The Washington Post will let amateur writers submit opinion columns with the help of what tech?

Nonprofessional writers will soon get to try their hand at writing opinion columns for The Washington Post, so long as they’re willing to do it with guidance from AI. The publication is developing the AI coach, called Ember, with plans to begin testing as soon as this fall.

Sources with knowledge of the project told the New York Times that Ember “could automate several functions normally provided by human editors.” This includes features like a tracker that indicates the strength of a story, as well as a sidebar that lists fundamental pieces of the story like “early thesis,” “supporting points” and “memorable ending.” There will also be an AI assistant that can provide prompts and “developmental questions.”

The articles will be reviewed by human editors before publication. They’ll reportedly be posted outside the publication’s paywall and separately from its current opinion section. The project, internally dubbed Ripple, is part of a larger move by the publication to open it up to opinion pieces from more external sources, such as from other publications, Substack writers and amateur writers.