AI-yi-yi the chatbots want my job

Enough people have asked me about AI-generated copy that I feel it’s time for me to form an actual opinion. 

I am not what people call an “early-adopter.” I never have been. I’m behind several generations of iphone, my google home app is only programmed to turn on one light in one room, and I’m still resisting the high-waist-with-crop-top look. All the times that I’ve stated I’ll never adopt a trend, only to warm up to it 3 years after everyone else has, has taught me that while I’m not change-adverse, I definitely have a strong lag reflex.

So up until the end of 2022 I blissfully ignored all news of and ads for copywriting bots. Until, over the holidays, I had several conversations about new technologies that could generate blogs, emails and web copy in split seconds. I spoke with other writers who wondered (and worried) that robot-copy would make our careers obsolete. Compassionate colleagues suggested AI could be a reliable cure for writer’s block. My inner Mean Girl voice claimed she knew all along my gig was too good to last. 

I’m keeping an open mind. I bought a few books, and subscribed to a software product, Jasper, to find out what we’re all really up against.

It’s early days yet. Here are some thoughts so far.

Garbage In, Garbage Out… but FAST

Throughout my whole career it’s been proved that an output is only as good as the input that directs it. A bad creative brief produces lackluster ad campaigns. Bad interviews produce boring articles. Vague search terms net bad results. Bad questions won’t reveal deep insights.  

So it makes sense that chatbots can only give you what you ask for. The obvious difference is how fast  it coughs up its bad-ness. I have to admit that it’s super fun to watch words appear magically faster than I can type. 

Since the new year, I’ve been playing around with Jasper AI, a SAAS that writes for you based on the prompts you give. Jasper has read 10% of the internet and holds that in his robot brain. He’s equipped with predictive text so he fills in and finishes typical sentences and paragraphs. And he picks up patterns, so if you start a listicle, Jasper will finish it as a listicle. 

Spoiler alert: the quality of Jasper’s output is directly proportional to the quality of what I, myself, type into the prompt boxes. 

I can provide input/background for fields as specific as “Title,” or “Blog Post Conclusion Paragraph.” Or I can simply ask Jasper to “Write a blog post about why writing regular blog posts is the best way for small businesses to connect with potential customers.” 

Jasper scans, picks apart and re-compiles text lightning fast. He is pre-loaded with internet content, rules and pattern-recognition. He is also equipped with deep learning, which means he “gets better” the more you work with the software. 

So I wasn’t surprised when Jasper produced the exact kind of content you would find if you…. scanned what’s already out there, played by the rules and followed set patterns. 

No new ideas. No interesting anecdotes. No creative turns of phrase: 

“Most people start a business because they want to create something that makes them proud. They want to provide something special for their customers that no one else can offer. But how do you get your message out? How do you let potential customers know why your product is the best option? The answer is simple: You need to build relationships with your customers! And what better way to do that than through regular blog posts?” ~Jasper

Multiple attempts at getting Jasper to write for me were filled with clichés, shallow ideas, and way too many question marks and exclamation points for my liking:

“Are you bored with your writing? Does it feel like the same-old, same-old every time you come to write a new post or update for your small business? Don't worry--you're not alone. Even for accomplished writers (like yourselves!), creating something fresh and exciting can be challenging. But what if there was a way to make your words pop without rewriting from scratch each time...? It's possible...you just need to muscle up those creative juices! Here are some strategies that may help bring more pizzazz to your writing style - so let's get started!” ~Jasper

I played around with my Tone of Voice inputs too: you can choose 60-characters worth of adjectives like cheeky, witty, sincere, authoritative, flirty, spooky, aggressive... Jasper recognizes some celebrity voices: Joe Rogan, Stephen King, Nicholas Sparks for example. Although he didn’t do much with my Tina Fey prompt:

“Creating content that resonates with your target audience can be intimidating for many small business owners. You don’t have to be a Pulitzer Prize winner or have an Ivy League degree—all you need is an understanding of your target market and what they want to hear. Having a clear purpose and focus when writing will help ensure that your content is tailored towards the right people.” ~Jasper

Or my Michelle Obama prompt:

“But it’s important to note that content marketing isn’t just about creating a bunch of content (ed note - I expect that’s part of the “voice”, using contractions, and colloquialisms like “bunch of”) and hoping it will magically reach the right people. It’s about creating quality, well-thought-out content on a regular basis that speaks to your target audience and provides them with value. Regularly producing high-quality content will help you build trust with potential customers and create long-term relationships — something that no amount of money ” ~ Jasper (Jasper gives up every now and then, waiting for you to input more information or  at least confirm he’s on the right track.)

So — just like a human copywriter — if you don’t provide direction that’s particularly personal, different or well-thought out, you get bland, shallow content. 

That being said, it’s super boring content in mere minutes! Whereas with bad direction, it would take me at least three hours to produce a shitty article for you, which is why I’m not in the content generation game, and why I believe companies need to up their own, internal writing game. 

This is where the rubber hits the road, my friends. There’s still no shortcut for the hard work of thinking.

If you’re going to have someone/something do your writing for you — blog posts, web pages, emails, sales pages, reports — you still need to provide a big idea, interesting research, a firm point of view, some personal anecdotes, the career insights that nobody will find googling their way through the internet. You want to use your distinct voice, an engaging style, and make your content relevant and engaging to that one, special reader.

This is the input that both Jasper and I need to write well on your behalf. And trust me, by the time you’ve entered all those fields, we’re not saving you that much time just stringing the sentences together. Jasper is FOR SURE quicker, and he doesn’t take M&M breaks. He also doesn’t ask very good questions.

I’m going to keep working with Jasper, and also with ChatGPT, because I firmly believe robot-generated writing assistance is in our/my future. And I believe this technology, like most, will ultimately provide us with amazing new ways to be creative, and use our time on better things, like improving our inputs.

“As we invent more species of AI, we will be forced to surrender more of what is supposedly unique about humans. Each step of surrender — we are not the only mind that can play chess, fly a plane, make music, or invent a mathematical law — will be painful and sad. We’ll spend the next three decades — indeed, perhaps the next century — in a permanent identity crisis, continually asking ourselves what humans are good for. If we aren't unique toolmakers, or artists, or moral ethicists, then what, if anything, makes us special? In the grandest irony of all, the greatest benefit of an everyday, utilitarian AI will not be increased productivity or an economics of abundance or a new way of doing science — although all those will happen. The greatest benefit of the arrival of artificial intelligence is that AIs will help define humanity. We need AIs to tell us who we are.” ~ Kevin Kelly, p63 of his book The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces that will Shape Our Future