ProWritingAid's approach to responsible AI

Dear Fellow Writer,

With the rise of large language models like ChatGPT, and the accompanying tectonic shift in AI’s capabilities, I understand the enormous concern about how AI could impact creative fields like writing.

I want to be clear—I do not believe AI should ever replace human writers and editors.

Ultimately, the power of writing comes from the power of human stories and emotions. That is not something that a machine can replicate. The unique creativity and voice of a human is irreplaceable.

Artificial intelligence (AI) first came into my life in the late 1990s as part of my psychology degree. We had to build and train a neural network to learn the past tense in English. This was the beginning of my fascination with AI and its potential.

For the past ten years since I founded ProWritingAid, I’ve combined my passion for writing with my passion for technology to help people communicate more effectively. I first built ProWritingAid to help me remember style rules like avoiding passive voice while working on my own novel about my travels in Southeast Asia.

Since then, more than 3 million writers and editors have used our grammar and style checking software to catch errors and suggest improvements.

I’ve even been sent a few books by users who have mentioned ProWritingAid in the acknowledgements.

I believe that technology has an important role to play as a companion to writers. Generating ideas and exploring concepts is often the hardest part of the writing process. Staring at a blank page can feel isolating and stifling. I’ve spent so many hours thumbing through my thesaurus that the pages have torn. I first created ProWritingAid to be my companion and have since been proud of how many others have found it useful.

Stories connect us and help build empathy. They are critical for creating a better future. With the right approach, technology can now help unlock stories that might otherwise go untold.

For over a decade, ProWritingAid has helped millions of writers and editors find inspiration through our technology and free online events for writers. Recently, we have begun adding generative AI features to our product.

None of ProWritingAid’s generative AI features are intended to write for you, but rather to help you find inspiration and share your story. All of our features uphold our privacy promise, to never access your text or use it to train our algorithms.

I am committed to developing technology responsibly, where it can support the creative process, not replace it. My goal is to build empowering features that help more people share their unique stories, perspectives, and knowledge.

The path forward will require open and thoughtful discussion between creators, technologists, and the public. Every feature we create we do so in dialogue with our users to give them a voice and understand their concerns.

I am optimistic we can use technology in a way that enhances human creativity rather than replacing it. The stories only we can tell are more important now than ever. With care, technology can help us tell them.

Sincerely, Chris Banks

Founder, ProWritingAid