81: A Chat About ChatGPT with Jane Rosenzweig, Director of the Harvard Writing Center

Before I introduce today’s guest, I’d like to make a special announcement about this podcast: Write With Impact is now 8 years young!  

Thank you to all of my guests who have shared their wisdom and experience so generously. I couldn’t have done this without you. And thank you to my listeners from around the world who have taken the time listen to one or more of the 80 episodes I’ve produced since April 2015.

As you may know, since 2021 I’ve been conducting these interviews on video. So if you would like to watch these episodes head over to Write With Impact Academy, my learning community for writers hosted on Substack. Just go to writewithimpact.academy. You can also watch my interviews on my YouTube channel. Just search for Write With Impact.

Okay, let’s dive into today’s episode.

Since the roll-out in December of the powerful new AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, I’ve been trying to sort out what this new technology means for professional writers and editors like myself.

One writer who has been thinking through the impact of ChatGPT is Jane Rosenzweig. Jane is the Director of the Writing Center at Harvard University, where she’s been teaching undergraduate and graduate students how to improve their writing for nearly 23 years.

Jane has been sharing her initial impressions of ChatGPT on her Substack, Writing Hacks, published opeds in the Boston Globe, and even shared her thoughts in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, the nationally-broadcast TV program.

I first spoke with Jane when she joined my podcast a year and a half ago to talk about her advice for writers. So I invited her back to help me parse through the implications of this new technology.

She covers a lot of ground in our conversation. She examines how ChatGPT might impact t learn the process of discovering and articulating their own ideas and interests through writing, to how the use of ChatGPT to generate blog posts and even novels could potentially sever the human link between author and reader.

Jane also shared some practical writing advice drawing on her experience teaching at Harvard, as well as her work with corporate clients.

She talks about cutting repetitive language, removing words that weaken the impact of your message, being more selective about when you should use active versus passive verbs, eliminating what she calls “fake transitions,” and writing shorter and more impactful sentences.

There’s a lot in here, and I strongly encourage you to listen through to the end.

To watch a video of the complete conversation with Jane, head over to Write With Impact Academy, my learning community for writers, hosted on Substack. Just go to writewithimpact.academy, enter you email address, and you’re in. It’s free.

And be sure to check out Writing Hacks, Jane’s excellent Substack about writing. You can find her at writinghacks.substack.com.