ShortlyAI is a tool that uses AI to beat writer’s block. Yes! You thought that machines would take all the jobs except for the creative ones but it turns out they can also do this. But, for now, Artificial Intelligence uses its power and intelligence to assist you and help you put into words your ideas, not to take your job away.
In fact, we always talk about the importance of automating tasks to be more efficient and make the best of your time. And what better tool to do that than AI? If you are interested in learning more about the fascinating world of artificial intelligence and the debates around its creativity, I suggest you go to the HashDork blog and check out its stuff.
But let’s go back to what gathers us today: ShortlyAI.
What is ShortlyAI?
ShortlyAI is a website that offers the services of an AI writing partner to help you write blog posts or even stories. In that way, with just the click of the button “Write for me”, this artificial intelligence will continue writing for you.
Shortly has had many people excited since it came out last year because of its efficiency in self-editing without any mental gymnastics involved. This assistant has become so popular that, a few months ago, was acquired by Conversion.ai (also knows by the name of its AI, Jarvis) another software that helps you create content. The age of artificial intelligence has arrived.
Who is it for?
ShortlyAI is a great solution for those who are tired of searching endlessly or for those who don’t know where to start because Shortly already has the intro ready! You can turn to it when you need a creative brainstorming partner, or when you want to expand and develop a thought.
All you have to do is type your idea and Shortly will take care of the rest. And if the text isn’t what you were looking for, simply change it until it suits your needs.
Here’s how it does it:
How ShortlyAI works?
First, you start writing (obviously). When you feel stuck or feel like your good friend (aka the AI) needs to intervene, you click the “Write for me” button. That’s when the AI will look at everything you wrote in that doc (title included) and use that information to write the next sentence or paragraph for you.
You can also use slash commands such as “rewrite”, “shorten”, “expand” and “instruct”. This last one is the most powerful of them all. According to ShortlyAI, the instruction can range “from asking your AI to write about a new character showing up in your story or asking your AI to write ad copy for you”.
Each time you start a new document Shortly will ask what you will be writing to adjust the page accordingly. The options are an article (or anything non-fictional) and a story. I love that this happens every time you start a new document and you don’t have to choose one type and stick with it forever. You can be a blogger by day and a bestseller author by night.
If you decide you’ll be writing a creative piece, for example, you’ll be able to tell the AI information about the story background such as the current story setting and characters so the AI gives you better output.
And what’s great is the AI writes as much as you want to: a little, a lot, somewhere in between. You are always in control of your text.
To illustrate how Shortly works and be true to its essence, I used Shortly to write this article. And if my boss sees this, I did it only for research purposes, not because I wanted artificial intelligence to help me with it.
So let me walk you through the process of using Shortly.
How to use ShortyAI?
1. Go to shortlyai.com and sign up. Don’t worry, remember this is all free.
2. Once you registered, Shortly is going to ask you “what are you writing?”. I chose an article/blog.
3. And just like that, you’ll be directed to this page where you can start writing. I wrote: “Shortly is a software that uses AI to beat writer’s block. Yes! You thought that machines would take all the jobs except for the creative ones but it turns out they can also do this.” Let’s see what it does with this.
4. Once you gave the AI the minimum information: your article’s title, one or two sentences – and, maybe if you’re feeling particularly productive, the article brief- it’s time to see the magic. Choose the output length and wait a few seconds. I told the AI to write a lot. Here’s the result:
As you can see, there was a problem. The AI introduced its output in the middle of my text, thus dividing the sentence. However, we’re assuming that you’re going to at least read what Shortly writes and notice if there are any mistakes before making it public.
5. If what the AI did it’s not what you’re looking for, simply change it until it suits your needs. This is the second try:
6. You can also try using the commands. I tried the /instruct command and typed: [write about all of Shortly’s features and benefits]. The result:
I have to say, I find the AI a bit repetitive but OK. Humans are repetitive too.
Moreover, the instruct command can really give you finer control of what the AI writes. For example, if you type: /instruct [write about Paris. ++buildings –parks]. That way, the AI knows there’re certain keywords it should use and others that shouldn’t.
Pricing
After your first 4 free uses, you’ll have to pay to use the AI. Shortly offers only one plan that costs $65 per month if paid annually or $70 per month if paid monthly.
Shortly’s pros and cons
Pros
Minimal design. We all know writing is a task that requires full concentration. If you are distracted by tons of colorful signs and buttons, you will probably have a hard time carving a great article. Shortly’s simple design is perfect to keep you focused. Both its dashboard and its writing page are stripped out of any ornaments and have light grey and blue colors to make you feel at ease.
Ease of use. The minimal design isn’t only visually appealing but also helpful to learn how to use Shortly. Its interface is really easy to use so you don’t have to waste time figuring things out. You can start working in no time. Plus, your writing statistics are always visible and they are short and sweet: they show the number of pages, words, and characters. More information will be pointless.
Fast customer support. They were quick to reply to the email I sent them and also very kind. ShortlyAI also has guides with all that you need.
Free trial. Another awesome thing about Shortly: it has a free trial, no credit card required. It gives you 4 free uses so you can get a taste of all the things it can do.
“Make this public” option. There’s a link you can share with your friends so they can read your writing. You can turn off this option at any time and keep it private.
Original output. The AI learns from others but doesn’t copy. All the output that it generates is completely original and free of all plagiarism.
Cons
As a multilingual, I wonder: does Shortly understand other languages other than English? The answer is a bit depressing: it doesn’t. So it makes me feel like at the end of the day I still might be more intelligent than this AI. If you want an assistant than writes in multiple languages, you can check out Jarvis, its parent company, which writes content in more than 25 languages.
However, whether we want to admit it or not, this isn’t such a big problem. Nowadays, a great number of people speak English and consume content in that language. If you want to write articles, you will probably do so in English.
Another thing that I was interested in and couldn’t find on ShortlyAI was the option to invite team members. Collaborative writing is a thing, guys! I reached out to their support email and they didn’t seem to be contemplating adding this feature in the near future. They were kind enough, though, to suggest I checked out Jarvis as it has the ability to add team members. But although Jarvis does look pretty cool, it doesn’t give you a free trial.
Conclusion
ShortlyAI is a great tool to get past the dreaded blinking cursor. Currently, it has some limited features but we’re confident that, combined with the qualities of Conversion.ai, it will keep on growing and becoming the go-to writing tool for every writer.
Whether you are writing a novel or a blog post for a website, Shortly will help you turn your thoughts into fully fleshed prose and carve the perfect piece of writing. And the best part: it writes in your own voice!
If you aren’t convinced yet, tell me in the comments which parts of the article you think Shortly wrote for me!
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