From editors and journalists to photographers and educators, our members are approaching AI in very different ways. While some have embraced it as a practical tool for organisation and workflow, few are willing to hand over the creative process itself. We asked members how they are using AI, or choosing not to, in their wine communication.
“When I’m wearing my journalist hat, AI can be a helpful tool for combing through voluminous pages of notes and transcripts, or quickly sifting through the internet as I search for leads. I find it useful for organising my thoughts or trimming a few words to hit a word count.
That said, I avoid it for composition.
The LLM writing style is surprisingly homogeneous and easy to spot. In my work for Vin, a creative agency working with fine wineries, I regularly receive copy that has rather obviously been composed by AI. Certain descriptors appear again and again, and the phrasing often feels hackneyed and advertorial rather than editorial.
And, sadly, I’ve had to say goodbye to the standalone em-dash. It just crops up too often in AI-generated prose. I’ve even had the experience of watching an editor reinsert single em-dashes into perfectly workable text before pushing it out. I do understand the temptation. It’s a useful piece of punctuation! But it’s got to go.
RIP, single em-dash.”
Katherine Cole, USA
Katherine Cole is an author, journalist
and branding consultant based in the US.
katherinecole.com
.
“Writing about wine is a multidisciplinary skill that makes it, even as models continue to improve at an exhilarating rate of knots, very resistant to being replicated successfully by AI.
So aside from the moral and possibly legal implications, I’ve yet to see results that are authoritative and laced with personal experiences. At Decanter, we’ve received AI-written pitches and submissions that stand out for their formulaic takes and stilted, unimaginative prose.
Saying that, there are valid roles for AI to play. I sometimes employ my chosen models to help come up with more imaginative headlines than I can muster after a long day at the keyboard, and on several occasions I have used AI as a tool to bounce my ideas off and provide other perspectives I may not have considered.
This light touch is perfectly acceptable to me, as the writing is still produced by human, not machine.
Where I employ AI to do the heavy lifting is behind the scenes. In AI, I’ve found the code-buddy I needed to build a sprawling spreadsheet to manage everything from commissioning, budgeting and content planning processes for every member of our editorial team.
It’s all running from a lengthy script I could never hope to create on my own. Of course, I took the project manager role: directing, checking and ensuring things remained on track – I’m not sure enough people are aware of the pitfalls of blindly following the ideas and suggestions of AI models.
Next job? Maybe I can find a way for it to respond to all my emails!”
James Button, UK
James Button is the regional editor for Italy
at Decanter and is an avid skier and cyclist.
Decanter.com
.
Alder Yarrow, USA
Alder Yarrow is a freelance writer and critic
for JancisRobinson.com among other publications.
vinography.com
.
“AI is simply another tool in the kit, but one I’ve only just begun to explore.
What matters most to me is preserving photographic integrity and ensuring that images remain a truthful representation of what was actually seen.
AI has brought clear improvements in areas like sharpening and noise reduction, but we are increasingly seeing AI-generated images replace real photography in magazines, while genuine photographs are being questioned as being artificially created.
More concerning still is that AI systems are being trained on my work, and that of other photographers, usually without permission.
Of course it can be fun to see what’s possible, such as with the attached example. I uploaded one of my photos of Winding Wood Vineyard and told it to create a ‘snowy Christmas scene’ from it.”
Mick Rock, UK
Award-winning photographer specialising in
wine in multiple publications and books.
cephas.com
.
“I am not tempted to use AI at all.
My concern is that it exists largely to iron out imperfections. As far as words go, I am happy to leave that with my editors. But, as a photographer, I would rather celebrate those ‘imperfections’.
I spent half my career working with film and reality. Photoshop is a great tool but tends to deny reality. AI will take us further still, relinquishing control over how reality is represented.
We already distrust what is presented as reality. That is our new environment, some will say.
AI may be a boon to some, but all to soon it will dictate how we work and I doubt there will be a way back.”
Jon Wyand, UK
Jon is author and award-winning photographer of
many wine books and publications internationally.
jonwyand.co.uk
.
“I use AI very sparingly in my photography. I have been using Photoshop and Capture One for more than 30 years and, inevitably, those programs now incorporate more and more AI. I try to use it as rarely as possible.
I have tried using AI in my writing, but it is always wrong. More Kerouac than Shakespeare. I always revert to my original words.
AI scares me, but being scared is part of life. I only went digital in 2006, years after everyone else. AI is here to stay whether we like it or not. I know people in marketing, photography and design who have lost work because of AI, and that sucks. But there is nothing we can do. We have to adapt.
One or two of the high end magazines I sell to now ask for the RAW images, as travel photography must be real. Nobody wants to arrive somewhere only to discover the brochure image was more fake than Donald Trump’s suntan.
P.S. I am a huge Kerouac fan.”
Matt Wilson, Chile
Matt Wilson is an award-winning wine and travel photographer
whose work has appeared across magazines and books worldwide.
mattwilson.cl
.
“I use AI primarily for outlining pitches and articles.
I like getting ideas onto paper as soon as inspiration strikes, without worrying about the final structure. The time-consuming part is turning those thoughts into a coherent pitch or article, which is where AI comes in.
It gives me ideas for structuring a piece in the most compelling and succinct way. I used to write without pre-structuring, and this new workflow saves me quite a bit of time and keeps me focused on the goals of a piece.”
Brianne Cohen, USA
A wine writer, educator and event producer based in
Los Angeles, contributing to multiple international titles.
briannecohen.com