Hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear someone exclaim, “Have you seen what ChatGPT can do!?”
While I don’t have the app myself, I’ve seen examples of how it writes. And while it shocks me to say, it’s pretty darn good! The quality of writing and grammar is near perfect. When given clear instructions, the relevance of response is also hard to fault.
As graphic artists across the world grapple with artificial intelligence (AI) applications capable of producing works of art, copywriters must also be asking…is this the end for me?
It doesn’t pain me to say that, for some jobs, it definitely will be. As more people learn to use ChatGPT, and the AI brain behind it grows, its ability to produce generic content will vastly improve.
What is ‘generic content’?
Generic content is content compiled from existing sources that’s essentially re-worded to say the same thing in a different way.
For example, I could write a 1,000 word article on best practice for a certain app. If the client asked me to write the article based on research, I would need to trawl various sources of existing information and collate that knowledge to write the piece.
From what I’ve seen, ChatGPT does this perfectly. It also does it for free and in a split second. Oh the power of a super brain!
As most of my clients know, I’m not a fan of writing generic content. I would even happily refer someone who asked for generic content to a bot if I was sure they’d get a reasonably similar result.
My dislike for generic content is the reason why I write almost all copy after interviewing an expert within a client’s company. The interview helps me learn all about the subject through their eyes. They are the ones who live and breathe it every day, and they’ll be the first to tell you things are very different in practice to the theory you’ll find in a textbook or most online sources.
Be it a thought leadership piece, a web page, case study or anything else – the only way to produce unique content is to share your unique thoughts and experiences.
AI cannot do this. And while my clients could always do it themselves, I find that’s why they hire a copywriter in the first place…they can’t or don’t want to!
Is this the end of all jobs?
While we’re on the subject of AI, why stop at copywriting? Pick a role, in any industry, and see if a bot could do it.
Having interviewed people in the artificial intelligence space, the future potential of AI could indeed leave very little requirement for us humans.
If AI super brains are ingesting every literary work, and every text book on every subject you could study at university, they could essentially do what any of us have been taught to do.
For example, imagine an AI veterinarian. It has all the knowledge taught in textbooks, all the data from animal studies, and the diagnostic capability of advanced tech. You take your ailing pooch to the “vet hub” and the AI bot diagnoses it before dispensing either:
- homecare advice
- medication
- a referral for surgery
While it seems impossible, time is quickly proving it’s not.
Ultimately, if artists and copywriters will eventually be rendered useless in the face of AI then we have to ask…who won’t be?
If you like the idea of working with a (human) copywriter to develop unique content for your business, please get in touch.