideation. I type in a half-formed idea and have ChatGPT explore it from different angles and for different audiences. When I finally settle on what I’m going to write, I use it to brainstorm everything from titles to the most effective arguments to make. If I’m in a time crunch, I feed the ideas from the brainstorming back into the app and have it generate outlines or first drafts. I prefer ChatGPT over other AI chatbots for this work because it generates high-quality output on the first try more often than others I’ve tried, saving me time. 

5. Canva 

I’m a writer, but like most in my field, I’ve picked up a few design skills along the way because the content I create almost always needs an image to go with it. Unlike Adobe Photoshop, there’s no steep learning curve. Canva’s drag-and-drop interface is so easy to use anyone can create polished images in minutes. Another thing that I love is that they have hundreds of premade templates you can use for just about any design project if you need inspiration or aren’t happy with how an image you made from scratch came out. From website to blog and social media images, I’ve used Canva for everything you can think of and have never had to hire a graphic designer. 

So, there you have it. These three awesome AI-powered tools help me work more accurately and efficiently and level up my content creation game. If you haven’t tried them already, give them a try to discover if they will work for you too. 

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