[Quick Review] Jenni AI

I got pinged about Jenni AI and was asked to do a quick review about its capabilities and suitability for academic writing. At first glance, I was about to throw it out the window after playing with it for a few minutes, but like most academic tools, it required a bit more reading and thinking before I understood how it works.

Header image by Wolfgang Stief on Flickr.

What *is* Jenni AI?

Jenni AI is billed as your research assistant. It specifically targets academic writing, so if you’re a marketing copywriter wondering if Jenni will be useful for you, the short answer is No and Maybe. I’ll cover the reasons why below. However, if you are a student, academic, researcher, or anyone who needs to cite papers regularly, the Jenni AI might be quite useful for your needs. 

How does Jenni AI work?

When you first log into Jenni AI, you’ll be greeted with this box asking you about the topic of the day. Once you’ve answered it, Jenni will generate a headline suitable for your topic and then write the first line. Here’s where it got initially frustrating for me. 

Free tier issue?

If you are the free tier like me, then when Jenni writes that first line for you, it’s more of a suggestion than actual output, at least compared to other chatbots. That line will be in grey and will have citations to studies that support that assertion. If you choose to accept it, then this will be considered as using your AI line allocation. On the free tier, you get 200 lines generated this way.

Workaround?

One way to work around this limit is to use the in-built AI chat. You can use it to ask Jenni questions, and then insert its answers into the document directly. And if you ask it properly, you can also get it to include citations as well, so that’s probably half the work done. This was how I was able to get Jenni to create a review of itself based on my usual template. However, you’ll notice something very obvious in the linked review.

Note: The following section is completely AI generated. It ends where the quote ends. Thanks for understanding.
 

Jenni AI: Your Secret Weapon for Streamlined Marketing Copywriting

Name of AI: Jenni AI
Model last updated until when: Information not available in current context.
Pricing tiers available: Information not available in current context. However, the text mentions that Jenni offers "a range of pricing tiers to accommodate the diverse needs of marketing professionals, catering to both small agencies and large enterprises."
Best used for what types of marketing collateral: Jenni excels at creating a wide range of marketing materials, including:

• Website copy: Craft compelling headlines, engaging body content, and persuasive calls to action.
• Social media posts: Generate attention-grabbing captions and ad copy tailored to different platforms.
• Email marketing campaigns: Write engaging subject lines and body content that drives conversions.
• Blog posts and articles: Develop informative and SEO-friendly content to attract and engage your target audience.
• Product descriptions: Create compelling and informative descriptions that highlight key features and benefits.

Who might best utilize it:

• B2C marketers: Jenni can help you connect with consumers on an emotional level, crafting copy that resonates and drives sales.
• B2B marketers: Create clear, concise, and persuasive copy for websites, brochures, case studies, and more.
• Marketing teams of all sizes: From solopreneurs to large agencies, Jenni can streamline workflows and boost productivity.
• Copywriters facing writer's block: Overcome creative hurdles and generate fresh ideas with Jenni's assistance.

Focus on how marketing copywriters in the B2C and B2B space can use Jenni to speed up workflows:
Jenni empowers marketing copywriters to work smarter, not harder. By automating repetitive tasks and providing intelligent suggestions, Jenni frees up valuable time to focus on strategy and creativity.

• Faster content creation: Generate high-quality copy in a fraction of the time, allowing you to meet tight deadlines.
• Improved consistency: Maintain a consistent brand voice and messaging across all your marketing materials.
• Reduced writer's block: Overcome creative roadblocks and generate fresh ideas with Jenni's AI-powered assistance.
• Enhanced productivity: Streamline your workflow and focus on higher-level tasks, such as strategy and client communication.

Jenni is more than just an AI tool; it's a collaborative partner that can help you take your marketing copywriting to the next level.

Did it just… hallucinate?

Nope, but it’s very close. You see, what Jenni just did was write the most generic, “pleasant to the ear” sounding spiel about its capabilities as a writing tool for marketing copywriters, but it all falls apart when you examine the details closely.

A lot of Jenni’s output seems to be similar to what another GenAI tool like ChatGPT or Gemini or even Perplexity will output, and those I’ve tested and know how to evaluate their claims. With Jenni, in this context, I feel it didn’t really know how to parse the question, and so it just took the closest equivalent. That also indicates that it's probably using one or more of those engines as its LLMs, so make of that what you will.

Ok, so how does it do academically?

Well, at first glance, Jenni does seem to be better at academic writing than marketing. It formats docs according to APA 7, MLA 9, Harvard, Chicago, and IEEE. Jenni does include links to the original source, so you can always check to see if the source is actually useful. Potentially if you’ve already written the paper and need help formatting it, then I think Jenni might not be a bad idea. 

As to how good the actual sources are... well, that truly depends on how well you know your sources. If you don't feel like using Jenni's search and have your own material, you can upload your own lecture notes and relevant digital research files for it to use as reference. Again, this feels like it would be good for the tail end of your paper, when you're formatting and checking the references used. 

Would I trust Jenni in the brainstorming and writing stage? Honestly, as a marketing copywriter, probably not. Unless specified by my client or I desperately need to write an academic paper and ensure that everything is cited properly, I don't think I'll be using Jenni again either. 

Jenni's pricing and reference caveat

I just realised that technically Jenni blocks your references list at the bottom of the page, so you *will* need to upgrade to see it. One good thing about it is that Jenni supports Purchasing Power Parity, so if you're in a country that qualifies you can get up to 50% off their pricing plans. By default an annual subscription will cost you $144 dollars but a monthly subscription is $30. Budget wisely.

Conclusion

I am definitely not the target market for this tool. It may help marketing copywriters who need to write academic papers or cite materials in academia style but I am old-school enough that I would rather do a manual search for papers instead of relying on GenAI to do it. Then again, I am not time-starved, so Jenni might help those who don’t have enough time in the first place to gather all the relevant papers and brainstorm a good opening to their papers.