How will AI affect content writing?

You’re a professional copywriter writing content that attracts prospects for your clients. You get results.

Or maybe you’re a content creator here on LinkedIn attracting followers for your personal brand. I bet you’re proud of the quality of content that you create.

Or a solopreneur producing distinctive content for your coaching business to get ahead of the competition.

Like me, you’ve spent years perfecting your craft and skills. Hours of training and experimentation. You know what works and what doesn’t.

But now, there are a couple of new kids on the block. ChatGPT and Bing Chat.

So, what are ChatGPT and Bing Chat?

In a couple of words – Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The ‘chat’ part refers to chatbot, a computer program designed to stimulate conversation with human users, especially over the internet.

GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, which basically means it’s an AI learning model program designed to look at content on the internet, and then predict the most likely pattern of words. GPT applies to both programs.

Like Siri and Cortana they understand context, like the difference between “red” and “read.”

So very powerful tools indeed.

And according to some of the chatter (pun intended) on the internet, ones that could potentially take away your work overnight. Make your professional skills worthless. Allow anyone to produce content whether they have your professional skills or not.

But is this really the case?

Recently, AWAI (American Writers and Artist Institute) held an online discussion with some of the top writers in the copywriting world: Heather Robson, Nick Usborne, Bob Bly, Guillermo Rubio, and Brian Clark.

And they reached a broad consensus. AI is not going to take your job. True, for the mediocre writers out there, it could pose a threat. Clark quipped that it can write better than some writers. I think we’ve all seen content on social media that was quite frankly dire and would improve with a dose of AI.

But professional writers don’t need to worry about AI. Robson noted that the writing it produces is flat. It lacks burstiness because sentences tend to be uniform.

And it can’t write creatively because it can’t connect two disparate ideas together in the way we do in our brains, observed Rubio. It can only construct from the average of what it has scanned on the internet.

Usborne and Bly pointed out that it has no emotional intelligence, and therefore can’t create a great USP (Unique Selling Point). It writes to the brain, not to the heart, whereas we all know, good copy connects with the latter.

Nor will your average plumber, builder, or any retailer all of a sudden be producing content to threaten you. Few people outside the writing world know about Chat GPT and Bing Chat, let alone understand them, or have the desire to use them. To use AI effectively, you need good writing and editing skills.

AI is definitely not the complete package as far as great writing goes. And even with the improvements we can expect over the next few years, probably never will be.

Far from it.

Instead, the opinion of AWAI’s experts is it will prove to be a great help for writers that learn how to use it effectively. A help in the same way AI helps doctors with medical diagnosis or technicians with fault findings.

It is additive to our range of tools, not subtractive.

So, how can AI help you as a copywriter?

1.    Grammar and Spelling Check: It can help you with a quick review of your content for any spelling or grammatical errors. This will ensure that your final output is error-free and looks professional.

2.    Cognitive overload and comparisons: If you need to compare or establish a common theme across several pieces of text, it can do it for you in seconds. Something that might normally take hours.

3.    Brainstorming: If you have a particular topic in mind that you want to write about and you don't have any idea where to start, it can provide you with prompts and research materials on that topic. The resources can include web links, journals, books, and any other relevant material that might be useful. Avoids the “blank page” syndrome.

4.    Keyword optimization: It can help with keyword selection and optimization. By providing the most effective keywords that are relevant to your content, you can optimize your content for better search engine rankings.

5.    Summarization and paraphrasing: If you're struggling to summarize a lengthy piece of content or paraphrase it, you can reach out to it for assistance. It can provide a summary of any document, as well as paraphrase content in a way that is easy to read and understand.

The future of copywriting and content writing is AI.

Writers who master AI will be ahead of the curve because they will have another skill in their writing toolbox, but they will also need to up their game as Rubio noted in his article “Will AI Replace Copywriters?”

What next?

Whether you’re a copywriter, content creator, or solopreneur, AI can provide useful assistance while writing any form of content, from articles, blog posts, academic papers, and more. This article was written with the assistance of AI, but it didn’t write it. It contributed to about 25% of the word count, much of which had to be edited.

It is highly unlikely that AI will replace content writers entirely as writing requires creativity, nuance, and a unique perspective that machines cannot replicate entirely. AI language models like ChatGPT and Bing Chat can assist writers in generating ideas and even creating content, but they still require a human touch to add personality and authenticity to the writing.

Today, there are two camps regarding the introduction of AI into our field – those who embrace the change and new technology, and those who are fearful of it. I would suggest you should embrace it, and getting ahead of the curve.

This is a great opportunity for you.

If you want to know more or would like advice on how to use AI in copy- and content writing, then please contact me.