Here’s a place where you can see my notes about AI writing. I’ll be updating this in the coming months and eventually hope to include pedagogical takeaways. For now, though, it is mostly observation. — TM, Graduate Writing Coach, USC Annenberg School for Communication

If you’ve never taken a look at what AI writing looks like, here are a few samples. A few notes/caveats:

• This isn’t a systematic review of how AI writing bots work. Everything here is anecdotal. Consider it a layperson’s guide to watching the weather change.
• These samples were written using both Notion AI and ChatGPT. I think ChatGPT is probably a bit more sophisticated. You’ll notice that many of the samples share a very similar structure, regardless of the genre I asked it to write in. You’ll also notice that a lot of the sentence-level language is similar sample to sample. From my experience, ChatGPT is a bit less deterministic than Notion AI in how it writes essays (i.e. each time you query the AI with the same prompt, you get a unique response) but you can find recycled patterns in both.
• The most immediate difference between Notion AI and ChatGPT (at least to me, a rube) is that Notion AI seems to be more oriented towards collaborative writing. Something akin to a learning management software meets Wordpress. That’s probably just the Notion platform, though (I don’t know whether or by how much it predates its AI functionality). It’s also a bit more accessible straight out of the gate (again, I’m a rube). This could mean that your students may try/encounter Notiond AI before ChatGPT, or that if they try AI writing, they might have an easier time navigating Notion AI. One of your students actually put me onto Notion! And this whole resource is made using Notion, so if you like it (regardless of the AI component) check it out.
• My own comments are noted with a blue background. Things in bold are my words/ideas; anything not bolded was used to prompt the AI.
• AI responses are noted with a pink background and italic text.

Generative samples

To make the first five samples, I gave the AI a prompt about using AI to write college papers. Each page shows the result of asking it to write in a different genre (blog, essay, social media post, press release, creative stories). I’ve added some annotations to each with my thoughts on the writing, mostly focusing on what tendencies I notice. The second set of samples will use more detailed prompts in order to hopefully get a more complex product.

Simple prompt, short responses

Sample 1. Blog Post: Using AI to Write College Papers (Notion AI)

Sample 2a. Essay: Using AI to Write College Papers (Notion AI)

Sample 2b. Essay: Using AI to Write College Papers (ChatGPT)

Sample 3. Social Media Post: How AI is revolutionizing the way we write college essays (Notion AI)

Sample 4. Press Release: Artificial Intelligence now writing College Essays (Notion AI)

Sample 5. Creative Story: The AI Writer (Notion AI)

Sample 10. SWOT Analysis: Twitter (ChatGPT)

Sample 12. Email to Professor Requesting an Extension… also blackmail (ChatGPT 4)

Detailed prompt, longer essays

Sample 9. Essay: Themes of Destruction in Daisies, 1966, by dir. Věra Chytilová (ChatGPT)