(not written by ChatGPT)
My immediate reaction when I first heard of this new mega-tool bordered on pure terror. AI is basically coming for my job—what the sweet funk am I going to do…
Then, I moved into the arrogant indignation phase. I’m a tortured genius! There’s no machine that can learn to think and write like I do! Back in your box, robot. This will be crap, just like the other AI writing tools I played around with a year ago. It’ll fade out. Just ignore it.
Finally, I thought I should give it a try. From everything I’ve read and heard, ChatGPT and whatever comes afterwards is inevitable. If you don’t embrace the future then you’ll get eaten by it.
I don’t want to be eaten.
So, I’ve spent most of yesterday afternoon typing in prompts to reproduce copy from old briefs, perform research tasks, analyse how companies come across, and even write comedy.
7 things I learnt about ChatGPT:
- I much preferred my old copy to ChatGPT’s new copy, which was a relief.
- There’s always something intangible missing in the AI copy, however well-structured and natural sounding it is. It’s like it’s been written by someone who’s read all the books and studied all the techniques but would bore you to salty tears in any sort of social situation.
- BUT ChatGPT is seriously fucking impressive nonetheless. It will change things forever, possibly in some existential, apocalyptic way, and I need to master it.
- Eventually, I think that most copy will be written by AI. It produces very passable work that will do a job quickly and cheaply, and obviously that will appeal to a lot of businesses.
- But the best copy, the stuff that stands out, still needs a good human brain even if AI is involved in the process in some way.
- As a tool for research and analysis, this could be massively beneficial. It’s not perfect and it doesn’t give you all the answers, but with the right prompts you can discover a hell of a lot in a short amount of time. As a starting point, midway check-in, or final review on copy projects, this could be my favourite new tool.
- Chat GPT is NOT funny. Even if you give it examples of funny and ask it to be funny in the same way, it just misses the mark somehow and makes you feel sad. Comedy writers can relax, I think.
As a fan of Blade Runner, I’m instinctively scared by AI. But if used well, it could be like having a super-keen apprentice to help you on projects, contribute ideas and insights, take away some of your headaches and ultimately lead to better copy. And you barely have to pay it.
This might be the beginning of the end for our species, but count me in.