Generative AI is not going to replace the need for quality writers.
There are a lot of layoffs happening and in reality tools like ChatGPT will reduce the volume of boring and repetitive writing tasks. This will lower the number of people hired in content & copywriting positions moving forward. While some companies will downsize their writing staff, many other companies that neglected writing in the first place will start investing in content for the first time.
AI will end up helping more writers find employment, as long as they learn how to use them. Even though AI tools have a reputation for plug and play simplicity, using them correctly is pretty hard. You can ask for an article on a topic, and get something that’s pretty solid.
Creating an article that sounds like you wrote it will take a little more time and effort.
Writers should take the time to learn generative AI tools like ChatGPT
ChatGPT is not going to eliminate content and copywriting roles, it will be another helper akin to spellcheck.
AI tools can help any writer brainstorm faster. You can chat with ChatGPT and ask it questions. I use ChatGPT to prepare for presentations by letting me know what I should focus on. Then I respond to ChatGPT point by point and ask it to summarize my work. This helps keep the tool on track. Once any first draft is completed I get ChatGPT to adopt the role of an editor and point out mistakes. No matter how many times I pass my eyes over a document, it finds something I missed.
Tasks that previously took me 2-3 hours now can be done in an hour or less. Writing has always been a competitive field. Anything that gives you an edge should be explored.
This does not mean you get to skip your daily writing. ChatGPT will replace boring work. Not the writing you were actively practicing.
A good example is product descriptions for a random Shopify startup. These can be completely handled by a specialized generative AI tool. Chances are more complex writing will still need a human edge, meaning a salary.
Especially when it comes to things like training AIs to write in a particular voice.
As writers can do more, smaller companies will hire them
Since ChatGPT will enable a writer to handle a larger volume of writing, it empowers entrepreneurs to invest more in writing.
Currently there are a lot of roles that writers take up. You need people specialized in domains like:
Organic blog writing -
Website copy
Email writing
Social media content
PR
You can train individual chats in ChatGPT to play each of those roles based on parameters you set. Because you are a writer, you can explain to each of these chats what their job is. Then you can leverage your writing to craft really detailed prompts that get the best results.
A lot of projects get overlooked because the manpower costs are high. There are often too many players involved. What if the writer could also be an SEO specialist, Marketing analyst and editor all in one? When project managers create project scopes, one of the main things they assess is manpower costs. Lower the manpower needs and more projects get greenlit.
When a writer is equipped with the skills to use generative AI to accomplish more, they can market their services to companies that previously couldn’t handle those projects.
Like with any technological shift, a lot of archaic jobs will fall to the wayside. At the same time new opportunities will come to life. This does mean that writers will need to adapt in order to avoid perishing.
Those who don’t take the time to learn these tools may get replaced, that is unavoidable.
Currently tools like ChatGPT need to be prepared before they are useful
Everyone heard about the tale of the lawyer who used ChatGPT in a legal brief and how much trouble it caused them.
This lawyer prepared a legal brief. They used ChatGPT. ChatGPT proceeded to make up a case and this case was presented as fact. This lawyer didn’t have any skill with AI and chose not to fact check their work. Their skill with artificial intelligence may have ended their career early.
The poor lawyer’s legal brief was fact checked by a judge and it turns out ChatGPT was a liar. AI is known to hallucinate when left to its own devices. A hallucination is exactly what it sounds like, ChatGPT or its competitors will make things up. In OpenAI’s defence, they made it clear ChatGPT is not to be used for things like legal briefs. Those require a specialized tool, one that is trained to actually cross reference relevant data and stick to the facts.
Large language models (the brains behind generative AI) can be trained, but it takes some work.
In a lot of ways dealing with ChatGPT is like dealing with a child. It knows a whole bunch, but if you don’t give it clear instructions you really cannot predict what it will do. You could end up with the greatest legal brief ever, or it could cite something relevant that only happened in the tokenized testimony found within your ChatGPT history.
Fortunately (or not), training ChatGPT is actually like teaching a 6-year-old.
You need to talk to it like a human and ask it questions. You need to double check its answers, making corrections along the way. There is an art to prompting and it’s largely based in communication. Since writers are communicators, you may just be seeing the birth of a new age of computer programming. One where writers talk to the machines.
It’s basically how people write holodeck programs on Star Trek.
There’s a lot of nuance that goes into writing better prompts in ChatGPT
When it comes to getting quality output from AI, it turns out great writing is the key to your success
I was listening to the Everyday AI podcast and he interviewed a dude at OpenAI about proper prompting techniques. The subject of “prompt books” and their value came up. Jordan, host of Everyday AI, is anti paid prompts. He believes you should train the AI and learn to prompt via trial and error and he makes a great point. The OpenAI guy answered and said something like, “well I do read those paid prompts and they teach me to prompt in ways I never thought before”.
Using random prompts you find won’t get you the results you want. Seeing how other people prompt may help you prompt better. The more details you provide in a prompt, the better the output will be.
In his mind existing prompts are a great way to brainstorm new ways for you to prompt.
It’s the same thing in online writing. We all look at what other people do, get inspired and try to adopt successful techniques. Even in this article, I modified the visual component to how I wrote based on something I read earlier today.
These little techniques are all promptable.
This means in order to get really good at prompting you need to know what to ask for. When you can see the nuances in successful articles that differentiate them from weaker ones, you can then ask AI to produce better results. This is going to be what makes writing super important. At least for now it takes a knowledge of “what’s good” to ask for quality.
Anyone can ask ChatGPT for an article, but asking it for something specific, without error, takes some skillful writing.
Your goal is to be the person who can produce content & copywriting better than any fool with ChatGPT
As AI gets better there will be a lot of people who will incorrectly believe they no longer need writers.
Other companies will see your value as a writer and force you to get good with their AI tools. They will work with you to learn their company’s voice. Once you know who they are and what they require from a writer, you and your AI setup will be able to create some unique, quality content.
There is already a difference between people who understand how to use AI and people who open ChatGPT for the first time.
Like with anything else, this knowledge gap is going to make a difference. The people who get big money will be those who understand how to write, but also how to use AI to accomplish more than a writer used to be able to. Writers tapped into how AI ecosystems work will be able to invent all kinds of use cases to justify their salaries.
Think about any social media platform. The people who are on it from the beginning create content that performs way better than people who start 6 years in. This trend happens over and over again.
Knowing the limits of each generative AI tool will be worth some money.
You as a writer will not be replaced by generative AI. If you get replaced it will be because you were stubborn and lazy. Whether or not you like it, the world of ChatGPT and its competitors are here to stay. Within a few years they will be a mainstay in people’s lives.
Once upon a time people used the library for research. The ones who never learned to research online could not compete as the internet took over. The same thing is happening in the world of AI. Don’t sleep on this, get good instead.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone
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