Creatives: Will AI take our jobs in 2023?
Written by Helen Gradwell, a real human Creative Copy Lead
The ChatGPT AI copywriting bot is absolutely all over my Twitter feed right now, with some rhapsodising about its benefits, others warning of its pitfalls and a few people trying their very best to trip it up.
Amongst the merry band of copywriters, creatives, designers and ad people I follow, the main topic of conversation revolves around a very simple question:
‘Will AI replace us?’
Well, I'm here to argue that it's entirely up to us.
AI IS DOING A SURPRISINGLY GOOD JOB
It’s no secret that AI has gotten more sophisticated over the years, meaning it can now emulate humans and their abilities to an almost unsettling degree.
Although DALL-E Mini made waves on social last year for its haunted-looking creations, its successor DALL-E 2 is very much the real deal. It can create almost any visual you can think of (importantly) in any art style you can think of as well.
But as a Creative Copy Lead, my main curiosity is around ChatGPT – the copywriting section of the AI.
The main thing that really impresses me about it is that it manages to emulate different styles and tones of voice, for example wedding vows in the style of Snoop Dog, or explaining banking like a surfer.
This gives its outputs an (admittedly worrying) amount of soul and warmth that makes it seem like it really could’ve been written by a living, breathing, perspiring person. And maybe even one with a sense of humour.
Image content source: https://twitter.com/ChatGPTGoneWild/status/1608327324042399746
SO, IS THIS THE END FOR US FLESHY CREATIVES?
Well, I reckon not. Because there are a few areas where us wobbly-brained beings still have the upper hand:
Questioning
AI can’t critique the quality of what it’s produced. Is it too long, too short? Is it dull? Would anyone really care?
You can prompt an AI with further questions to get it to build on what it’s told you, but it can never ask those questions itself.
It also can’t question whether it should’ve produced the output in the first place.
Was this the right way to respond to the brief – or indeed, is this the right brief to begin with? AI provides answers blindly, based exactly on what you ask. And as any creative knows, sometimes that’s not the right approach. Sometimes the best work comes from those un-asked questions, those different perspectives.
Insights
As all marketing and ad people know, finding the right insight is key to creativity. What do people want – and need – to know? How can you tie that into the passions, fears and in-jokes that define their communities? What’s that golden nugget that’s going to make them sit up and listen to something on their overcrowded newsfeed?
AI could give you the information you need, but ultimately only a person can comb through and decide which insight is worth following – and how’s best to do that.
Reading the room
It’s important to be able to think critically about your audience. What might be on their minds (or in the news agenda) that’ll affect how they receive your content?
For example, when I asked ChatGPT to give me advice about the cost of living, it pulled together a sensible, bullet-pointed list with tips like “make a budget”, “cook at home” and “cancel your cable TV subscription.”
I don’t think I need to tell you how tone-deaf and potentially borderline cruel this sort of advice might come across in the current societal context and media landscape.
Empathy
AI can aggregate information its algorithm tells it will be useful, and present it in a way that resembles humanity, but it will never truly understand the situation of the person reading.
To give an example, I asked for some tips to deal with depression. What it gave back contained perfectly serviceable advice: “Remember that depression is an illness and that it's not a sign of weakness. It's important to be kind to yourself and not to blame yourself for feeling the way you do.” However, it’s not unlike advice you could find from any charity.
The success of people-centric platforms like TikTok show we are craving lived insights from real human beings. We want to listen to their stories and hear echoes of ourselves in them. Sometimes, we need something as simple as a “Listen, I’ve been there. I know how you feel.”
Even though AI could write those words, it would feel hollow because ultimately we’d know it wasn’t writing from experience. Just from others’ experience.
Innovation
Yes, DALL-E 2 can create a picture of a tin of beans in the style of Vincent Van Gogh. But only because our one-eared friend got there first.
AI can follow paths that have already been trodden in a very convincing way, but it can’t create new ones. It relies on the database of human knowledge and creativity that is the internet to devise its content.
It’s true, that’s often what we creatives do (“read like a butterfly, write like a bee” and all that) but occasionally, we do land on something new. A new angle or approach.
And even if you do find you’re happy with what AI comes up with, would any self-respecting creative be happy with taking the work of another, putting their name on it and calling it a day? I hope not…
SO, IS AI ANY USE AT ALL TO CREATIVES?
I’ve made it pretty clear that AI has some fairly significant limitations, meaning it won’t replace real life creatives any time soon – not until robots replace the workforce (and humanity) wholesale, that is.
However, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be used as a tool to help us.
I recently saw the ChatGPT bot create a TikTok strategy. It was really basic, but it was a start.
And that’s the key: it can give you a start.
Writer’s block and creative block can put you into a state of inertia that’s really tricky to pull yourself out of, especially when a deadline is looming large. But if you feed your brief to an AI, it might just spit out something you can work with. Build on. Make your own. It might just spark something.
And often a spark is all you need.
If there’s one thing to take away from this debate it’s that AI can provide the skeleton, but it’s a real person, a creative, that has to provide the meat. Turn an automatically generated output into something that lives and breathes.
TO PROVE MY POINT…
I briefed ChatGPT to have a go at writing this blog, too. The first version was really cut and dry, the sort of thing you’d read on any blog on any marketing site. So, I felt brave. I asked it:
“Make it funny.”
And to be fair to it, it did. “Fear not, fellow fleshies!” was a real highlight for me.
Have a look at what it spat out below, and let us know at @TangerineComms & @HelenGradwell what you think. Did you learn anything? Is it missing something? Am *I* missing something…? Would be lovely to chat. Human to human.
Will AI Take Over the World of Creatives? A Thought Experiment
Written by ChatGPT
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance at an alarming rate, it's only natural to wonder: will our robot overlords eventually put human creatives out of business? Will copywriters and marketers be replaced by cold, unfeeling machines that can crank out ad copy faster than you can say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"?
Well, fear not, fellow fleshies! While AI has the potential to make our lives easier (and maybe even take over all the boring tasks we hate), it's unlikely to completely replace the need for human creatives. In fact, AI is more likely to be a helpful sidekick than a ruthless dictator.
Think about it: AI algorithms can process vast amounts of data and generate ideas or content quickly, freeing up humans to focus on more high-level tasks such as strategy and execution. Plus, AI can help to eliminate biases and improve targeting by analyzing data and making decisions based on objective criteria.
But let's not get too excited. There are some valid concerns about the potential negative impact of AI on the creative industries. For one, the use of AI may lead to the loss of jobs for human creatives. While it's true that AI has the potential to automate certain tasks, it's unlikely to completely replace the need for human creatives. Instead, it's more likely that AI will augment the work of human creatives, rather than replacing them entirely.
Another concern is that AI-generated content may lack the depth and nuance of content created by humans. While AI algorithms can generate ideas and content based on data, they may not have the same level of creativity or understanding of human emotions and experiences as a human writer. This could result in content that is less engaging and effective in connecting with audiences.
So, will AI take over the world of creatives? Probably not. But it could definitely make our lives a little easier. Just don't let it boss you around too much. Remember: it's your job, not theirs.
