Find the headline and the dek
TodayThe article is written, the deadline is close, and the headline won’t come, or promises more than the text.
With ClaudeTen headlines, two deks, and three subheads, to choose from and rewrite.
- 5 min
- every day
AI training · Marketing and communications
AI training for content writers
AI does not report and does not put its name on your work. It transcribes your interviews, helps you trace a figure back to its source, digs through a long report, suggests headlines, and proofreads with a cold eye. The angle, the facts, and the style stay yours.
In brief
AI for content writers, in brief
AI helps content writers with tasks such as “Find the headline and the dek,” “Transcribe a recorded interview,” and “Trace a figure back to its source.” Start with a single task, in Claude: allow 5 minutes the first time, and always review the result before you use it.
- 9concrete use cases
- 6recommended tools, 5 of them free to start
- 5 to 20 minper use case, the first time
The tasks where AI helps most
- Finding and checking sources
- Preparing and transcribing interviews
- Reading reports and background material
- Writing and rewriting
- Finding the headline, the dek, the subheads
- Proofreading, correcting, adapting to the format
Use cases
9 concrete AI use cases for content writers
For each task: how it goes today, then with the tool. And the time it takes the first time.
MacWhisper · Model marked “Speaker Recognition”
Transcribe a recorded interview
TodayRetyping an hour of interview discourages everyone, and you end up quoting from memory.
With MacWhisperThe full text of the interview, the outline by topic, and the quotes to listen to again before publishing them.
- 20 min
- every week
Trace a figure back to its source
TodayA figure is everywhere, each article cites the one before, and no one knows where it comes from or what it measures.
With PerplexityThe link to the original document and a reasoned opinion on the accuracy of the claim.
- 10 min
- every day
Also
Perplexity · “Research”
Research a topic before you write
A sourced starting point: the facts, the timeline, the people to call, and the questions still open.
- 15 min
- every week
Prepare an interview
What the person has already said, dated and sourced, and twelve questions to go further.
- 15 min
- every week
Gemini Notebook · “Chat” panel
Dig through a 200-page report
The new information in the report, each item with its page, to check in the text before writing.
- 15 min
- every week
Get a cold read of an article
The list of the article’s weak points, sentence by sentence, and the three corrections to make first.
- 10 min
- every day
Claude · “Projects”
Turn an article into a brief and a newsletter
Three short versions of the same article, faithful to the original text, to review before they go out.
- 10 min
- every day
DeepL · File translation
Read and quote a foreign-language source
The document in English so you can read it fast, and a translated quote you can stand behind.
- 15 min
- as needed
One use case, start to finish
Claude for content writers: find the headline and the dek, step by step
- 5 min
- every day
What to check
An unpublished article stays confidential: on a personal account, check the training setting under “Settings,” “Privacy.”
Find the headline and the dekClaude- In Claude, paste the prompt below, then your article.
- Read the ten headlines aloud and drop the ones that promise more than the article shows.
- Ask for variations on the best one: “shorter,” “start with the figure.”
- Rewrite the headline you chose in your own words: your name is on it.
The prompt to copy
Here is my article: [paste the text]. Outlet: [name, readers]. Suggest ten headlines of 70 characters at most: four informative, three that start from a figure or a specific fact, three built around a person. No headline may promise more than the article shows. Then write two 300-character deks that give the main news and make people want to read on, then three subheads. Tell me which headline you would keep and why, and flag it if the first paragraph is slow to get to the point.
My path
What you’ll be able to do, one step after another
In Nova, “My path” starts from your level: one next step at a time.
Talk to AI like a colleague
The first moves, with free tools.
Write faster, without mistakes
In your jobResearch a topic before you write
Get answers from your documents
In your jobGet a cold read of an article
Find an answer you can trust
In your jobFind the headline and the dek
Never retype anything again
In your jobTranscribe a recorded interview
For a team: everyone moves forward in their own job. You see the team’s progress, never one person’s activity.
The tools
AI tools for content writers, and what they cost
Claude
Free to startA demanding editor at any hour: it suggests ten headlines, points out unsourced claims, and tightens a text without rewriting it for you.
Recommended planFree to start. Pro, $20 per month ($17 per month if billed yearly), if you write every day.
Perplexity
Free to startEvery sentence of the answer points to its source, which you open in one click: useful for tracing a figure to its origin or getting up to speed on a topic.
Recommended planFree to start: 3 “Pro” searches per day, 1 “Research” report per month. Pro, $20 per month (€22 on the French App Store).
Gemini Notebook
Free to startYou upload a 200-page report, and it answers from that document alone and shows the exact passage each answer comes from.
Recommended planFree: 100 notebooks, 50 sources per notebook, 50 questions per day.
MacWhisper
Free to startOn Mac, it transcribes a recorded interview and separates the speakers, without the file leaving your computer.
Recommended planMacWhisper Free, €0. To export to Word or PDF: MacWhisper Pro, €64, one-time payment.
Antidote
A reference corrector for French, also available for English: agreement, typography, repetitions, with an explanation of each error.
Recommended planAntidote+ Personal, one language, $59.95 the first year, then $48 per year. 30-day free trial.
DeepL
Free to startRead a report or an article in a foreign language, then check the translation of a quote word by word.
Recommended planFree, €0, for text already published: 50,000 characters and 1 file per month. Otherwise: Individual, €7.49 per month, billed yearly.
Prices taken from the vendors’ official pages, dated on each tool page. These subscriptions are not included in Nova. Brands are named to identify the tools. No affiliation.
Ground rules
The rules to follow with AI in this job
Always do this
- Source protection: no name and no document given to you in confidence goes into an online tool. For those files, stay with a tool that runs on your computer.
- An assistant can invent a quote, a study, or a figure: nothing is published without the original source in front of you.
- A quote is checked by listening to the recording, not against the transcript.
- Your name is on it: follow your outlet’s or your client’s policy on AI use, and say how it was used when you are asked.
Never hand this to AI
- Writing the article in your place: a generated text has no reporting, no angle, and no author to answer for it.
- Summarizing an interview without listening to it again: the nuances and the caveats disappear.
- Illustrating a real fact with a generated image that could pass for a photo.
Questions
Frequently asked questions about AI for content writers
Which AI tools should content writers use?
Nova recommends 6 to start with: Claude, Perplexity, Gemini Notebook, MacWhisper, Antidote, and DeepL. 5 of them can be used for free to get started.
How does Claude help content writers?
A demanding editor at any hour: it suggests ten headlines, points out unsourced claims, and tightens a text without rewriting it for you. The plan to choose: Free to start. Pro, $20 per month ($17 per month if billed yearly), if you write every day.
Where should content writers start with AI?
With “Find the headline and the dek,” in Claude. Allow 5 minutes the first time. Ten headlines, two deks, and three subheads, to choose from and rewrite.
Is this an accredited course that leads to a certificate?
No. Nova is software, not an accredited training provider: it issues no diploma or certification. It costs €19 per month for one person, and €129 per month for a team of up to ten people.
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