I’m not averse to technology, so long as it doesn’t infringe on my privacy or trample my rights. Technology can grow meat from cells, skyrocket us toward extreme longevity, and maybe even help us colonize space. As such, when my friend said, “Hey, Shounenbat, you should check out with AI-driven article writer! You’ll be able to massively cut back on the time you spend writing!” I was eager to try it out.

The software I used was called Article Forge. It has a brief free trial that limits some of the features, so I won’t be able to comment on their bulk article generator. However, it certainly was an interesting experience.

According to their website, Article Forge can write basic articles at the same level a human can. Their examples are fairly impressive, especially compared to some other software I’ve played with. Instead of rewriting existing content, Article Forge apparently writes from scratch. The freelance writer in me was grinning, but the only way to know for certain is to try it.

You start by inserting your keyword, and by ‘keyword’ they actually mean the headline for your article. I had a few weird things pop out before I figured that out.

Anyway, my first article was about how businesses can use Google Analytics, and that article came out very well. It was about on par with the demo articles on the site, in fact. I tried another article about camping in Minnesota and the software spun out another winner.

My only real gripe with it was that it never gives a concluding paragraph, needs fact-checked, and sometimes gets screwed up on grammar and punctuation. However, it wasn't really terrible. Yes, the articles were basic and lacked much personality, but if you just want a basic article that ranks on Google and gives readers enough good information that they don't run away from your webpage, it's fine.

However, it's very dependent upon which topic you want it to write about. The last article I tested was about food in Ancient Greece. The ancient world fascinates me, and I wondered what it would do. I expected a listicle, like I got when I asked it to give me an article about places to camp in Minnesota, but instead, I got this:

Holy repetition, Batman!

Now, I understand that the greater the word count you specify, the more likely it is that the software will start repeating itself, but this article started repeating itself at the second subheading.

I suppose you have to stick to common topics, or the types of things freelancers most often write about to get a decent article.

In Conclusion, I'm Impressed but not Sold

Ultimately, if you have a blog and want some easy content, Article Forge is fine. However, I strongly argue against using it for all your content. It's dry and, depending on the topic, is prone to repetition or going off-topic entirely. It's best to stick to short or medium-length articles, too.

Will I ever use it? Maybe. It looks like it would be great for stopping writer's block and getting me back at my keyboard, and some of its articles aren't too bad. However, I can't imagine it'll be replacing real writers anytime soon.