As copywriters and editors, we are increasingly being asked about how recent advances in AI might impact our industry, and because it is such a hot topic at the moment, we thought it would be a good idea to briefly discuss the current situation.
AI programs such as ChatGPT, Perplexity AI, and Midjourney have been built to create content based on user input that is both coherent and grammatically correct, and while the output is indeed impressive, there are a number of key reasons why you should not completely rely on AI to write your essays, articles, personal statements, and marketing material, etc.
First, unlike a real copywriter, editor, or proofreader, AI such as ChatGPT does not think critically or creatively. It also does not possess human-like understanding, reasoning, or intuition. While the text the AI creates will make sense, it might not accurately convey the intended message or be entirely relevant to the context of the article.
Second, the originality and uniqueness of any text will be limited if you let ChatGPT do the work for you. Sure, the content will be grammatically correct and coherent, but there is more to writing than that – personal style, tone, and creativity, which come from human experiences, emotions, and insights, are integral to producing engaging content. In short, relying on the likes of ChatGPT will result in generic and repetitive material that does not stand out.
Finally, using ChatGPT to write an article or essay without letting an editor or proofreader review the text will lead to inaccuracies and potential misinformation. Although AI programs have access to a vast amount of data, they can only produce content based on said data, which might not be accurate or even up-to-date.
As such, while AI is an extremely useful tool in terms of basic content creation, it is important to remember the limitations outlined above and to not completely rely on it for writing articles, essays, manuscripts, marketing material, and other documents. In other words, the creativity, critical thinking, and editing ability of real human copywriters, editors, and proofreaders is still vital for producing original, high-quality, and engaging content.