Use an AI Editor to Write Better Technical Blog Posts

Let me cut to the chase. We all hear it all the time: AI is going to change everything. And also: everyone hates AI slop. For me, using an AI editor significantly improves my writing and helps avoid AI slop.

So where does AI fit into creating useful technical blog posts that your users, customers, and partners find valuable? What I’ve found is, right now, using AI as an editor to help you write better is the way to go. For style, content, and to make sure your voice matches your other posts.

I’ve been at this engineering blogging thing for a while. 843 (wait, 844 when this goes out) posts here on the PADT blog, and 130 and counting freelance articles for other sites over the past decade or so. That is a lot of boiling things down into something that search engines will find and that people will read and find value in. And, although I’ve gotten better over the years with structure, saying more with less, and grammar (thank you Grammarly), I’ve not really changed my process much in those years. That was until I asked Gemini or Claude to be my editor.

Before we get into how it makes the process and the output better, and then how I use an AI editor, I want to make two things very clear. The first is that I never use AI to write a single word. I avoid using AI to write because it is never exactly right, search engines and AI tools avoid anything that looks like AI-generated content, and I also know if I go down that road, I’ll get lazy and lose my skills. (If you are interested in this topic for general writing, check out my Substack where I used AI to write one of my weekly essays. It was an eye-opener.)

The second thing I want to clarify is that when I say “AI editor,” I mean the role of editor, not the software. I’m not advocating replacing a human editor if you have one, but I think you should make their job easier with AI first. Or if you don’t have one, then an AI editor can be great.

How an AI Editor Helps You Publish Better Technical Blogs

So, why use an AI editor? For the same reason you would use a human one. You may think you nailed the piece, that you got all the typos, and that your messaging is clear. Maybe some of that. But probably not as well as you can do with an editor.

An AI editor doesn’t just read your drafts. If you use it right, it reads all or at least some typical posts on your blog, and it goes out and reads other blog posts on the same or a similar topic. It combines all of that information with all of its training on writing to make sure your post gets to the next level.

Here are the five things I find useful when I spin up my best chatbot buddy to review a blog post:

1. Find those typos and grammar mistakes.
2. Make sure you didn’t leave out anything that other articles on the same or a similar topic cover.
3. Check for confusing sentences, passive voice, repeated words, and concepts.
4. Check that the content and structure make sense for the article’s purpose.
5. Look for consistent style and voice across your blog.

There are many other advantages to using an AI editor, including optimizing SEO, finding supporting citations, and helping out with research.

How I Use an AI Editor for My Technical Blog Posts

When I first tried out an AI editor, I just pasted my post in. I think it was Google Gemini. I read it. The bot told me how wonderful it was. Then it rewrote it for me. That is not what I wanted. Over time, I’ve developed the following steps to get fast and useful feedback for my posts:

1. Ask the session to research my topic. I may or may not use what it finds in my article. The point is for it to get familiar with the topic.
2. Tell it that I am writing an article for my blog on the topic, then tell it:
   • Do not write content or suggest an outline.
   • I want you to be an editor. Pretend you are a picky and not-so-friendly editor. Do not be kind and do not flatter me. Do not encourage me. Sometimes I give it more personality.
   • Here is a link to my blog.
3. Then paste in my draft and ask it to check for typos, grammar, and spelling errors.
   • You can also provide a link to the draft, as long as the chat session can read it. But I find that caches make this not work so well, so I just copy and paste the text.
4. Iterate on these issues until I resolve them all.
   • Sometimes I don’t agree with the AI editor, so I tell it to ignore that issue.
5. Next, I ask it to check the latest draft for any missing information based on what others have written.
   • What you do with this is a judgment call. You may be fine with skipping some stuff. Or the AI editor may point out something you need but missed. This has been one of the most valuable things my AI editor does.
6. I ask it to look at the structure and style.
   • Sometimes I have to tell my AI editor to check the rhetorical style, or tell me if it is good as a tutorial. Is it laid out properly for the type of article it is?
   • This is also where I’ll ask it to make sure it is consistent with the rest of the blog.
7. Finally, I have it double-check everything. I may have introduced new issues that need fixing.

Writing is Personal, Even Technical Blog Writing, So Your AI Editor Should Be Too

The above is what works for me. I know others use their AI editor completely differently, even suggesting how to reword things. Because writing varies so much from person to person, how you use AI with your writing should do the same. Experiment with different tools and different processes. Don’t just be creative with your writing, be creative with your AI editor.

And don’t forget, you are still the human in the loop. Your name is the name on the byline. Your AI editor can only make suggestions. You have to decide which ones to listen to and where to go off on your own.

Best of all, when you disagree with your AI editor, you can just tell it to shut up. Or even better, you can just close the window on it.