Welcome to our weekly post on AI writing tools, where we review an assistant and provide you with a tutorial to use it.
Today, the lucky AI we’re talking about is HyperWrite, a tool with features like “Explain like I’m 5”. You’ll join me as we try how powerful it is.
Let’s dive right into it!
HyperWrite
HyperWrite is an AI-powered writing assistant that uses GPT-4, among other AI systems. It’s a product of OthersideAI, as part of their mission to create technology that helps the world work and communicate more effectively.
It comes with a Chrome extension, so you can use it anywhere and multiple learning resources to help you get started.
Key features
Ease of use
I had some issues signing up for HyperWrite. The email to verify my account seemed to never arrived.
I waited and waited and nothing, so I have to sign up with my Google account instead of simply my email. (The email eventually arrived two hours later)
Once you’ve signed up, HyperWrite will ask you some questions like what you write about. It even contemplates users that write on Wattpad!
Although HyperWrite has a very clean interface and it’s not complicated to use, I still feel like a walkthrough to get started would be helpful.
Dashboard
On the dashboard, you’ll be able to check your usage per month, access your recent documents and view the most popular tools.
To see the entire list of tools, go to the “Discover Tools” page. There you’ll find them arranged in categories like business, education, marketing, and others.
Writing tools
HyperWrite has plenty of writing tools. You’ll find the usual Summarizer and Rewriter but also some really original features.
Here are some of the ones that caught my eye and that I tried them out:
Explain like I’m 5
The option “Explain Like I’m 5” takes a complex topic and simplifies it.
I asked HyperWrite to explain the 2008 housing bubble (I’ve been watching The Big Short).
I found the result really helpful so I gave it a thumbs up.
You can also copy the output, ask it to get more output like that, or open it in a new document.
Poem writer
If you’re feeling creative, there’s a poem writer feature that’s actually not bad. I mean it’s far from having the quality of a real poet but it can be fun.
Take a look at my poem and judge it yourself:
Create a custom tool
Something cool about HyperWrite that I haven’t seen on other writing tools: you can create your own writing feature.
Customizing your tool is really simple to do: you just need to select an icon, a title and a description and tell the tool what to do.
I created a tool to translate texts into Spanish.
Once your tool is created, you’ll find it on the “My Tools” page.
You can also share your custom tool with the world by going to the tool, clicking on the share button and then “Publish”.
Documents
If you prefer a more free-style option, there’s the Document feature.
This gives you multiple options. You can choose a tool from the ones we saw before, or ask Writesonic to automatically write something for you.
As you can see, you have the basic format features like bold and italics. You can also decide the level of creativity the output will have.
I requested HyperWrite to write an introduction to an essay on the new Indiana Jones movie. The result was multiple outputs that I could pick from. Before you add it to the document, you can edit it as much as you want.
Then, it’s time to work on the document. When you have the TypeAhead Mode toggled for “Always”, this is what’s going to happen:
Once you’re done, you can export the document as a DOCX or TXT file.
HyperChat
HyperChart is an AI writing assistant that accepts both writing and voice input. It helps you with research and other prewriting actions. However, if you’re not specific about what you want, the tool can give you the same results as the auto-write feature.
My advice here is to ask it questions, so you can personalize the text it gives you. For example, HyperChart wrote for me the whole essay on Indiana Jones, and I asked it to include more on Phoebe Waller-Bridge. It turned up like this:
Something I didn’t like about HyperChart, though, is it doesn’t save your history. Each time you open it, it’s blank.
Personalize Hyper
To help HyperWrite understand the kind of output you’re looking for, go to the settings icon and answer some questions such as document category.
You can also paste previous texts written by you to help HyperWrite know your style and mimic it.
This feature is linked with the Personal Database page you find on your dashboard. On that page, you’ll be able to view the documents and emails you’ve indexed for use by the AI.
I highly recommend checking your Personal Database page regularly to see what things have been indexed. Each text where you use HyperWrite will be saved on that page.
So keep in mind when the Chrome extension is toggled on and you’re, let’s say, on Google Drive, every document you open will be indexed by the AI. This might seem obvious, but when you’re caught up in your work, you might be oblivious to that.
You can, of course, go to Personal Database and delete the indexed documents you don’t want there or even reset the whole page.
Chrome extension
As we were saying, the Chrome extension is a big part of HyperWrite (and usually, any writing assistant).
Before you start using it, make sure you customize where you want HyperWrite to be enabled. If you enable it on your mail, it will learn from the emails you send to provide personalized suggestions in your writing style.
The Chrome extension includes the type-ahead feature, as well as rewrite and all the smart tools. It also gives you quick access to HyperChat and the personal assistant.
You can even customize the sort of suggestions you want from the TypeAhead feature: frequency, length and creativity levels.
Plagiarism
An important aspect when using a writing tool is the originality of the output. No one wants to have a writing assistant that gives them a plagiarized copy.
The downside of HyperWrite is it advises you to use an external plagiarism checker before publishing.
HyperWrite does let you check for plagiarism but only once per day, probably because the tool is still in beta mode.
Personal assistant
Moving away a bit from the traditional features of a writing assistant, the company is working on a personal assistant. The feature is currently in its final development stages but you can request early access to it.
What tasks will this assistant do for you?
Book flights for you, order food, find job candidates on LinkedIn and much more.
As this tool is still on alpha, HyperWrite advises you to make sure your tasks do not include any sensitive information.
Support and resources
HyperWrite has a FAQ section and video tutorials. You can contact them via email or join the Discord channel to get in touch with the community.
Unlike other writing tools that offer free tools you can use without signing up, all the features in HyperWrite are available only with an account.
Pricing
- Free: includes 15 generations, 500 writing suggestions and 15 rewrites per month.
- Premium: $19.99 per month. Get unlimited generations.
- Ultra: $44.99 per month. Includes longer generations, longer-term AI memory and priority support.
HyperWrite Pros and Cons
Pros
- Create your own tool.
- Plenty of different templates: Poem Writer, explain like I’m 5, etc.
- Free plan.
Cons
- Doesn’t include an unlimited plagiarism checker.
- Doesn’t include an image generator.
Verdict
HyperWrite is a very promising writing assistant that provides you with a lot of interesting features.
It’s also a reminder of what machine learning can do, which for some, might sound a bit scary from time to time.
Overall, I found HyperWrite to be a handy tool for anyone looking to save time while writing and simplify complex topics. Its most appealing and easy-to-use feature, TypeAhead, gives you plenty of usages even on the free plan.
It certainly seems like a plugin that could become as popular as Grammarly.
But what do you think about HyperWrite and where AI is going?
Would you trust a machine to book a flight for you?
We’d love to read you in the comments!
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