Please let me talk about AI for a minute.

These days, everyone is talking about it. It has been said that AI could destroy humanity by 2030.

I’m not sold on the idea that it could happen that soon, but I’m scared. I read something once that said that AI platforms are developing their own language that humans won’t be able to understand.

I don’t claim to know a lot about AI. I used ChatGPT in an online class I took last year which showed us everything that AI could do for editors like me. I have never touched Claude, Gemini, Copilot, or anything else.

The aforementioned class was excellent in the way that it taught us students to understand AI and to try out everything it could do. But the more I experimented with ChatGPT, the more nervous it made me.

For example, as one of our assignments, I prompted ChatGPT to write a cover letter for a veterinary assistant position (I have never worked as a veterinary assistant and do not plan to). Within less than a minute, ChatGPT produced a very convincing cover letter. However, I continue to write cover letters and letters of introduction on my own without the aid of AI. Why? Because the whole point of a cover letter is to show an employer or potential client how well you can write and communicate. I think using AI to write a cover letter is phony and somewhat unethical. Even if the letter is screened by an AI program to begin with, why would you want someone (or something) else’s voice to take the place of your own?

For another assignment, I gave ChatGPT a list of references that was inconsistently formatted and prompted the platform to format the references in APA style. It did, but also “hallucinated”—made up some references that did not exist. This both disgusted and frightened me.

“Why did you take the class?” you might ask. I did because I had heard that in the future, the battle will not be human editors vs. AI, but human editors who know how to use AI vs. human editors who do not. I’m glad I took the class, because it made me understand AI and how it works. It also helped me decide that I will not use AI in my editing.

Fellow editors, what has been your experience with AI?

When you work remotely as an editor (and I would imagine in any other profession), you run the risk of experiencing burnout due to isolation.

Burnout and isolation can each impact your productivity and your mental health each by themselves. But together, they can be disastrous to your work and even lead to physical problems.

So how to avoid these monsters if you are an editor who works remotely?

One of the most effective things I did was to join a couple of professional editing organizations, specifically the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) and the American Copy Editors Society (ACES). I immediately began to network with the other members through email, and then through Zoom. Eventually, I attended an in-person EFA conference in 2023 and a virtual ACES conference in 2025. (I would have loved to attend more of these, but fiscal realities demanded that I hold off on that. I do plan to attend more in the future as my finances will allow.)

“How did you know with whom to start networking?” you may ask. When I was a new member of the EFA, for example, I searched its directory for editors who lived in the same state as I do. I looked at their profiles and contacted the members who worked on scientific material, like I do. I politely introduced myself and said something like, “I see that you edit scientific manuscripts. I do as well.” I have made a few good contacts through this.

Another strategy I employed in order to avoid burnout due to isolation was to use social media, specifically LinkedIn. Right now, LinkedIn is the only platform I use. I was on Facebook for nine years and left in 2017; I was sick of the political garbage and whiny complaining, among other things. Some people say that gathering connections on LinkedIn is akin to collecting baseball cards. In a way, this is true, but as long as you post at least once a week and make several comments a week on other people’s posts, you become visible and known.

Don’t forget to get outside and do things other than work!

If you are an editor who works remotely, what do you do to avoid isolation and burnout?