Careful, your ChatGPT is showing

Fun fact – I’m a writer and I love ChatGPT. I know what you’re thinking. A writer? AI is going to put you out of a job.

Using it most every day, I reckon that’s a ways away.

But credit where credit is due. It’s pretty darn helpful for research (provided you fact-check it), overcoming writer’s block and, according to ChatGPT, crafting petty comebacks.

Of course, like any tool, it has its limitations. I asked ChatGPT what those limitations might be. It told me it has a limited understanding of niche or evolving fields, as well as an “occasional” bias. And, in case you weren’t aware, ChatGPT has “no hands”. It does, however, seem to have a sense of humour.

There’s no reason why ChatGPT can’t have a place in your writing arsenal. But it should know its place. And so should you.

So if, like me, you consider it a vital member of your team, here are some ways to ensure your usage isn’t sticking out like dog’s balls. Otherwise, this might happen.

Remember, we’re not in America (thankfully)

One of the more benign manifestations of that occasional bias ChatGPT mentions is its US-centric approach to grammar, spelling and punctuation. Created by Open AI, a US-based company, it’s no surprise ChatGPT favours American English spelling.

Meanwhile, here in Australia, our language choices stem from the mother country, Old Blighty. We like our words with extra Us in them, prefer Ss instead of Zs, and we sometimes chuck in a bonus L because one just isn’t enough.

If you’re using ChatGPT to write copy here in Australia, tell it to use British English spelling and punctuation. But be aware that in matters of formatting, ChatGPT has a mind like a sieve, so be prepared to make this request again. And again. And again.

“If I slip back into bad habits, feel free to call me out on it!” says ChatGPT. Best believe I will.

The dreaded em dash

Ah, ChatGPT. Your obsession with em dashes is a dead giveaway you’ve had your grubby mitts on a piece of copy.

What’s an em dash, you ask? It’s a long hyphen that butts up against the words either side of it. Here’s an example: I could write this with a comma or even parentheses, but an em dash—bold, striking, and full of drama—just makes everything feel more important.

So what’s wrong with the em dash? Technically, nothing. But ChatGPT uses it because it comes from the Chicago Manual of Style and aligns with modern American publishing standards.

However, here in Australia, the em dash doesn’t align with modern British publishing standards. Instead, we prefer an en dash. And what the heck is an en dash? It’s not as long as an em dash and it doesn’t bash into nearby words.

Here’s an example from ChatGPT: The en dash – shorter, sleeker, and a firm believer in personal space – refuses to stretch itself thin like its overdramatic cousin, the em dash, who insists on hogging all the attention.

There’s an easy way to hide this glaring indicator of your dirty ChatGPT habit. Ask it to always use British English formatting, en dash included. See previous note.

Title case versus sentence case

Ever since ChatGPT burst onto the scene, there’s been an irritating rise in the use of title case. Title case involves capitalising every word in a heading. This Is What I Mean

It’s a stylistic choice that – you guessed it – is commonly used in the USA. Meanwhile, in countries where British English is the go-to, sentence case is far more common.

Sentence case refers to capping the first word in the heading and being done with it. It’s the preferred style for most journalistic publications. So if you’re writing something for one of them, save the editor (and your diligent PR person) from having to change every capital letter in your headings. They’ll thank you for it.

Brooke Hemphill

Hold the cheese!

ChatGPT’s love of flowery prose, jargon and overwriting is unparalleled. Why, oh, why, ChatGPT?

“My knowledge comes from a vast range of sources – everything from classic literature to marketing copy to academic papers – so I sometimes lean toward wordiness because many of those sources do.”

Unless you want the whole enchilada with an extra serving of queso, try tone of voice prompts like:

Keep it simple

Focus on being clear and factual

Ditch the wank

You left your prompt in the copy

It’s said that to err is human, but to really foul things up, you need a computer, and this clanger is the perfect example. Sure, use ChatGPT to write your EDM copy or figure out how to tackle a tricky question. But be careful when you copy-paste.

Spare a thought for this poor gentleman who, after workshopping appropriate responses with AI, pasted everything in his Bumble message.

Credit: Lewky

The simple fix here is proofreading. Never hit send without running a quick eye across your emails, texts and dating app messages.

In conclusion

For all of ChatGPT’s skills, writing conclusions isn’t one of its strong suits. Its go-to is a paragraph that begins with the words “in conclusion”. C’mon ChatGPT! That’s just lazy writing.

Conclusions of pieces should summarise your argument and somehow call back to the introduction of your piece. If you’re stuck writing a conclusion for a blog post or article, try popping that prompt into ChatGPT.

So, in conclusion

Just kidding. Look, ChatGPT isn’t going anywhere. The people who embrace this shift and get on the tools sooner rather than later will be the ones who find smart and innovative ways to work alongside our future robot overlords.

So use it to tidy up your copy, manage your love life and navigate existential crises. But don’t let it use you. After all, if we let ChatGPT do all the thinking, we’ll lose the ability to do it for ourselves. And then we will all lose our jobs.

Got a tip?

topics ai ChatGPT

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Comments: 1

Liz 3 May 25

This is the exact brief I give my team – plus, remove the Oxford commas!

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