Meet the tech reporters who use AI to help write and edit their stories

When technology reporter Alex Heath has a scoop, he sits down at his computer and speaks into a microphone. He is not talking to a human colleague—Heath became independent last year on Substack—he talks to Claude. Using AI-powered voice-to-text service Wispr Flow, Heath sends his ideas to an AI agent, then lets it write its first draft.

Heath sat down with me last week to show how he integrated Anthropic’s Claude Cowork in his journalistic process. The AI ​​tool is connected to its Gmail, Google Calendar, Granola AI transcription service, and Notion notes. He also built a detailed skill – a custom set of instructions – to help Claude write in his style, including the “10 commandments” of writing like Alex Heath. The skill includes past articles he’s written, instructions on how he likes his newsletters to be structured, and notes on his voice and writing style.

Claude Cowork then automates the drafting process that used to take place in Heath’s head. After the agent completes his first draft, Heath goes back and forth with it for up to 30 minutes, suggesting revisions. It’s quite an involved process, and he still writes certain parts of the story himself. But Heath says this workflow saves him hours each week, and he now spends 30 to 40 percent less time writing.

“I’ve always hated the zero-to-one process of writing a story… Now, it’s actually kind of fun,” he says. “When I went out on my own, I realized I needed AI to help with the volume.”

Heath is part of a growing contingent of tech reporters using AI to help write and edit their stories. The AI ​​workflow is especially appealing to reporters who have gone independent and lost valuable resources, such as editors and fact-checkers, that usually come with a traditional newsroom. Rather than just prompting ChatGPT to write stories, independent journalists say they’re repurposing these resources with AI.

Their use raises broader questions about the value of human journalists as a whole. If people use AI to write, edit and proofread their stories — what do people bring to the table? A recent one study from Google DeepMind researchers suggest that using AI in a lazy way can make your writing more homogeneous. It is less creative, it has less voice, and it takes a more neutral stance. To use AI well, journalists I spoke to say they need to understand why people pay for their work in the first place. (WIRED’s Policy prohibits the use of AI in writing or editing).

While some writers have built a career on their analysis and prose, Heath sees his value in his ability to get scoops. Claude makes it easier for him to spend more time talking to sources and getting information from his subscribers.

Several long-time journalists have remarked to me that Heath’s workflow feels like a modern version of a long-standing institution: the rewrite desk. In the days before laptops and smartphones, reporters in the field would call stories into a newsroom, where writers behind a desk would quickly weave those reported details into articles they could print for the next day’s paper. This allowed some reporters to spend their days covering events and talking to sources. In a way, Claude is now Heath’s rewriting desk.

“I feel like I’m cheating in a way that feels incredible,” Heath says. “I never did because I loved being a writer. I love reporting, learning new things, having an edge and telling people things that will make them feel smart six months from now.”

Jasmine Sun, who previously worked as a product manager at Substack, recently launched her own newsletter covering AI and Silicon Valley culture. Last week, she published an article in The Atlantic about how post-training makes AI models bad at writing by essentially knocking out their creativity. As a result, Sun never uses AI to write, but she found promise in using Claude as an editor.