Writing with AI: What Works, What Doesn't and How to Use It

AI can give you words. But it can't give you judgment. This episode is a live recording from Localist Lab, the free monthly marketing event series for small business owners in Birmingham. Janna Stevens, Communications Director at Infomedia, walks a live audience through writing with AI. Janna is a career writer who has spent years honing grammar, voice and style. Janna covers where AI helps and where it falls short. She walks through her favorite uses for AI: drafting structured writing, repurposing content, editing for length, grammar checks, document summarization, research and brainstorming. She is also honest about where AI fails: average output, flattening your brand voice, sameness across the internet, and an iteration loop that often takes longer than just writing it yourself. Then she shares practical tips for getting better AI output: how to write a stronger prompt, how to ask AI to critique instead of create, why you should usually delete the first paragraph, and how to add something real that AI could never know. Whether you’re skeptical of AI writing tools or use them every day, this conversation will sharpen how you think about both. Connect with Janna Stevens Janna Stevens is the Communications Director at Infomedia. She has written copy for dozens of websites and has worked in digital strategy for almost a decade. She is a former teacher and an avid reader. Janna Stevens on LinkedIn :   / jannastevens   Infomedia: https://infomedia.com Mentioned in This Episode NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google.com Pam Darden's SEO for the AI Era talk: https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-e... Luke Richey email marketing episode: https://carrierollwagen.com/podcast-e... Uptick Marketing: https://www.uptickmarketing.com Tempo Websites: https://tempowebsites.com Infomedia Studios: https://infomedia.com/studios Alabama Twisters: https://alabamatwisters.com Listen to The Localist on Spotify & Apple Podcasts https://open.spotify.com/show/01dHWZx... https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Chapters 00:00 Intro 03:40 Janna takes the mic and opens with grievances about AI writing 05:30 The new mental checklist writers face because of AI 06:20 Where AI can help: beating blank page paralysis 07:00 Why AI is good at structured writing like job descriptions and press releases 07:30 Repurposing content across blogs, captions and emails 08:00 Editing and tightening with AI 08:30 Grammar and quality checks 09:00 Document summarization as a favorite use case 09:45 Building AI workflows for industry research 11:00 Brainstorming with AI: subject lines and the 10 options trick 12:00 Where AI falls short: intentionally average output 13:00 Why AI confuses helpfulness with accuracy 14:00 How AI flattens your brand voice 14:30 Rupert the cat: a real example of voice vs. AI 16:00 Why AI does not know your audience the way you do 17:00 Can you just upload your brand guide? Why that is not enough 18:30 The iteration loop: when AI takes longer than writing yourself 19:30 Why everyone sounds the same now 20:00 Garbage in, garbage out: how to write a stronger prompt 22:00 Prompts with personality and emotional context 23:00 The "would I say this" test before publishing AI copy 23:30 Adding something real that AI could never know 24:30 Why you should usually delete the first paragraph 25:00 Don't ask AI what to think 25:30 Critique not create: a better way to use AI 26:30 Final thoughts: judgment is what AI can't give you 27:00 Audience Q&A: can AI summarize a YouTube video? 30:49 Audience Q&A: how do you handle em dashes now that AI uses them? 34:04 Audience Q&A: should you prompt for AEO? 38:46 Audience Q&A: which AI platform should you use? 41:40 Audience Q&A: how important are the words on a website? Thanks to Our Sponsor, Infomedia The Localist is sponsored by Infomedia. They are a Birmingham-based web and digital marketing company. They help small businesses grow online. Contact Infomedia: https://infomedia.com/contact Join Us at Localist Lab Localist Lab is a free event series for small business owners. It meets on the third Thursday of most months at Saturn in Avondale. Free tacos and coffee too. See upcoming events and register: https://infomedia.com/events Subscribe to Carrie's Newsletter Want more small business tips from Carrie? Sign up for her newsletter. Sign up here: https://gmail.us20.list-manage.com/su... Subscribe for more conversations with small business owners and entrepreneurs building strong local communities. #TheLocalist #LocalistLab #WritingWithAI #AIWriting #SmallBusinessMarketing #Birmingham #BirminghamAlabama #SmallBusiness #ContentMarketing #Infomedia #UptickMarketing #BrandVoice #ChatGPT #Claude #AIO #AEO