Don’t use AI to write your content. Use it to research your content.

You want to use AI to write content quickly.

But here’s the problem. ChatGPT isn’t great with straight facts. It’s more interested in creating something that looks like a well-researched piece of content, but when you get into the nitty gritty, you’ll find that a lot of the details are incorrect or the descriptions very generic.

ChatGPT might not be a reliable source of information, but ironically it is a fantastic research tool that can save you loads of time creating content. Here’s what you do:

1. Copy and paste all of your research into a document
2. Get ChatGPT to read that research and divide it by subheadings you choose to create an article plan
3. Manually follow the plan, fact-checking along the way, to write an accurate and engaging piece of content, fast

Voila! You’ve saved a lot of research time – now you can focus on writing things up in the kind of compelling way that ChatGPT can’t. To show what this looks like in practice, let’s go through an example step-by-step.

Writing a guide to Chongqing, China

Imagine that you need to produce an article for a travel agency promoting a new destination with a simple, all-in-one guide. To make things more difficult, let’s say the destination is one most UK travellers, and you, the writer, probably aren’t very familiar with: Chongqing, China.

(If you happen to be intimately familiar with Chongqing, I can only apologise! Still, it will serve for this example.)

Step 1: Collating our research

First, let’s start by doing some cursory research on a few key topics which will form our headings later on: Restaurants, Transport, Nightlife, Landmarks, and Outdoor Activities. These might change depending on what we find, but they’re a good start. 

Open a new doc, open Google, and begin. When writing a travel guide, it’s great to see what real people are recommending, so platforms which are full of personal recommendations like Reddit and TikTok can be a great start. Here’s what I searched:

Result!

Now, we can go into some of those Reddit threads, pull out some of the best comments and copy and paste them into a document. Everything below is directly copied from a variety of comments. It’s messy, its got spelling mistakes and frankly it isn’t going to make much sense yet, but that’s where AI will help us later!  

Dazu, if you’re willing to take a day drip outside the city.

Nanshan if you want an awesome night view. There’s also a cable car that some up from Jeifangbei.

Chongqing botanical garden, also on Nanshan.

Jinyun Mountain near BeiBei.

Jeifangbei and ciqikou are pretty popular, Eling park is a stop off the metro and would be nice.

As far as food go, I like the xiao mian which you get get cheaply pretty much everywhere. In Jeifangbei there’s a little speak easy like bar near snackstreet, in the night market, and almost directly across from the snack street there’s a noodle place that’s always packed, though I’ve personally never eaten there. People in CQ love hotpot but I don’t have recommendations for that, though I’ve heard that the hotpot restaurant attached to the hotpot museum is good.

In addition to what was mentioned, you can check out Three Gorges Museum for some local history, go to Laolong Cave for a fun caving adventure, and make time to hike some of the local trails as you can get some nice views of the city. If you can rent a car, visiting the Dazu rock carvings would be worth a trip.

Temples to visit:

Arhat Luohan Temple 罗汉寺 Hongen Temple 鸿恩寺森林公园 Huguang Guild Hall湖广会馆

Ciqikou market is a lot of fun and has a bunch of food/crafts/items to pick up

Old Chongqing’s nice, and as far as touristy stuff, the zoo’s pretty cool (great aviary) and if you can, take a day trip to Fengdu.

Chongqing Central Jiefang Bei (解放碑),Hongya Dong (洪崖洞), City Planning Museum (朝天门规划展览馆), World Trade Center (世贸大厦)

other Art District (杨家坪), Foreigner Street (洋人街), Ge Le Mountain Revolutionary War Sites (沙坪坝)

outside the city Dazu Rock Carvings (大足石刻), White Crane Ridge Underwater Museum(白鹤梁题刻水下博物馆)

Transport There are three monorail lines now going underground, through tunnel and on bridges overlooking the city (sky train), most efficient way to get around. Otherwise the bus system is very efficient. Best of all are the Cable Cars (索道) of course

For nightlife Cici Park (西西公园) electronic & reagge and Nuts Club for live rock or check cqscene

The Yangze river trip is a MUST

If you run out of things to do on a sunny day: Go to the Amusement Park in Nanping on a mountain, and then hop on the Ferris Wheel to overlook Central’s Skyline

But there is more to see like old towns Ciqikou (and there is also a cheap hostel there) & Zhongshan

Outside Chongqing city in the South east around Wulong are tons of caves, the biggest one is public and really amazing the Furong Cave (direct bus from Chongqing or Train to Wulong & minibus from the Wulong Bus station) Landscape in Wulong is amazing, there are many natural wonders like the “Natural Bridges” (sinkhole) & Fairy mountain, breathtaking cliffs, valleys, green rivers. There are many little boatrides you could do there and I wouldn’t mind biking around.

Last not leas the 816 Nuclear Shelter in Furong, the world’s biggest man-made cave. Staff is reluctant to let foreigners in. I will put a longer article on this one online next month.

So now you’ve got a big document full of, in this case, Reddit comments recommending things to do in Chongqing. Here’s where ChatGPT comes in. 

Step 2: Using AI to organise our research into a plan

I pasted all of that information into ChatGPT, prefaced by this prompt:

Using the research (from Reddit comments) that I am putting below, create bullet point lists of things to do in Chongqing, China, under the following headings: Restaurants, Nightlife, Outdoor Activities, Landmarks, and Transport:

This is what ChatGPT gave me:

Certainly! Based on the information from the Reddit comments, here are the suggested activities in Chongqing, China, categorized under different headings:

Restaurants

Try xiao mian, a type of noodle dish, available cheaply throughout the city. Explore the night market in Jeifangbei for a unique dining experience. Visit the hotpot restaurant attached to the hotpot museum for an authentic hotpot experience.

Nightlife

Cici Park (西西公园): Known for electronic and reggae music. Nuts Club: A venue for live rock music. Yangtze River Trip: Highly recommended for a memorable experience.

Outdoor Activities

Nanshan: Offers an awesome night view, with a cable car from Jeifangbei. Chongqing Botanical Garden: Located on Nanshan and provides a scenic outdoor experience. Jinyun Mountain: Near BeiBei, ideal for hiking and enjoying nature. Laolong Cave: Perfect for a caving adventure. Local Trails: Hike some of the local trails for panoramic views of the city. Amusement Park in Nanping: Enjoy a day out, and don’t miss the Ferris Wheel for a skyline view. Wulong (Southeast): Explore caves, including the impressive Furong Cave, and enjoy the breathtaking landscape, natural bridges, cliffs, and valleys.

Landmarks

Jeifangbei and Ciqikou: Popular tourist destinations. Eling Park: A stop off the metro and a beautiful park to visit. Three Gorges Museum: Learn about local history. Dazu Rock Carvings: Worth a day trip if you can rent a car. Old Chongqing: A charming area to explore. Hongya Dong (洪崖洞): A landmark worth visiting.

Temples

Arhat Luohan Temple (罗汉寺) Hongen Temple (鸿恩寺森林公园) Huguang Guild Hall (湖广会馆)

Transport

Monorail Lines: Efficient underground and elevated transportation. Bus System: Very efficient for getting around. Cable Cars (索道): A scenic and unique mode of transportation.

Additional Recommendations

Fengdu: Take a day trip for additional sightseeing. City Planning Museum (朝天门规划展览馆), World Trade Center (世贸大厦): Explore these attractions in Central Jiefang Bei. Art District (杨家坪), Foreigner Street (洋人街), Ge Le Mountain Revolutionary War Sites (沙坪坝): Additional places of interest. Ciqikou Market: A lively market with a variety of food, crafts, and items to explore. Zoo: Visit for a great aviary experience. 816 Nuclear Shelter in Furong: The world’s biggest man-made cave, although access for foreigners might be limited.

Remember to check the local COVID-19 guidelines and any specific regulations in place during your visit. Enjoy your time in Chongqing!

That took five minutes, and there you have it – an easy-to-follow plan for writing your traveller’s guide to Chongqing, China! 

None of the text above is actually going to be used in your article. However, now you can write each section of the guide, individually looking up each of the places mentioned for more details (this is always a good idea to get more specific information and to fact-check our original research, especially with bars and restaurants, which may have closed). 

You might have already noticed that ChatGPT doesn’t get everything right in the plan, so some things need to be shuffled around. A trip down the Yangtze river isn’t my idea of nightlife, for example. Similarly, some of the additional recommendations can be put under existing headings. 

Now, you can write up the text under each heading yourself, using ChatGPT’s plan to help guide you.

Step 3: Writing our content

Below, I’ve written up the “Temples” section, putting each of the temples mentioned into Google and writing a little bit about each based on what I found.

Temples

Built by a famous Buddhist monk Zuyue, Luohan Temple in Chongqing’s Yuzhong district dates back to the Song Dynasty, around 1060 AD. Over 400 breathtaking carved statues of the Buddha can be found within the temple, which has also served as a movie set and is the home of the Buddhist Association of Chongqing to this day.

If you’re looking for something a little closer to nature, Hong’En Temple stands 400 metres above sea level atop a hill in one of the city’s largest parks. This stunning seven-floor pagoda is best seen near sunset, when it stands out as a brightly lit beacon on the city skyline.

The Huguang Guild Hall was built in 1759, under the Qing Dynasty. That might seem recent as Chinese temples go, but it’s part of a far greater legacy. The temple was built in the wake of a series of disasters in the province surrounding Chongqing, which saw people migrate from surrounding areas to help in the rebuilding process. Over a dozen beautiful Guild Halls were built, of which Huguang is the only one still standing. Inside you’ll find individual temples, halls, opera stages and a museum.

Not bad! I’ve gone from having absolutely no idea about any of the temples in Chongqing, to having a simple, accurate write-up of three well-known temples based on first-hand recommendations. Do that for each of the sections above, and you’ve got yourself a full guide.

Naturally, this works for far more than travel guides. Your research might be a whole sustainability report you’re dropping into ChatGPT, so that it can pull out various stats and put them under different headings for you. The main advantage is that you’re saving time trawling through the information yourself, whether that’s in a report or in Google results. ChatGPT can create a roadmap that helps you do the rest of the research very quickly, while writing it up with your own human flare.

Some parting advice 

Check, check and double check. ChatGPT’s plans can be a great guide, but don’t take anything for granted. It’s often wrong or misunderstands the research you’ve given it. Worse, it won’t always correct its mistakes when you point them out. These plans should save you time by pointing you in the right direction for you to do your own research, but never take them at face value.

ChatGPT’s strength isn’t in fleshing things out, even though that might be tempting to boost your word count. Its strength is in organising the information you already give it, and in reducing large blocks of text (like the kind you might dump into a research doc) down to the bare necessities. That process can take a huge amount of time manually.

If you want to use AI to write more quickly, use it to save time organising your research, not writing the final product. Then, you can create your content far faster (and more convincingly) yourself. 

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More help

Want to get in touch about content marketing? Drop me an email at [email protected].