AI Isn’t All or Nothing—Let’s Talk About It

A recent article collected the thoughts of several editors about AI and editing. If you’re an editor or hung out with an editor recently, you won’t be surprised to learn that most editors quoted for the article are strongly against AI. They won’t use it, ever. 

And while these sentiments are not uncommon, I am concerned that editors are resisting the inevitable. Instead, facing the issue with an open mind might allow us to see this technology as an opportunity to expand our offerings and connect with new clients who value the quality that a human editor brings. It’s not an easy conversion, but a necessary one. Let’s talk about it. 

The Conversation We’re Not Having

The problem is that these strongly expressed opinions have become a one-sided conversation. That binary framing leaves little room for the middle ground, where most of us actually operate.

Yes, AI is a threat to our livelihoods and that’s scary. So is a constantly shifting economy. A war that is destabilizing decades of (uneasy) peace. An unstable government. All of these are affecting our ability to make a living.

But this isn’t necessarily new. Our relationship with technology has drastically changed over the last two decades (who remembers booting up their computers in the early 2000s?) and political unease—though more alarming in recent years—is familiar. This isn’t intended to diminish the importance of these threats, but rather, to expand on the conversation. You can feel uneasy about AI and continue adapting to the world around you. It’s how we remain in business.  

Get the Evidence, Then Use It

I’ve lost three major clients in the last two years. None of them were because of AI. One was due to internal politics. One client canceled their text-based content marketing after nearly all of their staff was laid off. One was canceled because, frankly, the project wasn’t working. 

That doesn’t mean you’re not losing clients because of AI. Editor Katharine O’Moore-Klopf shared these articles in a recent conversation, and, as expected, they show a growing reliance on AI for publishing content, specifically science:

• “AI Gives Scientists a Boost, but at the Cost of Too Many Mediocre Papers” 
• “Researchers Who Use Generative AI to Write Papers Are Publishing More” 
• “Far More Authors Use AI to Write Science Papers Than Admit It, Publisher Reports” 

But we shouldn’t be satisfied with guessing that AI is why the work has dried up. All that does is let the fear inside our heads grow bigger. We need to try to talk to those clients who aren’t coming back: Why are they choosing something other than professional editing? What qualities or services might renew their interest in working with a human editor? We need to dig out research for our clients’ industries, like O’Moore-Klopf did. 

Then, that research can be used to counsel those clients who care about quality. We can show them the difference between human editing and AI editing, like the tests Adrienne Montgomerie did. We can show them the evidence that even a whisper of AI will harm their chances of their book being published (hello, Shy Girl) or their journal article not being accepted or their content marketing not finding an audience.

The Clients We Can’t Save

We also need to let go of those clients for whom price is the deciding factor and mediocrity acceptable. Because that’s their choice. If they value price and accept mediocrity as the cost of price, we’re not changing their minds. And, unfortunately, losing clients is a part of the business journey. Yes, a loss to AI has a particular sting, but it is possible to bounce back. 

An editor’s values generally focus on quality. We work to make things better and help the writing achieve its goal. But as Tamsen Webster writes about, if you don’t share values at a deep level with someone, then you’re not going to change their mind about buying your service. They don’t value it and your business is better served focusing on the clients that do.

Where AI Actually Helps

There are positive uses of AI, but that’s not the headline-grabbing part of the conversation. Next month, I’m presenting a webinar for Editors Canada on how you can use AI to help you with business tasks. It’s helped me improve my business, and I’ve heard from neurodivergent editors who have used AI in the same way and how much it’s helped them.

Erin Servais runs a popular course on how to use AI in your editing. It’s not about making it do all the editing for you; you remain in control of the edit. Instead, the course teaches you to use AI as a tool to increase consistency and productivity, the way we use spell-check and macros and programs like PerfectIt and Edifix.

Let’s Talk About AI and Editors

Maybe you don’t want to use AI, and you have your reasons and they’re not changing. That’s your choice, and it’s a perfectly acceptable one.

Maybe you don’t want to use it because you’re scared out of your mind. That’s completely normal. And you’re not alone. Many of us feel threatened and concerned about our livelihoods. 

But let’s have a two-sided conversation. Let’s experiment with these tools, consider how they can support our work (instead of replacing it), and look at the evidence. It’s not as easy as saying a few magic words. Prompting well is work. (For an idea of how much work, check out “I Wrote a Novel Using AI” by Stephen Marche.)

And let’s not let fear overrun us. We know that both emotions and evidence win the day, and with the current state of the world, we’ve got emotions to spare. Let’s focus on the evidence side of things and dig further into why you may not have any work. Look directly at the problem and decide how you will address it. 

All Is Not Rosy, But It’s Not the End Either

The ugly truth is that AI isn’t going away. There are billions, trillions even, of dollars at stake and capitalism won’t let that opportunity go by. Look how embedded it already is in so much of our everyday software. It’s like Wi-Fi and so-called “smart” products, like washing machines, garage door openers, and even toothbrushes. You may not use those smart features, but they’re there. 

And, yes, sadly, I think there will be fewer editing opportunities. More people and companies who were never very enthusiastic about spending money on editing are going to choose AI instead. I wish that were different, but instead I’d like to focus on making the best of it and helping other editors do the same.

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I believe in good writing and what it can do. I believe in what quality editing can do for writing to make it better. Yet I can’t change the value someone holds for price into a value for quality. I can only find clients who share my value for quality.  

Life is hard in so many ways. It’s also short, and I’m not going to waste my time trying to convert someone who values good enough or a low price into someone who values excellence over price. What do I know about their struggles? What do I know about how much their project really needs to be excellent? Who am I to tell them “This is the way”? 

I can try to educate the people I connect with and share why I think professional editing will help their project. However, if they don’t want to be persuaded or if they don’t share my values, then I’d rather let them go and move on to the next thing.

Because there’s always a next thing.