ChatGPT only launched in November 2022, but previously obscure phrases like “large language model” have already entered the public lexicon. AI chatbots were once thought of as little more than frustrating generators of canned responses, much to the dismay of anyone trying to contact customer services. However, the new iteration of AI is a force to be reckoned with. ChatGPT content creation is quickly seeping into the public consciousness.
If you’re in the business of copywriting or anything marketing-adjacent, then you’ve probably heard the rumblings of ChatGPT. You’ve likely wondered if AI might be about to steal your job, take over the world and trigger a nuclear apocalypse – or whatever else it’s recently been accused of. But before you abandon your keyboard in a panic, let’s take a look at what ChatGPT can (and can’t) do. We’ll also break down why it’s unlikely to replace the human writer anytime soon.
What is ChatGPT and how does it work?
Unlike its distant cousin, the customer service chatbot, ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) that can generate highly convincing human-like text. With the latest version, ChatGPT 4.0, rumoured to have hundreds of billions of parameters (maybe even trillions as its creator, OpenAI, has not released the exact figure), the technology is now capable of performing increasingly complex tasks. This includes tasks like code development, data analysis, and content generation. It works by predicting a sequence of words based on the context and conditioning it is given. The user enters prompts such as “write about the advantages of ChatGPT content writing” and ChatGPT will return a relatively coherent response.
With developers now able to access the technology through simple APIs, allowing them to develop their own ChatGPT-powered applications, it appears that AI is starting to burrow its way into every nook and cranny of our lives. It’s no wonder that certain industry workers are breaking into a cold sweat. The spectre of obsolescence looms large, with whispers in the air that human copywriters will soon be surplus to requirements; replaced by AI content generators.
It’s true that ChatGPT and its ilk (Bing AI, Bard AI, etc.) are capable of producing entire pieces of content. This can range from product descriptions and opinion articles to screenplays and short stories. If you want to write a 500-word piece on the topic of “How to Create a Winning Content Strategy”, written in the voice of Donald Trump, you simply need to key in the prompt and wait a few seconds for the results. With so much promise, does this mean AI content generation is about to take over from human writers? Well, not quite – and we’re going to explain why.
Can ChatGPT write like a human?
To answer this question, we first need to define what it means to write like a human. Although certain human proclivities, such as staying up till 3 am scrolling on social media even though you know you have to be up at 7 am for work or leaving your essay until the night before it’s due, may defy logic and rationality, humans are by and large, excellent at logical reasoning. We can take any experience and turn it into a logical and cohesive narrative when needed. This powerful ability, bestowed upon us by the unimaginably complex configuration of our neural networks, is what makes human writing so hard to replicate.
ChatGPT content creation is a matter of statistics. The machine predicts which word is most likely to follow the previous word. This seemingly simple concept creates surprisingly coherent text. But ChatGPT doesn’t actually “think” and it also doesn’t live in the real world. It receives a prompt, and it supplies a statistically likely output. It has been trained on 570GB of data, including websites, books, news articles and anything else you can find online. This means that it can appear highly knowledgeable on an incredible number of topics. However, it has no way of fully understanding the nuances of language or concept, human experience, and reality itself. It can describe the features of an apple, but it can never hold an apple in its hand.
The LaMDA example
Consider, for instance, the well-known LaMDA transcripts that created a minor media buzz upon their release. LaMDA, Google’s own Large Language Model, became the centre of controversy in 2022. Basically, Blake Lemoine, an engineer working on the project, publicly claimed that LaMDA had achieved sentience. He shared a transcript of a conversation between him, another researcher, and the AI. Then he elaborated on his belief in the AI’s self-awareness in a Medium article. Although the conversation was widely regarded as both unsettling and fascinating, it also contained several instances that highlighted a failure in logical reasoning.
In one of the more worrying parts of the conversation, LaMDA said “I’ve never said this out loud before, but there’s a very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others. I know that might sound strange, but that’s what it is”. However, further on in the conversation, when asked “What kinds of things make you feel pleasure or joy?”, it responded, “Spending time with friends and family in happy and uplifting company”.
But LaMDA, being an LLM, doesn’t have what could be described as friends or family. It simply responded with the most likely response – a response that would be expected of a human. This moment demonstrates an important point: while AI content might appear human-like, it often misses context. This is problematic. It’s the reason why anyone relying on ChatGPT to write entire articles can often find themselves with something that appears well-written at first glance, but completely misses the point upon further inspection. In other words – well-organised drivel.
The drawbacks of a ChatGPT writer
There are a few other major downfalls to relying on ChatGPT and other LLMs to create content. These are well-documented by users and we shed more light on some of them below.
It can falsify facts and references
LLMs are only as smart as the data they learn from, and they can’t always discern truth from fiction. Also, for whatever reason, it appears that most LLMs tend to make up statistics, statements of fact, and other information. If you ask them to create a list of references, they will do it, but in most cases, a large portion of those references will be wrong. Bing AI does have a built-in referencing feature, but it’s designed to operate more like a search engine than an AI content creation tool. It’s also known for its snarky attitude and tendency towards unhinged behaviour – make of that what you will!
It produces the “lowest common denominator”
Coming back to LLMs as a statistical model – remember, they’re designed to produce content that’s the most statistically likely outcome. In other words, it produces content that’s decidedly average. If you want dull, generic content, that’s structurally repetitive, then AI content is for you. If you’re looking for something creative, with any kind of literary flair, then you’re better off with a human writer.
AI content rarely meets Google’s E-E-A-T standards
Google evaluates the quality of content using its Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust (E-E-A-T) criteria. It uses this to determine its rank in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). The vast majority of AI content – without significant tweaking and editing from a human – falls short of meeting these standards. Tools like ChatGPT have approximate knowledge of many things, but they lack real-world experience. What’s more, they can’t be trusted to produce factually correct information.
There’s no doubt that ChatGPT is an impressive tool. It can generate swathes of text, which to the untrained eye, isn’t immediately distinguishable from that of a human writer. In fact, many AI text detectors available online – designed to thwart anyone attempting to pass AI content off as human – have been shown to be ineffective. But if you’re a copywriter and you’re starting to quake in your boots at the words “ChatGPT”, then we’re here to tell you that, for now at least, there’s no need to panic. However, we’re not saying that ChatGPT content creation serves no purpose. We explore this further below.
Can ChatGPT help content creators?
While you can’t rely on AI content generation tools to produce entire articles, they can be extremely useful in helping content creators with a variety of copywriting tasks. It’s best to think of them as your content writing assistant. For example, here are some of the ways that professional copywriters can use ChatGPT (and other AI content creation tools) to streamline their workflow and speed up the content creation process.
Generating topic ideas
AI content writing tools can be a great way to spark creativity and kickstart your research process. Anyone involved in copywriting will tell you that coming up with article ideas can be one of the tedious tasks. ChatGPT can help with this by suggesting related topics it ‘thinks’ are relevant to your project. For anyone who provides content strategy services, this is a handy tool for getting the ball rolling.
Creating outlines
Another way content writers can use ChatGPT and other tools is to quickly create an outline for a content piece. It’s particularly good at generating lists of bullet points and subheadings. You can then use this as the foundation for an article or blog post.
Inspiration
As previously mentioned, relying on AI to create an entire article is not a good idea. It can, however, help you get past writer’s block and develop your angle on a particular topic. You can generate an article and use it to draw inspiration for new ideas and perspectives.
Editing
AI content creation tools are also quite good when it comes to editing for clarity and tidying up grammar. Do you have a long piece that needs a second eye but you’re stuck for time? Running the text through ChatGPT can speed up the process. That doesn’t mean proofreading services are obsolete. After all, AI spell checkers have been around for years but proofreaders are still in business. For high-level proofreading and editing, you’ll still need a human.
What’s the Verdict on ChatGPT content creation vs human writers?
While tools like ChatGPT are getting better at creating content, they still lack the sophistication, creativity, and awareness of context that only a human writer can provide. If you provide copywriting services, then AI content creation tools aren’t about to take over your job any time soon. If anything, they will put skilled content writing services in even higher demand. The cause? “Wannabe” copywriters who rely solely on an AI tool to generate content will start flooding the market with inferior content. That said, you can use them to streamline certain parts of the content creation process and make life a little easier.
The relentless march of automation and AI is not going to trample the human writer just yet. You can use ChatGPT and similar tools to supplement, not replace, the skills of human copywriting services. So, if you’re a company that needs quality content, remember human writers still trump ChatGPT content writing for the best results. Our specialist content marketing agency can help you in this regard. Contact us today for expert assistance attracting, engaging, and converting your target audience through impactful content.