ChatGPT as an Editor for glamglare

For a while now, we have been editing many of our posts on glamglare using ChatGPT. It is truly a dance. The purpose of a “Song Pick of the Day” post is to entice readers to listen to a new song. The writer’s personality matters only insofar as it reflects their taste in music. The writing itself is not poetry. It has a clear purpose, and using ChatGPT as an editor serves that purpose. It does not mean we churn out more content. It is still one song per day. It also does not mean it is less work. If anything, it is more effort because posts that used to slip through on busy days are now validated by ChatGPT and often require more rework. Elke and I have different workflows, and we are trying different approaches. On my end, I always write the post first, then give it to ChatGPT with the press copy and the lyrics (if I have them). My instructions tell it to be critical and point out what doesn’t work, and it does. It always creates a revised copy. Sometimes it is perfect: exactly what I wanted to say, with a slight correction. But more often, the revised copy contains too many elements inferred from the press release. This is, of course, the dark side lurking. Synthesizing a post directly from the press release and other information is a slippery slope toward AI slop. Even though it is sometimes tempting to let it slip, I make a conscious effort to push back and emphasize my own angle. With ChatGPT in the loop, I can be more audacious in my writing. Unlike a human editor I may need to impress, AI is infinitely patient and does not judge. It is difficult to describe music and interpret lyrics, so feedback helps a lot here.