Long before there was ChatGPT, there was my dad. My experience with this human precursor of AI technology goes all the way back to elementary school. If I had a homework assignment, I would ask him to review it and get his feedback on how to improve it. He took it as a licence to rewrite it in his voice, much to the chagrin of my teachers.
Just imagine a Cambridge-educated, Ph.D.-holding academic getting his hands on a seventh-grade social studies assignment. My first draft was awash in a sea of red ink. I rewrote the project in his words, looking up every third word in the dictionary. The assignment read more like a master’s thesis defence than a 12-year-old’s essay. I was a good student, but not that good.
Fast forward to the present day, where virtually everyone has access to an AI tool that can create content, art, music, and videos and even assist in writing essays and term papers (note that I said 'assist'). ChatGPT garnered 100 million monthly active users within two months of its launch. Numerous professions have capitalized on this technology, including digital marketing. It can be an effective way to improve campaigns and connect with a target audience. Content creators benefit from suggestions on blog posts, headlines, opening sentences, and other creative resources. However, just as with my earlier anecdote, utilizing AI (or Ph.D-level academics) as a ghostwriter begs the question:
Does this content reflect your voice? In the digital marketing space, does it reflect your brand’s voice?
Having undergone the task of constructing your brand messaging platform, you are well aware of the extensive time and effort required to determine brand values, personality, and tone of voice.
These are elements that ChatGPT simply can’t grasp.
The content generated by AI is based on more than 300 billion words scraped from various sources such as global news outlets, online texts, Wikipedia, articles, and other resources, but not derived from a carefully crafted marketing strategy. Merely relying on AI to produce content will fail to reflect the brand messaging platform that you have collaborated on with your client. There are also SEO limitations when it’s asked to use specific keywords.
The limitations of AI should always be considered.
Lastly, ChatGPT lacks the creativity and originality only humans can provide. (Have you seen its jokes?!) Because it is drawing from a finite source of information, it essentially plagiarizes itself. It takes a human touch to create unique content that connects with an audience and elicits an emotional reaction. While you can input examples of brand voice and tone, ChatGPT’s attempts to mimic a similar tone falls a little flat.
While AI can help content marketers with blogs, social posts, headlines and other assets, it still requires a lot of refinement, and an experienced content strategist to help separate your brand from the competition.
Share
