The Potential of Generative AI to Power Patient Advocacy
Previously we looked at how generative AI tools can help patients cope with cancer. In this article, we’ll discuss how you can leverage this technology to boost the impact of your advocacy.
Understanding Generative AI
Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that learns from a large number of examples to understand how different types of content are made. Once it has learned, it can produce new, original content based on that knowledge. Examples of generative AI include ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Co-Pilot. Beyond text generation, AI can create images, suggest hashtags, and even draft YouTube descriptions or podcast scripts.
Practical Applications of Generative AI for Patient Advocacy
We can use Generative AI to boost our advocacy in so many ways. Below are some ideas for you to consider.
1. Content Generation
Enhance your advocacy with AI-driven content creation tools.
- Idea Generation: Brainstorm topics for articles, blog posts, social media posts, or even scripts for videos and podcasts aligning with your advocacy goals.
- Content Drafting: Quickly generate initial drafts or outlines for your content, saving time and providing a starting point for further refinement.
- Language Improvement: Improve the readability, clarity, and impact of your writing with suggestions for alternative phrasing and sentence restructuring. Surfer AI Article Outline Generator (surferseo.com) is a free tool to assist with this.
- Headline Generation: Create engaging headlines and titles with AI-powered tools like the Free Title Generator by Semrush (www.semrush.com).
- Research Assistance: Gather relevant information, statistics, and references to enhance the credibility and persuasiveness of your content. (Note: The AI may cite sources that are inaccurate or do not exist, so it’s essential to verify these.)
Example: When writing about a new treatment option, AI can brainstorm article ideas, generate an initial draft summarizing key points, and suggest studies to include.
2. Refine and Optimize Your Message
Here are some ways that AI can help you improve the quality and effectiveness of your advocacy content.
- Structural Guidance: Get recommendations on how to organize your content for maximum clarity.
- Readability: AI can suggest edits to improve readability. The Hemingway App (hemingwayapp.com) and Grammarly (www.grammarly.com) are excellent resources for this task.
- Search Engine Optimization: Expand your reach by incorporating AI-generated suggestions for relevant keywords, making your content more discoverable through search engines.
Example: Use AI to improve the structure, language clarity, and flow of blog posts and articles before publishing them on your website.
3. Content Repurposing
Turn your existing content into new formats and reach new audiences to maximize its value.
- Blog to Video: Publish a blog post or article using a video you have already produced, expanding the reach of your content. Using tools like Video to Blog (www.videotoblog.ai) can streamline this process.
- Blog to Social Media: Distill key points from your blog posts into eye-catching social media snippets, infographics, or short videos. Lumen5 (www.lumen5.com) can transform your blog posts into engaging short videos, automatically extracting key points and pairing them with relevant visuals and music
- Podcast to Articles: Repurpose podcast episodes into written articles or summaries to expand your content’s lifespan. Try a tool like Podium (www.hello.podium.page) that transcribes your podcast and helps you turn the transcript into engaging articles.
- Long-form to Short-form Content: Extract highlights, quotes, or statistics from longer pieces and turn them into impactful social media posts or email newsletters. TLDR (www.tldrthis.com) is a browser extension that automatically summarizes articles, extracting key points and generating concise summaries.
- Data to Visuals: Transform raw data into informative infographics or charts, making complex information more understandable and shareable. Vizly (www.vizly.fyi) is an AI tool that creates interactive data visualizations, and you can try it out for free.
Example: Take a webinar on advancements in cancer research and repurpose it into a series of short social media videos explaining key findings, blog posts highlighting patient stories, and an infographic summarizing breakthrough treatments.
4. Design Eye-Catching Visuals
Beyond text, generative AI can also help you create visual impact.
- Generate Custom Images: While advanced tools like DALL-E and Midjourney offer powerful text-to-image capabilities, free alternatives like the insMind AI Image Generator (www.insmind.com) provide a great starting point for those without access to paid tools.
- Enhance Existing Images: Improve the quality and style of your photos with AI-powered editing tools such as Canva (www.canva.com) and Craiyon (www.craiyon.com).
- Create Graphics and Infographics: Easily design informative infographics or engaging social media graphics using AI-assisted templates and tools like Canva or Visme (www.visme.co).
- Accessibility Features: Generate descriptive captions or alt text, making your posts more accessible and SEO-friendly on social media. SEOWriting.ai (wwwseowriting.ai) is an AI writing tool for SEO-optimized articles and blog posts.
Example: Create an infographic illustrating the signs and symptoms of breast cancer.
5. Social Media Optimization
Maximize and optimize your social media impact in the following ways:
- Instagram Story Ideas: Brainstorm creative concepts for your Instagram stories and visually appealing ways to present your story for maximum impact.
- Hashtag Suggestions: Identify trending or niche hashtags that will help your posts reach a wider and more relevant audience.
- Optimal Posting Times: Use AI to analyze your audience’s activity patterns and determine the best times to post for maximum visibility and engagement.
- Video Storyboarding and Scripting: Develop storyboards for social media videos and generate a video script using a tool like Invideo (www.invideo.io). a free video editor that transforms text into videos.
- Podcast Scripting: Streamline podcast creation by using AI to generate scripts. Tools like HearTheWeb (www.heartheweb.com) can even transform text into dialogue-style podcasts (HearTheWeb offers one free episode, then starts at $15/month for 5 episodes).
- YouTube Optimization: Use Google’s AI tool, Gemini, to create YouTube descriptions and concise summaries to boost video discoverability and viewer engagement.
Example: Generate a series of Instagram stories that highlight patient stories and use AI-suggested hashtags to amplify visibility and engagement.
6. Audience Engagement Tools
Foster engagement with your audience in the following ways:
- Polls and Surveys: Gather insights, opinions, and experiences from your followers with interactive polls and surveys.
- Challenges and Campaigns: Spark interest and action by developing AI-generated ideas for social media challenges or health-related campaigns that resonate with your audience.
- Interactive Content: Create quizzes, interactive maps, or other engaging formats that encourage active participation.
- Live Q&A Sessions: Host virtual Q&A sessions with AI-powered chatbots or moderators to answer questions in real time and foster a sense of community.
Example: Launch a TikTok challenge encouraging healthy lifestyle choices among patients, using AI-generated campaign ideas and interactive content to drive participation and awareness.
How to Get The Most from Generative AI
Generative AI is a powerful tool, but like any tool, its effectiveness depends on how you use it. The more precise and detailed your instructions, the better the results. Instead of vague requests, give the AI a clear direction. For example, rather than simply asking for a “blog post about patient advocacy,” specify a working title, the intended goal (e.g., to educate, inspire, or mobilize), the target audience, and a structured outline of key points.
Ethical Considerations
Generative AI offers immense potential to enhance your advocacy efforts, amplifying your reach and streamlining tasks. However, to harness its power responsibly, it’s imperative to prioritize accuracy, transparency, and authenticity in its use.
To re-iterate, always thoroughly fact-check AI-generated content to avoid spreading misinformation. Be upfront about your use of AI tools. In full disclosure, while I used ChatGPT to outline this piece, the content is shaped by my own expertise and passion for the topic.
Finally, remember, that generative AI is a tool to enhance your work, not replace your unique voice and perspective. AI-generated content should serve as a springboard for ideas, allowing you to focus your time and energy on developing a message that is authentically yours. By infusing your content with personal stories, and lived experiences you can create authentic connections with your audience ultimately strengthening the impact and resonance of your advocacy messages.

A Stanford Medicine X e-Patient scholar, Marie Ennis O’Connor is an internationally recognized keynote speaker, writer, and consultant on global trends in patient engagement, digital health and participatory medicine. Marie’s work is informed by her passion for embedding the patient voice at the heart of healthcare values. She writes about the experience of transitioning from breast cancer patient to advocate on her award-winning blog Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer.