Medium’s new app puts an AI assistant inside the writing process

Medium has introduced TK, an app that embeds an AI assistant directly in the editor. To use it, writers type @TK and a request. They can ask how many days are in a particular month, for example, or find notes saved in the app while working on an idea. TK can also help with editorial feedback, headlines and adapting a draft to the style guide of a publication on Medium.

Medium launches TK, an AI assistant for writing

In publishing, TK marks a place where missing information needs to be added later. It comes from the English phrase “to come”; the letter K is used instead of C because “tk” rarely appears in English words and is easier for proofreaders to spot. In Medium’s app, the name refers to filling in gaps in a draft.

AI’s role in editing is contested. The literary world is debating how AI affects long-form writing: some authors have lost book deals over suspicions that they used AI, and literary awards have faced scrutiny after similar suspicions were raised about winners. At the same time, automated tools have long been used for spell-checking and light grammar edits. The publishing industry’s concern is that AI editing suggestions could replace an author’s own ideas and become part of the text.

There are also doubts about the reliability of tools that try to determine whether a text was written with AI. Models were trained on human writing, so it can be difficult to draw a clear line between text written by a person with AI assistance and text written by AI.

Medium is betting that this distinction will eventually matter less. The company believes AI increases the value of writing and can augment human intelligence by building on written language. At the same time, Medium acknowledges the risk of low-quality content and a blurring of the line between human- and AI-written text. In TK, authors will be able to publish notes explaining exactly how they used AI. Medium calls transparency about a text’s origins—including the prompts and source materials used—one of the requirements for publishing in the AI era.

TK will also help writers store and organize their work and suggest topics to write about. Users can connect the app to their own AI agent through the TK MCP server or a Claude skill. The app can then draw on projects, views and other ideas stored in the agent’s memory. A social layer will provide feedback: authors will be able to share early drafts and get responses.

Image Credits: Medium (TK app)

Source: techcrunch.com

TK is initially available on the web; a desktop app is planned but not yet available. The app supports importing and exporting Markdown, but is not itself a Markdown editor. Texts in TK are not encrypted: the service is designed for collaboration, but users will be able to set access permissions for their work. Medium, which says it is profitable, promises to make TK free for account holders.

Dataist’s take: TK combines AI assistance with a way to show exactly how it affected the text. But transparency depends on authors’ notes, and drafts are not encrypted, making access settings especially important.