In a bizarre twist of fate, the advent of the next industrial revolution has brought forth an unexpected consequence: white-collar workers, traditionally associated with intellectual, academic, and artistic pursuits, now face the rapidly-impending threat of automation. The very roles that were once thought to be secure from technological disruption are now in danger. How the tables have turned!
As technology continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, it's no surprise that artificial intelligence has made its way into the realm of content creation — the real shock lies in just how quickly these developments have occurred. ChatGPT has been around for a relatively short period — less than a year at the time of writing — but analysts have wasted no time expressing concerns about potential widespread job losses and significant transformations in the global work landscape.
This is rather remarkable when you consider that just a year ago, the vast majority of people were unaware of the existence of OpenAI, let alone what it had in store for us!
However, as promising as AI may seem, there are compelling reasons why human creatives still have the upper hand — for now. In this article, we’ll make the case for what many believe to be one of the professions most vulnerable to AI takeover — copywriting.
Below, we'll explore four key reasons why human copywriters are still crucial for maintaining the soul and effectiveness of your brand's messaging. So, let's dive right in!
AI Lacks Creativity
- ChatGPT is brilliant at spurting out generic, flavorless text, but it’s completely incapable of adding its own unique angle or delivering the kind of insight you’d expect to see from a professional writer with expertise in a certain niche — those employed by specialist SEO agencies like Seeker, for instance.
- While it’s true that ChatGPT can produce some impressive results given detailed prompts, whatever it produces will never be truly unique. Sure, the words are ordered in a unique way, and it’s certainly enough to fool your average plagiarism detector, but there aren’t any new ideas there. Everything ChatGPT produces is a regurgitation.
- Of course, ChatGPT’s straight-talking, objective-focused copy is ideal for the kind of assignments where the primary goal is to deliver information. However, task it with a brief requiring a more creative approach, and the results are unlikely to amaze. For example, feed it a prompt such as “come up with a snappy marketing slogan for my new cloud hosting company” and it’ll gleefully return “Unleash the Power of the Cloud: Elevate Your Online Presence!” or “Skyrocket Your Digital Success: Soar with Cloud Hosting Excellence!”
- It’s a no from us. And while endlessly tweaking your prompt may lead to more favorable results, there’s no escaping that a lot of what ChatGPT produces often comes off as a bad impersonation.
- In fact, as time goes on and the web becomes more saturated with AI-generated content, there’s a strong chance that this will negatively impact ChatGPT. At present, ChatGPT’s source material is (for the most part) human-written. As soon as OpenAI allows the language model to draw from content produced after November 2022, the feedback loop will begin. We can only speculate how this will affect ChatGPT’s ongoing viability as a copywriting tool, but it’s certainly food for thought.
- In the era of advanced technology, AI can produce text, but there are four compelling reasons why you need professional copywriters. First and foremost, professional copywriters bring a human touch to the content, infusing it with the creativity, emotion, and authenticity that AI lacks. Secondly, they possess the ability to understand your brand's unique voice and tone, ensuring consistent messaging across all platforms. Thirdly, copywriters are skilled in crafting persuasive and engaging content that resonates with your target audience, fostering meaningful connections and driving conversions.
- Lastly, professional copywriters can adapt to evolving trends and industry nuances, providing a competitive edge that AI-generated text cannot replicate. Embracing the expertise of human copywriters is essential for creating impactful, relatable, and influential content in a world where AI is rapidly advancing its capabilities."
AI Can’t Research Topics
- While ChatGPT has proven its ability to generate text on a wide range of subjects, there is one area where it falls short: conducting in-depth research. While it can repurpose information based on pre-existing knowledge, it cannot explore new sources, gather fresh data, and critically analyze complex topics.
- Research is a fundamental aspect of many fields, from scientific investigations to academic studies and journalistic endeavors. It requires sifting through vast amounts of information, evaluating the credibility of sources, and synthesizing findings into coherent narratives. This process demands a deep understanding of the subject matter and the ability to draw connections between various sources.
- However, when it comes to research, ChatGPT's limitations become evident. While the tool does now possess a browsing mode (allowing it to access real-time information from the web), this is only available to users of its Plus model. For everyone else, ChatGPT relies solely on the information it has been trained on, which at the time of writing has a cutoff date of September 2021.
- With its knowledge not necessarily updating in real-time, the tool may be unable to access the most recent advancements, discoveries, or debates within a particular field. Consequently, relying solely on ChatGPT's responses for research purposes can lead to outdated or inaccurate information.
- Moreover, ChatGPT lacks the capacity for critical thinking and nuanced analysis. While it can provide surface-level explanations and summaries, it often fails to grasp the underlying complexities of a topic. Research involves exploring different perspectives, weighing evidence, and presenting balanced arguments. ChatGPT, however, is prone to oversimplification and may present information without considering the broader context or potential biases.
AI Doesn’t Fact-Check
- Fact-checking involves cross-referencing information with credible sources, verifying claims through rigorous research, and ensuring that the presented facts align with the current understanding of a particular topic. Human writers are well-versed in the fine art of fact-checking — mainly because their jobs are on the line.
- However, ChatGPT couldn’t really care less if the information it spits out is true or not. The validity of the information it generates depends entirely on the sources it’s fed, and unfortunately, you have no control over this part of the process.
- AI relies on pre-existing data and patterns it has been trained on, often without the capability to access real-time information or perform independent research. While AI can regurgitate information based on its training, it cannot evaluate the reliability of the sources or assess the credibility of the information it generates.
- This limitation exposes a significant challenge when it comes to relying solely on AI-generated content for factual accuracy. In an era where misinformation and fake news proliferate, it becomes crucial to have human fact-checkers who can critically analyze information and verify its authenticity.
- This is without mentioning the fact that AI models can also perpetuate biases present in the data they were trained on. If the training data contains biased or inaccurate information, the AI may reproduce and reinforce those biases in its generated content, further exacerbating the problem of misinformation.
AI Content May Underperform In The SERPs
- While AI-powered content generation has gained popularity in various industries, there are concerns about its impact on search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. Although AI can produce text that appears to be well-crafted, it often lacks the necessary nuances and quality that search engines value when ranking web pages.
- As we discussed earlier, AI-generated content, despite being grammatically correct and coherent, often lacks true originality. Since AI relies on existing data and patterns, it regurgitates information without offering a fresh perspective or novel insights. This can spell disaster for your SEO efforts, as search engines may identify such content as plagiarized or low-value, leading to lower rankings in search results.
- Another critical aspect of SEO is keyword optimization. By targeting specific keywords and incorporating them naturally into the content, websites can improve their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). However, AI-generated content may struggle with keyword optimization. While it can generate text based on keyword inputs, it often fails to strike the right balance between keyword density and readability. This can result in keyword-stuffed content that feels unnatural to readers and may be penalized by search engines.
“Content written primarily for search engines rather than humans is the issue. That’s what we’re focused on.”
— Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan discussing the crackdown on spam content
Conclusion
When it comes to SEO, the human-written copy still rules the roost, and this is partly why SEO and digital marketing services are still flourishing. ChatGPT’s surface-level, scattergun approach to optimization simply can’t compete against the creativity and ingenuity of battle-hardened SEO professionals.
AI lacks empathy, it struggles to produce the kind of copy that persuades or engages, and it can’t comment on present-day events. And while Google may struggle to identify AI-written content today, that could all change soon. By using a team of human writers, you’re keeping your readers and the search engines happy.
