Let’s talk about Artificial Intelligence
“You wouldn’t use stock photography to showcase your team, so why would you ask AI to write your ‘About’ section?”
How’s that for a great analogy! This comparison was made by my friend/peer/collaborative partner Kristen recently and I threw my hands up in the air in a celebratory way. Yes! That’s exactly what I have been trying to explain to people who insist that ChatGPT is forever more going to be the author of their website content and general communications.
Let me point out that I am not saying this out of fear of losing writing work. My fear is that us non-robots (i.e. emotionally intelligent, connection-driven human beings) will end up swimming or drowning in a sea of artificially generated content that does not feed the soul. That’s far more terrifying.
Stock photography has a place in the world, and so does artificially generated written content. But if you’re using either without applying your own very capable human lens to it, it’s not going to deliver the right message. Generic is the word that comes to mind. And who wants to be generic? Not me, and not any business that wants to genuinely make a difference to the people they’re serving.
My humble opinion is that using tools like ChatGPT to generate written content is a good way to start the process. As a writer it’s great to get a new wave of inspiration or find a new angle to explore. It’s also sometimes really useful to know what not to write! ChatGPT is great for scrawling out paragraphs which are riddled with the most ridiculous superlatives. It’s gushy to the point that it’s meaningless and that is definitely something worth avoiding.
The most helpful thing I had ChatGPT do for me recently was to write out ten things that I should think about doing before going away on holiday. In other words — a great brain-mush antidote after a busy Christmas period! I wonder how it goes with writing clever limericks? That could be entertaining if nothing else…
Stay classy, stay informed, and if you want a human to write some words for you… you know where to find me.