Automation is growing more vital in the modern era of content creation. AI Content Writer is one of the most powerful content generation tools available today, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT standing out as a popular choice to generate human-like writing. AI may save you a lot of time while improving the quality of your blog posts, articles, and product descriptions.

In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through the steps of building your own AI content writer with PHP and the OpenAI ChatGPT API.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT built by openAI, is a strong language model that creates text that appears human and natural. It is trained on a large amount of data from many sources, allowing it to generate content on a wide range of themes, tones, and styles.

For example, if you require an article on a specific topic, you can simply tell ChatGPT, ‘Write a 500-word essay about AI in 2025,’ and it will generate content according to your specifications. This makes it a great tool for content creators who want to save time while improving their work.

Setting Up the OpenAI API

Before diving into the development, the first step is to set up the OpenAI API. Here’s how:

• Create an OpenAI Account: Go to OpenAI and create an account.
• Get Your API Key: Once you’ve created an account and logged in, Create your project and navigate to the API section to generate an API key. This key will allow your PHP application to communicate with OpenAI’s servers.

Generate API Key

Now copy and save this key in a safe place for future use in the project.

Create a Frontend User Input Form

The first part of your application will be a simple HTML form where users can input the following details:

• Topic: The subject for which they need content.
• Tone: The tone of the article (formal, casual, etc.).
• Word Count: The desired length of the article.

Copy and Paste HTML code for the frontend:

PHP (index.php)

    
    
    

    


    

        
AI Content Writer
        

            Topic:
            

            Tone:
            
                Formal
                Casual
                Informative
            

            Word Count:
            

            Generate Content
        

        

            

        
    

    


    

Suggested Read: Best 20 ChatGPT Prompts for All Your Work Needs

Backend: PHP Script for OpenAI Integration

Run below command on terminal. Note: Composer should be installed on your local system.

composer require erusev/parsedown

You will get vendor folder which we will use or include in the next code for html formatting.

Now that we have the frontend in place, let’s focus on the backend. The openAI.php script handles the interaction between your application and OpenAI’s API.

 'system', 'content' => 'You are a professional content writer.'],
        ['role' => 'user', 'content' => "Write a {$tone} article about '{$topic}' in approximately {$wordCount} words."]
    ];

    // Prepare the OpenAI API request payload
    $data = [
        'model' => 'gpt-4', // You can change to a different model if required
        'messages' => $messages,
        'max_tokens' => $wordCount * 4,
        'temperature' => 0.7,
        'stream' => true, // Enable streaming
    ];

    // Initialize the cURL session
    $ch = curl_init('https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions');
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($data));
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, false);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
        'Authorization: Bearer ' . $apiKey,
        'Content-Type: application/json',
    ]);


   $content = ''; // Initialize an empty string to accumulate the content

    // Handle the stream of data
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, function ($ch, $chunk) use (&$content, $Parsedown) {
        $lines = explode("\n", $chunk);

        foreach ($lines as $line) {
            $line = trim($line);
            if (empty($line) || strpos($line, 'data:') !== 0) continue;
            
            $data = json_decode(substr($line, 5), true);
            if (isset($data['choices'][0]['delta']['content'])) {
                $content .= $data['choices'][0]['delta']['content']; // Accumulate content

                // Once you have accumulated the content, convert it from Markdown to HTML
                $htmlContent = $Parsedown->text($content); // Convert to HTML

                // Output the converted HTML content
                echo "data: " . json_encode($htmlContent, JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES | JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE) . "\n\n";
                ob_flush();
                flush();
            }
        }
        return strlen($chunk);
    });

    // Execute the cURL request
    curl_exec($ch);

    // Close the cURL connection
    curl_close($ch);

    // Finalize the stream by sending a [DONE] message
    echo "event: close\n";
    echo "data: [DONE]\n\n";
    ob_flush();
    flush();
    exit;
}

?>

Stream Data to Frontend in Real-Time

Here, I’m sending real-time AI-generated content to the user interface via the Server-Sent Events (SSE) method. This enables you to see the article in progress. SSE ensures that content is streamed piece by piece as the model generates it, providing a more seamless user experience.

Conclusion

Building an AI content writer using PHP and OpenAI’s ChatGPT API can save time while producing high-quality, human-like content. This AI tool is easy to integrate into any website or application thanks to its simple user interface, real-time streaming, and minimal backend code.

Also Read: Create Dynamic Image Slider Using PHP and MySQL

Whether you’re creating blogs, articles, or marketing copy, an AI content writer can help you improve your workflow and create more interesting material.

Thanks for reading 🙏, I hope you found How to Create Your Own AI Content Writer in PHP with the ChatGPT API tutorial helpful for your project. Keep learning! If you face any problems – I am here to solve your problems.