I, a Writer, Tried ChatGPT. Here’s What I Learned (Part 2)
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, YOU CAN FIND PART 1 OF THIS BLOG HERE.
Since posting part one on this topic, we’ve had some interesting internal and external conversations. In fact, I made it the key talking point in our Next Page quarterly team meeting with an agenda item titled: The AI Uprising Just Got Personal: How do we defeat ChatGPT? (Kidding. Kinda).
Our internal discussion was one of relative confidence. This AI system can’t know our clients as well as we do, and if there is anything that we’ve learned working with small businesses over the last six and a half years, it’s that you can never know too much or go too deep into an industry topic. The data continues to show that consumers are attracted to real, authentic writing. We all know when we’re being sold to - and in the era of fake news, we all crave something real.
The Pros of a New Resource
If you’re looking for dry textbook content, then ChatGPT is a relatively harmless feature - granted you have the education and experience to fact check content (don’t forget, the AI-system is limited by its knowledge up until 2021). Is it the end of creativity and authentic writing? No, I don’t think so. Creatives will continue to create. And anyone looking for a shortcut - student, business professional or otherwise - will just find another way to copy/paste content if ChatGPT didn’t exist.
At first, this type of technology was keeping me up at night. But then I remembered when I was in elementary school and we had to learn the dewey decimal system in order to find books in the library. By the time I got to college, we were using Macs to find relevant articles for our research paper online. Did this make me (a type-A perfectionist student) less of a researcher? Nope. It just made me more efficient. For that reason, AI can provide a jumping off point for content that you either need a new direction for, or just can’t figure out where to start. Should it be the end-all-be-all of your content marketing strategy? Definitely not. But all of us - writers included - sometimes find the well empty when we sit down to create. If you approach AI as a resource - and little more - it can give you the starting point you need.
The Content Conundrum
Creating digestible - marketable - content is a double edge sword. Yes, a writer needs to know the content well in order to make it authentic and relevant, but you can’t know it too well, otherwise you alienate your audience. We struggle with this with our clients all the time. When it comes to casual communication with your audiences (through blogs or social media), we recommend these guidelines:
Avoid industry jargon
Maintain a high-level overview (explain the recipe but don’t give away the secret ingredient!)
Always leave room for more questions
The reality is, ChatGPT achieves each of these guidelines. And it’s a start for a blog post or even a really boring social media post. If you want to check the box for _ Did I do social media this week? Or _ Did I incorporate new content into my website this month for SEO? You can safely cross those items off your list. However, if you’re looking for something more, (hint: you should be) you’re going to need some extra brain power.
Generation Z and Creativity
Now that we know any of us have this tool available to use, it will likely be time to begin assessing people beyond their writing skills (sob!). How well do they communicate in person? How well can they speak on the nuances of this topic? How creative are they in approaching this topic from a completely different angle?
When I was teaching at UNC-Charlotte, I created a semester-long project for my students that required an individual paper, a group presentation and a group project. The groups who received “A’s” were the ones that thought completely outside the box. One group who was studying trauma literature within the Veteran population created a scrapbook from the point of view of five family members whose father had returned from war. They captured the struggle, the confusion, the loneliness. Then, as part of their group presentation, they walked the class through a drawing exercise that was meant to unlock unconscious biases or feelings that we had toward a particular topic.
They received the elusive 100/100 grade that I had not before (or since) given to a student group. I couldn’t find a flaw in their project. It not only went above and beyond to satisfy the project requirement, but they created an experience that no algorithm could have spit out.
Hey AI, Your Bias is Showing
I won’t say “avoid AI chat programs at all costs” (and who would listen to me, am I right?). Whether you approach this tool as a saving grace, or a jumping off point, I will say - without question - to use ChatGPT for topics that you are intimately familiar with.
As writers, and humans, our team gets to know our clients’ audience and industry. We go through internal edits and we double check nuances of words as well as use common sense. Even then, we are limited by our own experiences and understanding of the world. Even when we are doing our best, we can fall short in understanding how another audience might read content.
ChatGPT recognizes this limitation. An AI system cannot know as much - and definitely not more - than an experienced person in the field. This warning plagues its website in many places: While we have safeguards in place, the system may occasionally generate incorrect or misleading information and produce offensive or biased content. It is not intended to give advice.
Read further and you’ll come across an even more detailed warning:
ChatGPT may produce content that perpetuates harmful biases and stereotypes, sometimes in subtle ways. This includes generating biased or stereotypical portrayals of groups of people, which can be harmful, particularly in a context where those biases are being taught, learned or otherwise reinforced.
I took the perspective of a client who had written sensitive content for a very specific audience: therapy education towards professional Black women. I typed in a general question about Black women and therapy, and I received - surprise - a very general response.
From working with this client, we had learned the many hurdles that face Black women going to therapy (more so than other women) as well as some of the specifics of their culture that can oftentimes deter them from seeking therapy.
The response from ChatGPT could have been speaking about any group of people who are hesitant with therapy (which is a lot of people) - nothing about the content spoke specifically to Black women. And to top it off, the response lacked the empathy and understanding needed to address this sensitive topic.
Everything Will (Probably) Be Just Fine.
I’ve only scratched the surface on my thoughts around AI content. But the more I dig in, the more secure I feel about the future of writing. Heck, people can type their symptoms into Google and “diagnose” themselves if they’d rather not go to a professional. If people want a quick and dirty way to produce content for their marketing, they can take the same approach.
If anything, I welcome this type of content into the marketing conversation. Because the more “cheap and easy” content there is, the easier it’ll be for human-powered businesses to find their way to the top.
If you’re still unsure, try typing this blog topic into a chat bot. Then let me know how it goes: cassandra@turnthenextpage.com
