Can AI Writing Tools Unlock Your Creativity?

Written by Coursera Staff • Updated on

AI writing tools can enhance every step of your writing process, from thinking of new ideas, organizing an outline and research, or generating text. Discover what you can do with AI writing tools and 15 options to consider for your work.

[Feature Image] A creative professional uses AI writing tools to help brainstorm ideas before beginning a new project.

AI writing tools are artificial intelligence apps, commonly using generative AI, that can help supplement your creativity and complete tasks within your writing process. While it’s important to discuss ethical issues relevant to AI, such as plagiarism, privacy, and content ownership, thoughtfully and responsibly using AI tools is an effective way to supercharge your creative process, cut out tedious tasks, and organize your research and writing. 

According to a McKinsey report, The State of AI in Early 2024, the use of generative AI in business jumped from a reported 33 percent in 2023 to 65 percent in early 2024 [1]. Additionally, 50 percent of respondents reported using AI in more than one way, 27 reported using AI in more than two ways, 15 percent reported more than three uses for AI, and 8 percent reported using AI for more than four functions in their company [1]. This data supports the idea that generative AI has much to offer organizations. 

Explore how you can use AI writing tools to become a stronger and more productive writer and 15 different apps to help you with your writing process. 

What are AI writing tools?

AI writing tools are artificial intelligence applications that can help you accomplish writing tasks, such as writing an outline, brainstorming ideas, or checking your spelling and grammar. Although some tools use different types of AI, one common kind of AI you’ll use for writing is generative AI, or AI that can create unique and novel text, images, or video that looks similar to human-authored works. 

You can find both free and paid tools to help you write more, in less time, and with insight to help you become a stronger writer. At work or school, AI can function as a writing and research assistant to help you cut out the tedious part of writing and focus on the creativity and insight you can bring to the work. 

While it’s important to carefully check over the work an AI writing tool provides you, you can use artificial intelligence to supplement your writing process and be a more productive writer and researcher. 

What can you do with AI writing tools?

Although you want your writing to be original, you can leverage the power of AI writing tools as an assistant, helping you complete many parts of the writing process, such as writing content or checking your grammar and spelling. Responding to McKinsey’s The State of AI in Early 2024 survey, 16 percent of respondents reported using AI for content support [1]. A few of the tasks you can use AI to help you with include: 

  • Brainstorming ideas

  • Researching or asking questions about the topic

  • Writing short essays or blog posts

  • Creating outlines

  • Exploring different types of writing

  • Simplifying complex topics

  • Summarizing texts

  • Editing and checking for errors

  • Drafting cover letters or resumes

  • Writing emails

  • Creating sample test questions to study

  • Translating from one language to another

You may find an AI tool that can help you with everything on the list or specialized AI tools that help you with one or two specific tasks. Depending on your writing type—academic, marketing, communicating with shareholders, emailing employees—you may find tools that fit your specific purposes. 

Are there any free AI writing tools?

Some AI writing tools, such as Copy.ai and Grammarly, offer a free option with limited capabilities and paid versions with more features. Others, like HubSpot’s free AI content writer, provide robust features without requiring a credit card.

15 AI writing tools 

Many different AI writing tools are available to help you write more, better, and faster. Explore a few options, including what each app offers and what you can do with them. 

Canva Magic Write: Canva offers a generative AI called Magic Write, which can help you create a first draft of your content with a prompt. You can use this generator to analyze the tone of your writing and generate a paragraph or section that fits in with your writing style. 

Grammarly: Grammarly’s AI capabilities include generating full paragraphs and pieces of text, but it can also be a helpful tool while writing to help you choose the right words, use the correct grammar, and find ways to strengthen your writing. 

Jenni AI: Jenni AI is a writing and researching AI tool that can help you organize your research, rephrase quotations, and generate sources for the links you want to cite. This tool also includes resources to help you manage your sources as you conduct your research. 

Paperpal: Paperpal is an academic writing tool that can help you use language relevant to your field and create peripheral writing, such as abstracts, summaries, and highlights. You can also use Paperpal as an AI submission checker to look for mistakes in your manuscript before you submit it for publication. 

Sudowrite: Sudowrite is an AI tool for writing fiction. You can use this tool to organize the outline and beat of a fiction story and generate writing in your style and tone. Sudowrite can also help you write descriptions and manage the pacing of your story. 

Wordtune: You can use Wordtune as an AI writing assistant to help you shorten or expand your text, generate alternative sentences, and improve the tone of your writing. One interesting feature of Wordtune is the ability to fact-check your work against sources available on the internet. 

ChatGPT: ChatGPT is the first-to-market generative AI that introduced the many capabilities of this technology to everyday people. You can use ChatGPT to generate writing or research, brainstorm ideas, and more. Due to ChatGPT’s widespread popularity, you can find many test cases of the technology, from writing academic papers to poetry. 

Claude: Claude is a generative AI writing tool that can also write and generate code and graphics. You can also use this generative AI collaboratively, where multiple users can work on the same document and comment in chat. 

Google Gemini: Gemini is an AI tool you can use for writing and more. You can also use this offering from Google in Google Docs, email, and other Google products. Gemini can understand, analyze, and generate text, audio, and video and perform various other tasks. 

Microsoft Copilot: Copilot is an AI assistant you can speak to in a conversational tone about any topic you can think of. You can use Microsoft Copilot as an AI writing tool or research assistant to learn more about topics, explore new ideas, and create an outline for your project. 

Humata: Humata is an AI writing tool you can train on your own documents. This means that Humata is like a personal assistant who can view, understand, and answer questions about your files. You could use Humata to help you analyze and understand your research on a topic while speaking conversationally about your ideas. 

Buffer: Buffer offers AI writing tools for social media. You can use this tool to create new social media posts, repurpose posts you’ve already shared, develop new ideas for social media content, and find new ways to reach your audience. You can also use Buffer to edit the tone of your posts for a more fun or formal sound. 

Jasper: Jasper is an AI tool that specializes in marketing solutions, such as branded content written in your company’s voice and style. You can generate ideas, create a content schedule, and use tools, like translation services, to make your marketing more accessible to new markets. 

Copy.AI: Copy.AI is a tool you can use for a complete suite of services related to bringing a product or service to market. You can use Copy.AI for content creation, prospecting potential customers, processing inbound leads, marketing personalized to customer accounts, forecasting sales, and more. 

SEOWind: SEOWind is an AI writing tool that you can use for writing that will appear in search engines. SEOWind offers tools like SEO data and keyword analysis to help you create more impactful content. You can also use this tool to write content briefs and to update outdated web content automatically. 

Continue exploring AI tools on Coursera. 

AI writing tools can help you brainstorm ideas, organize an outline, write, improve, and optimize content for search engines or social media, act as a research assistant, and more. If you’d like to explore more ways AI can help you in your career, consider an online course to help connect with resources and learn new skills. For example, the AI For Business Specialization offered by the University of Pennsylvania on Coursera can help you learn about using AI in marketing, human resources, and strategy. 

Article sources

  1. McKinsey. “The State of AI in early 2024, Gen AI adoption spikes and starts to generate value, https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai.” Accessed February 3, 2025. 

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