As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, it has become the source of fear for the content writing community. The latest advancement in the field is ChatGPT, a large language model (LLM)-driven AI which can process human input and provide relevant text outputs. And it terrified freelancers, particularly young copywriters as they are stepping into an already saturated market. They feel a direct competition to an AI system and also worry about their career prospects.
But not all is lost. The reality is that AI has a long way to go in order to be a tangible replacement for par with a human being’s writing. As Faiza Ramim, a student of the Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University and content writer at PolyUno states, “You have to use your common sense for a lot of it, something AI still can’t do.” This is in part due to the fact that AI cannot understand emotion (yet!) and the kind of emotion that the write can put into their work, which the AI cannot mimic. Clients also have specific tones in their work and require a human to cooperate with.
This brings us to the issue of how businesses are responding to ChatGPT. Normally when there is a lack of experience, companies tend to look for something cheap and in this case ChatGPT can be seen as something even more attractive to companies than any new writer. Muhtasim Sarowat Rayed, the founder of UpThrust, a content-based blog, says, “Businesses and owners who think copywriting and content writing are things everyone can do will go with ChatGPT because it seems to do the basics of those tasks adequately. But it will create a glut of very samey sounding copies and content that will blur together.”
The problem, then, is that businesses want engaging content and this is something AI cannot really provide. As an illustration, take Wendy’s Twitter account which features an identifiable sarcastic tone and how this kind of voice cannot be replicated by AI at this point. Similarly, if a business is relying solely on AI for their content, opportunities for growth will be lost as the audience engagement will be lacking in comparison.
The best way to go then, is to make use of AI as tools. It is not just a battle between humans and AI, they can operate collaboratively. Ali Fiaz, with a background in copywriting, has expertise in this and shares, “Clients look for creative people who can bring something unique to the table. Some small businesses use ChatGPT, yes, but you’ll see that they are not putting a lot of effort into their social media content, so the business ends up not growing anyway.” AI can surely organise idea in a cohesive manner, get ideas for content and thus serve as an assistant. Nusaibah F. Yunus, a content writer and student at North South University, uses AI tools to deal with burnouts or with brands she doesn’t understand to begin with.
In conclusion, it is important to note that complex sentences, language nuances and human-like characteristics cannot be replicated by AI just yet. This means that the copywriting industry is still safe from complete automation as of now, despite how advanced ChatGPT or any other AI system is. Rather than competing against the AI, writers can use it as a support tool, which in turn helps them work better and faster. Companies and businesses have to remember to lookout for humans who can provide something fresh to their work else they may lack the creative quality they need, missing the chance to grow. All in all, it is the folks who can keep up with the times that will stand alive, making use of the resources they get.
