How do you use generative AI for brainstorming and prewriting?

To use generative AI for brainstorming and prewriting, choose a generative AI tool (e.g., Gemini or ChatGPT), and type a prompt.

In your prompt, provide a brief description of the writing assignment and topic, and ask the tool to generate ideas for body paragraph topics. Place the description of your writing assignment in curly brackets.

Generative AI for brainstorming prompt example

I’m an English Composition student who is brainstorming body paragraph topics for the following assignment: {In an 800-1000 word essay, defend an argument for or against smartphone bans in U.S. public schools}. I would like you to generate a list of the pros and cons of smartphone bans. The list should cover benefits and drawbacks for students, schools, and educators.

After the generative AI tool responds to your prompt, review the list of body paragraph topics, and select the ones that you’d like to research further.

Use keywords from each item on the list as search phrases in an academic database or a search engine (e.g., smartphones and student distractions).

Then, research multiple ideas from the generative AI response in order to choose a main idea (e.g., your main argument) and body paragraph topics that are based on critical thinking.

When you’re in drafting stages of your writing task, QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you avoid errors. QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can also help you create flawless citations for your outside sources.

QuillBot’s free AI Detector can help you ensure that the writing you submit for class assignments is based on your own writing voice and ideas.

How do you use generative AI for brainstorming and prewriting?: AI writing tools

Is ChatGPT safe to use at work?: ChatGPT is safe to use at work when users follow these precautions:

Only access ChatGPT through the official app or website (not from any third-party vendor).

Stay informed about changes to OpenAI’s data and privacy policies.

Avoid sensitive personal information and confidential company data in prompts (e.g., clients’ real names, contact information, or financial records).

Verify facts provided by ChatGPT with credible sources.

Another way to use ChatGPT safely is by using QuillBot’s free AI Detector to ensure that AI-assisted writing hasn’t been plagiarized.
What are AI agents?: AI agents are software programs that can perceive their environment. They can gather data, analyze it, and take action, working autonomously to achieve specific tasks.

A few examples of AI agents are:

Self-guided vehicles

Delivery drones

Virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa

Customer service chatbots

An AI chess opponent

AI agents are one of the many types of AI (generative AI, analytics programs, AI detectors, etc.) and are quite common in modern society given their ability to help humans with everyday tasks.
What are AI hallucinations?: AI hallucinations are errors where AI generates false or nonsensical information. They’re most common in large language models (LLMs), image generators, and other generative AI models.

These hallucinations may appear confident and correct at first, but closer inspection can reveal inaccuracies.

For example, an AI-generated image may look good overall, but details like hands or text may not be accurately generated. Or if you ask AI to provide information and cite sources, it may accurately relay the information, but cite a source where that information doesn’t appear.

Understanding what AI is helps explain why AI hallucinates. AIs are computer programs trained on datasets. Biases, gaps, inaccuracies, and ambiguities in this data can cause hallucinations.
What is AI governance?: AI governance is the frameworks, policies, and practices intended to ensure that AI is developed, deployed, and used in ethical and transparent ways. It is related to AI ethics.

AI governance differs by jurisdiction. If you are studying or working in this field, it’s best to consult with experts in your jurisdiction for more detailed information.

Specific institutions and organizations may also have their own form of AI governance. For example, many universities now have published policies about how students can and cannot use generative AI and how teachers should work with AI detectors.
What is artificial general intelligence?: Before understanding what artificial general intelligence is, you need to understand what AI is in the general sense.

AI refers to computer programs designed to perform tasks requiring human-level intelligence, but usually limited to specific tasks.

For example, QuillBot’s free Paraphraser can rewrite sentences, but it cannot compute numbers or guide a vehicle.

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a theorized AI that can perform any human task, with cognitive abilities and adaptability to apply knowledge across diverse areas.
What is an AI model?: An AI model is a computer program designed to perform specific tasks while mimicking human intelligence.

AI models use algorithms to process input data and make predictions based on this data, and they work in areas like speech recognition, language interpretation, image analysis, or decision-making.

For example, QuillBot’s Grammar Checker is an AI model designed to understand, find, and correct errors in human writing.

This field is developing each day, so understanding what AI is and how it works is more important than ever.
What are the ethics of AI art?: The ethics of AI art address the ethical consequences of generative AI tools that make images and videos. Some of the AI ethics that apply to art include the following

Bias and stereotyping: AI tools might generate images that echo the stereotypes that are represented in the data sets on which they’re trained.

Intellectual property: AI tools for art are often trained with the digital works of human artists without their knowledge or consent.

Deepfakes: AI tools can generate fake images of real humans (e.g., celebrities), which can be used to spread misinformation and harm people’s reputations.

Job displacement: AI-generated art could lead to fewer jobs or business opportunities for human artists.
Can I use ChatGPT for job applications?: Many job seekers use ChatGPT for job applications.

For example, you can include your cover letter along with the job description in a prompt that asks ChatGPT to add keywords that will increase your application’s chances of getting noticed by application scanning software.

However, ChatGPT has potential risks. You can ensure ChatGPT is safe for job applications with these strategies:

To protect your privacy, delete contact information and other personal details from application materials that you include in ChatGPT prompts.

Because recruiters often use AI detectors to check cover letters and resumes, always revise any text that ChatGPT generates in response to your prompts.

Look closely at specialized terms in ChatGPT outputs in case the chatbot misused any terminology.

QuillBot’s free AI Detector can also help you ensure that your application materials reflect your own writing voice.
Is ChatGPT safe to use for school?: ChatGPT is safe to use for school when students follow these precautions:

Stay informed about potential risks such as privacy and ChatGPT plagiarism.

Review and follow your instructor and/or school’s policies about generative AI (e.g., Some schools require students to disclose when they’ve used ChatGPT for assignment help).

Avoid sensitive personal information in prompts (e.g., your name and contact information).

Verify facts provided by ChatGPT with credible sources.

Use ChatGPT for small pieces of an essay (e.g., a hook or thesis statement) or to brainstorm ideas. Don’t prompt ChatGPT to generate entire drafts.

Revise any content that ChatGPT generates to ensure the writing assignments you submit are in your own writing voice.

Another way to use ChatGPT safely is by using QuillBot’s free AI Content Detector to ensure that AI-assisted writing hasn’t been plagiarized.
What do teachers use to detect AI?: Teachers use a mix of strategies and tools to detect AI writing.

One method teachers use to detect AI is manual analysis. Teachers look at grammar, style, tone of voice, and the themes present in writing to see if it feels human.

Teachers also know how AI detectors work and how to use them to analyze writing. AI detectors can check—for example—essay writing to see if the qualities of the essay match human samples or AI samples.

QuillBot’s free AI Content Detector is one of the tools that can help teachers detect AI.
What is the difference between AI and generative AI?: The difference between AI and generative AI is that traditional AI follows specific rules to perform a task, but generative AI creates new content.

The first type of AI included programs that made decisions based on rules (in the same way as a human expert), such as determining a person’s credit score.

A later development, machine learning AI, classifies or predicts outcomes based on patterns. An example of machine learning is Netflix recommendations that are based on your previous viewing habits.

Generative AI tools combine machine learning with natural language processing technology. They learn from underlying patterns and use that information to “decide” what details to include in a paragraph, image, or other output. Examples of generative AI tools that create new content include ChatGPT and Gemini.

Generative AI tools are useful for brainstorming, prewriting, and paraphrasing, but they should never be used for writing entire assignments.

QuillBot’s free AI Detector can help you ensure that the writing you submit for class assignments is based on your own writing voice and ideas.
What are some common AI words?: Some common AI words are:

Tapestry

Crucial

Intricate

Interplay

Elevate

Resonate

Enhance

Offerings

Leverage

Embark

Just because you see one of these words in a text doesn’t mean it was written by AI. But these words are commonly used when AI generates content.

If you’re learning how to detect AI writing, brushing up on common AI words is one way to do that.

You could use QuillBot’s free AI Detector to analyze writing and see if it looks like it was created by AI.
How can I use AI for writing?: There are many opinions about how to use AI for writing, and these may vary based on the industry or subject matter at hand.

For example, AI copywriting may be acceptable, but in academic writing, you should avoid relying completely on AI to generate output. Educators know how to detect AI writing and may use an AI Content Detector.

You can use AI to help you brainstorm research questions or organize an outline. When you use AI in these capacities, check if your institution requires you to include it as a citation.

You can also use AI to check your grammar and spelling after writing. A QuillBot Grammar Check will do just this.
What are the rules on how to cite AI?: There are different rules on how to cite AI depending on your specific context.

You shouldn’t cite AI as a source of factual information. But if you’re studying AI, you may be able to cite it as a primary source. Understand how to cite sources in the style relevant to your industry or project, and then look at how the manual says to cite AI.

If you use AI in other ways (e.g., developing research questions), some institutions require you to cite it. Check your institution’s guidelines.

Educators understand how AI detectors work (like QuillBot’s Free AI Checker) and can detect AI writing, so it’s important to be clear in your citations.
Can AI write code?: Yes, AI can write code. That said, it is still quite limited in the quantity and complexity of code it can write.

AI can be helpful for writing basic code or for helping developers check for errors. But if you want to create an entire program or complex website, AI probably isn’t the best choice.

Keep in mind how AI detectors work: by evaluating how surprising and varied writing is. Since code is a very structured language and doesn’t contain these factors, it’s harder to tell if it was written by AI.

QuillBot’s free AI Detector can help you check if text was written by AI, but may not be good at detecting if code was written by AI due to the reasons above.
Can AI write a book?: Yes, AI can write a book. However, a book written by AI probably wouldn’t be a very good book.

Unlike humans, AI is limited when it comes to creativity (e.g., with figurative language), themes, and tone of voice.

Despite this, AI can be helpful to human authors. For example, AI can suggest writing strategies to put writers in the right mindset.

Many publishers also use AI detectors to check that what they publish is high-quality, human-written work.

If you’d like to see how AI detectors work, you can try QuillBot’s free AI Detector.
How can you check if an image is AI generated?: There are a few ways you can check if an image is AI-generated.

First, review the image for anything that doesn’t look quite right. AI-generated images often have distorted text, patterns, or human features (especially faces and hands).

Second, check for metadata information. Some AI image generators use specific filenames or imprint a watermark on their images.

Third, understand how AI detectors work and how you can use them to analyze the probability that an image was generated by AI.

And if you need help detecting texts generated by AI, QuillBot’s free AI Content Detector is one option.