Choosing the right AI helper
There is one post composer on Onflow Ads and one AI popup inside it, shared by Paid Promotions, Cross-Promotion and the Subscriber Exchange. What differs is what each engine hands the model: the Paid Promotions draft is written against that channel's posting rules, the Cross-Promotion draft against your partner's audience. Around the popup sit nine single-purpose buttons that answer one question each. Pressing the right one saves an action and gets a better answer.
Start from what you are making
| You are… | Press | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Writing the shout-out for a cross-promotion swap | Write with AI → Generate | The campaign page's Your cross-promotion post block |
| Improving copy you already wrote for a swap | Write with AI → Refine | The same popup, second tab. Cross-Promotion is the only engine that offers it |
| Writing an ad post to book into someone's channel | Draft with AI → Generate | Paid Promotions → Book a placement, the Write step (step 3 of 6) |
| Fixing an ad post that failed the channel's pre-flight | Fix to pass | The same panel's action row — the button only appears when something failed |
| Wondering whether an ad breaks a channel's rules | Run the compliance check | The same action row. Free |
| Writing the post for a Subscriber Exchange ad | Write my ad with AI → Generate | The ad builder's Post text step |
| Making a picture for any of the above | The popup's Image tab, or Generate image with AI in the booking wizard | Master and Ultimate only |
Start from a decision you need help with
| You want to know… | Press | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Which day to launch a cross-promotion | Best day to go live | 1 text action, refunded on a fallback |
| Which partners are worth a swap request | Find my best matches | 1 text action |
| Whether two channels in your cart reach the same people | Check overlap | Free when nothing overlaps |
| How narrow your Subscriber Exchange targeting has become | Targeting copilot | 1 text action; the counts are free |
| What a delivery proof archive actually proves | What does this prove? | 1 text action |
| Why your directory listing is getting no requests | Redraft my blurb with AI | 1 text action |
Generate or Refine?
Both live in the same popup on a Cross-Promotion campaign and both spend one text action. Refine is offered on cross-promotions only; the Paid Promotions and Subscriber Exchange popups have a Generate tab and an Image tab and nothing else.
| Generate | Refine | |
|---|---|---|
| You supply | A short brief | Copy that already exists |
| It may introduce | New wording, a new hook, a new call to action | Nothing that was not already there |
| Facts, prices, numbers | It is told to invent none | It is told to add none |
| Best for | A blank post | A post that is nearly right |
If you have a draft you like the substance of but not the wording, Refine is the safer choice: it is instructed not to add claims that were not in your original, so it cannot quietly invent a discount or a statistic.
Generating and then refining costs two text actions, but it is often the fastest route to a post you would sign your name to: the first pass gives you structure, the second tightens it against a one-line instruction such as shorter, warmer, add a clear call to action.
Two things that look like AI and are not
Paid Promotions → Channel finder has one Find channels button. A written brief is read into targeting by the AI (one AI action, and the line under the button says so before you press it); with no brief, no AI runs at all. The ranking itself is arithmetic — CPM, engagement, witnessed delivery and owner reliability, every input a number you can see on the channel page. It does not spend an AI action and it is not a model's opinion. See Channel finder.
The Rebook the winners panel on the Paid Promotions analytics page is the same kind of thing: it is computed from your measured results, not written by a model.
The rules every helper shares
- One allowance. Every text helper draws on the same daily and monthly text allowance, and every image helper on the same image allowance. It follows your account, not the page. See AI quotas and limits.
- One content policy. The same rules govern everything you write and publish here — though the free, pre-generation screen that declines an abusive prompt outright runs only on image prompts and on Refine. A declined prompt costs nothing. See Content rules for AI.
- One refund rule. You are only charged for a generation that delivered something. Every failure hands the action back and says so.
- Every result is a draft. Nothing an AI helper produces is published, sent or booked. You edit it, and you submit it.
- One approval step. Everything the popup produces waits in its Preview until you press Apply to my post. Only the booking wizard's Fix to pass and Generate image with AI write into the page directly.
Related
- The AI composer popup — the shared dialog in full.
- AI in the booking composer — the Paid Promotions controls as one workflow.
- AI helpers across Onflow Ads — every remaining helper, one section each.
- AI quotas and limits — the ladder, the two windows and the walls.