What Is Notion AI? The Latest Buzzy Writing Assistant, Explained

After ChatGPT and Bing brought conversational AI to the masses, Notion’s artificial intelligence client is writing and editing content for its users.

Conversational chatbots and new writing tools backed by artificial intelligence are changing the way people create content, and Notion AI is the latest service to debut. OpenAI brought artificial intelligence language models to the masses with ChatGPT, a conversational chatbot that used source material to generate answers to user queries. Following the software’s success, OpenAI unveiled a ChatGPT+ subscription that costs $20 per month for unlimited access to the chatbot. Now that artificial intelligence language models are becoming mainstream, most tech companies are trying to get in on the market, and Notion is the latest entrant.

Notion first announced its AI-based writing assistant in Nov. 2022, and it launched on Feb. 22 with full access available — Notion AI doesn’t have a waitlist or limited access restriction. Notion’s AI writing assistant is able to generate content, edit for spelling and grammar, create a list of ideas, and summarize what’s on the current page. It’s available on the web, through the desktop app on Windows and Mac, and the mobile app on iOS and Android. As such, it’s one of the most accessible AI tools currently available.

Related: ChatGPT Plus Subscription: Should You Pay $20 A Month?

How To Use Notion AI & Its Controversy

Notion looks and feels like any word processor around — until you press the space bar. After starting a new line of text, pressing the space bar activates the company’s AI writing assistant. Once the writing assistant window is opened, users can write into the text field to ask Notion to write something of their choosing. Otherwise, there’s a list of things the writing assistant can do with text that’s already written.

Notion’s writing assistant is extremely powerful. In Screen Rant’s testing, it can clearly write concise articles about popular topics. When asked to write about a topic that has appeared on Screen Rant — a review of Apple’s second-generation HomePod — Notion’s writing assistant produced copy that you might mistake for prose written by a human. That’s precisely the problem, and why AI-based language models are plagued with controversy.

Language models use the information that they can find through their training material or on the internet, which means it has the same flaws and biases that people do. Moreover, artificial intelligence doesn’t know when it’s wrong — chatbots and writing generators frequently respond to requests with outdated, inaccurate, or harmful replies. If artificial intelligence doesn’t know the answer to a question, it’ll give what it thinks is the answer as confidently as any other reply.

But beyond generating ‘original’ content, Notion AI has the power to correct and assist people in their writing. Think Grammarly on steroids. It can summarize a lengthy block of words in a few seconds, give advice on how to improve writing, or help people get a few ideas. In these instances, artificial intelligence is aiding humans — not replacing them.

More: Can Apple Keep Up With The Recent Artificial Intelligence Surge?

Source: Notion, Twitter / Notion