Once AI finishes writing a long article, what judgments must the author still make personally?

Determine the reader's question before writing

Before starting to write, first articulate in your own words what confuses the reader and what specific help the article provides. For example, tool introductions should answer what tasks readers can accomplish with it, while experience reviews should explain the conditions and trade-offs at the time. If these two questions are not yet clear, generating a long draft usually only increases the material needing organization.

Subsequently, separate already-known answers, areas of uncertainty, and desired supplementary materials into lists, then hand them to AI to help organize the structure. Authors can delete extensions unrelated to core questions or request filling gaps in reasoning. These are editorial choices and do not require presetting specific word counts or platform algorithm preferences.

Distinguish between source material and your own judgment section by section.

When editing, you can apply three types of tags to paragraphs: descriptive content from source materials, the author's judgment based on those materials, and suggested actions for readers to try. Descriptive material should retain its original conditions; judgments must clearly state their basis; and suggestions need to explain their applicable scenarios. If AI adds a seemingly specific experience, number, or test result that is not supported by existing materials, the author should delete it or supplement it with genuine evidence.

Some sentences sound fluent, but the author cannot explain why they hold true. You can rewrite them into expressions you can clearly articulate or temporarily leave them as questions. This process is also a way to verify whether you truly understand the topic. Only when readers disagree does the author have the opportunity to discuss specific points of contention, rather than covering up problems with another paragraph of generated text.

Check what the article actually delivers before publishing

After completing the first draft, temporarily set aside the main body and review only the title, opening, and final suggestions: are they addressing the same issue? Then check which paragraphs in the main body provide necessary facts, examples, or reasoning. If removing a paragraph leaves readers able to understand the conclusion, that paragraph might be merged; if the conclusion relies on certain conditions, place those conditions where readers can easily see them.

Turn the discussion into a checkable task

Take a draft paragraph, mark factual claims, inferences and opinions, find readable sources for the facts, and have the author decide whether to retain the inferences. If AI changes “planned” to “launched”, restore the correct tense. The original drafts and reader experiments were not obtained; this is a proposed editing check.