At ShortPixel, we handle hundreds of support tickets daily. Our team prides itself on providing stellar support, but we noticed something: even experienced agents sometimes struggled with consistency. Grammar slips can happen during busy periods. Tone varied between agents. Explanations that were crystal clear in an agent's mind came out confusing or too technical on screen.
We needed a solution that would help our human agents be better, not replace them.
The Problem: Good Agents, Inconsistent Output
Here's the thing about support work, you're context-switching constantly. One minute you're explaining a complex API issue to a developer, the next you're helping a WordPress beginner understand image optimization. Your brain knows what to say, but translating that into clear, grammatically correct, well-structured text? That's where the friction happens.
We saw our agents:
- Rewriting the same response two times to get the tone right
- Second-guessing grammar in non-native languages
- Spending time on formatting instead of solving problems
- Losing their natural voice trying to sound not too technical
The core insight was this: our agents knew the right answers, they just needed help articulating them better.
Our Solution: An AI Companion That Works With You
We built the ShortPixel AI Companion, a Chromium-based browser extension that acts as a writing assistant for support agents (or anyone writing text in a browser).
The concept is simple:
- You write your response naturally, in your own words
- Select the text you want to improve
- Click the extension icon that appears
- Get an improved version that's clearer, more grammatically correct, and better structured using a custom prompt you set in the extension settings
The AI doesn't write for you, it enhances what you've already written, preserving your meaning and tone while making it better.
How It Works (Technical Overview)
The extension is built for any Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave, etc.) and integrates with OpenAI's API. Here's the setup:
Configuration
- Add your ChatGPT API Key
- Select your preferred AI model (GPT-5, GPT-4, etc.)
- Set a default prompt that defines how the AI should improve your text
Usage Flow
- Write your response in any text field (email, ticketing system, CMS, etc.)
- Highlight the text you want to improve
- Click the AI Companion icon that appears
- Review the improved version
- Accept or edit as needed and even undo with Ctrl/Cmd+Z
The beauty is in the simplicity—there's no context switching, no copy-pasting to another tool, no workflow disruption.
Real Impact on Our Support Team
Since implementing this, we've seen:
Better consistency: Every response meets our quality standard, regardless of which agent writes it or how busy they are.
Faster responses: Agents spend less time rewriting and more time solving actual problems.
Confident multilingual support: Our non-native English speakers can write naturally and let the AI polish grammar and phrasing. The extension also supports any language, not just English.
Preserved humanity: The AI enhances human-written responses, it doesn't generate soulless template replies. Our agents' personalities still shine through.
Reduced cognitive load: When you know an AI safety net exists, you write more freely without overthinking every sentence.
Why We're Sharing This (And Making It Free)
We built this tool for ourselves because we had a specific problem to solve. But as we used it, we realized something: every support team, every customer success department, every indie hacker responding to user emails faces the same challenges.
The quality of written communication directly impacts how customers perceive your company. A poorly written response, even if it contains the right information, can make customers doubt your competence. A well-written response builds trust and confidence.
We believe better communication tools should be accessible to everyone, not just companies with big budgets for custom software. So we're making the ShortPixel AI Companion available for anyone to download and use for free.
What This Means for You
Whether you're:
- A solo founder handling customer emails yourself
- A small team trying to scale support without sacrificing quality
- An established company looking to improve consistency
- A content creator or marketer who writes a lot of text
- Anyone who communicates through writing and wants to do it better
This tool can help.
It's not ShortPixel-specific. It works in any Chromium browser, with any text field, for any type of writing.
The ShortPixel AI Companion is now available for free for anyone to download and use.
Commercial use or reselling of this product is strictly prohibited.
Getting Started
- Download and install the extension (requires enabling Developer mode and loading it as an unpacked extension)
- Get an OpenAI API key and add it to the extension settings (if you don't have one)
- Configure your preferred AI model
- Customize the prompt if needed (or use our default)
- Start writing better responses immediately
Customization Tips
The default prompt works great for support, but you can adapt it for different use cases:
For marketing copy: "Make this more engaging and persuasive while keeping it concise. Preserve any HTML/Markdown formatting."
For technical documentation: "Clarify technical accuracy, improve structure, and ensure consistency. Maintain all code blocks and technical terms exactly."
For social media: "Make this more conversational and engaging, suitable for social media. Keep it under [X] characters."
The Human + AI Approach: What We Learned
Here's what we learned through this process: AI doesn't replace good support agents. It amplifies them.
Our best agents are still our best agents—they just ship their responses faster and with more confidence. Our newest agents ramp up quicker because they're not paralyzed by writing anxiety. Everyone benefits, and more importantly, our customers benefit.
The Right Way to Use AI in Support
There's a lot of fear around AI "replacing" support teams. We think that's the wrong framing entirely. Here's what we believe:
AI should enhance, not replace: The tool should make humans better at their jobs, not do the job for them. Our agents still solve problems, they just communicate solutions more clearly.
Keep humans in the loop: Every response is still written, reviewed, and sent by a human. The AI is a tool in their hands, not an autonomous system making decisions.
Preserve authenticity: Customers should still feel like they're talking to real people. The AI improves clarity; it doesn't create fake personalities.
Focus on the right problems: Use AI to eliminate busywork (grammar checking, formatting, clarity) so humans can focus on what they do best (empathy, problem-solving, judgment).
What Surprised Us
A few things we didn't expect:
Agents became better writers over time: By seeing how the AI improved their writing, agents learned patterns and started writing better initial drafts. The tool taught them.
Customers didn't notice (in a good way): We didn't announce "we're using AI now!" because that wasn't the point. We just improved response quality. Customers noticed our support got better—they didn't know or care about the tool behind it.
It worked beyond support: Agents started using it for internal documentation and even personal emails. Good writing is good writing.
Try It Yourself
Whether you're in support, content creation, customer success, or any role that involves written communication, this tool can help you write better, faster, with more confidence.
We use it every day at ShortPixel to maintain stellar support quality while scaling our team. It's become as essential as our ticketing system or knowledge base. Now it's yours to use however you need.
The extension is free to download. You'll need your own OpenAI API key (which is pay-as-you-go based on usage), but the tool itself costs nothing.
[Download the ShortPixel AI Companion]
Final Thoughts
The future of work isn't "humans versus AI"—it's humans working with AI to do their jobs better. In support, that means agents who can focus on empathy and problem-solving while AI handles the busywork of perfecting grammar and clarity.
Have you experimented with AI tools in your support workflow? What worked and what didn't? Drop a comment below—we'd love to hear your experiences and learn from what other teams are doing.
Want to try the AI Companion? [Download it here] and let us know what you think!
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