Is it Time to Surrender to AI Overlords?
Do writers have a future?
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Is AI going to throw writers out of jobs? For the last two weeks, my eyes are sore from reading posts about writers and copywriters becoming jobless.
I had thought AI can never replace a human, but after looking at the capabilities of the latest AI writing tool — Chat-GPT (Elon Musk backed), I had a brain-freeze moment. My guesstimate says in 10 years they would have some dangerous impact on businesses.
I started worrying if I made a disastrous choice of becoming a copywriter at 38. After 12 years in the IT industry making a name for myself and earning enough to live a comfortable life, I decided I would be a writer. Whatever happens.
I suddenly wished I were in the 1960s when copywriting was in its golden time. Watch a season of MadMen if you don’t believe me.
When I read AI can deliver my Amazon packages, or that soon we will have AI-powered driverless cars, I was in awe of AI. But why am I sweating when AI can write?
Anything that does not take my job, I love AI. But anything that steals my job, I hate AI?!
FB was frequently showing me an Ad in my feed. It read — “XYZ” Never pay copywriters again. Book a free demo to see the “XYZ” tool, creating a high-converting sales letter in 30 seconds.
There are similar ads.
Never pay editors — There are Grammarly, ProWritingAid, or Instatext.
Never pay designers — Try Canva, MS designer, Adobe, and so on.
And to think AI writing tools wouldn’t exist was a lack of oversight or lack of preparation from my side. I was so concerned I asked ChatGPT about alternate career options for copywriters. Lol.
After a day of turning such thoughts over in my mind, though it still keeps churning, my answer to the million-dollar question?
Will AI writing tools leave writers and copywriters jobless?
I would say — Yes and No.
But it will not be that bad for us writers after all. Here’s why.
- AI can write well-known topics in seconds. Why is cybersecurity so crucial for your organization? How to make peanut butter? 5 proven ways to make $1000 online. So if you need to write generic stuff, then this can be a good jumping-off point for content.
But AI alone will not be ok for highly specialized topics. Lesson? Specialize.
2. AI can write drafts of short FB Ads or even google Ads. Or even a sales page. Heck! You could ask it to write a LinkedIn post or a tweet about some topic. You can spring up tweets and fire new articles in seconds. Talk about consistency.
Business owners and writers can very well use AI to bounce ideas off the internet. It’s like exchanging ideas. So a business owner with a shoestring budget or a new writer can very well play around to see where it takes.
Lesson? Use AI. Don’t let AI use you.
3. AI writes sensible English and doesn’t need fixing typos and stuff. AI writes statistics and facts from the top of its head, so you have to verify its claims. But it can help add to whatever point you’re trying to make.
Lesson? AI is still in the nascent stage. Don’t rely on it completely.
4. AI cannot pick the nuance of a human mind yet. Does the content it produces flow? Almost. Is it grammatically accurate? Yes. Can you publish it instantly? No. No. No. What it lacks is personality.
Sure, AI can help in researching your topic without getting lost in research or analysis paralysis. And even help in setting the tone for an article if you’re finding it hard. You can ask it to write an intro by infusing some humor. And then take it along in your direction.
Lesson? Take this opportunity to let your personality shine.
5. AI cannot produce content for stuff not already on the internet. Say a new product. I’m sure no one’s reinventing the wheel, but most new businesses have a differentiating USP. AI is not good enough to capture it and write like an actual writer or copywriter.
Lesson? Be on the lookout for opportunities where AI has not invaded yet.
6. AI cannot write your life story. Thank God! We are unique with unique experiences. It cannot write your adrenaline-rushing para-gliding, or the lessons life taught you the hard way. Even if you are not great at words, AI cannot write about stuff that happened to you or stuff that shows up in your mind.
Lesson? Writers have survived for thousands of years. AI can also empower writers and not restrict writers.
7. This powerful AI stuff can help crush those writing blocks. I asked it to give me fiction writing prompts. It did. I asked it to write a cover letter as a new copywriter expressing interest in a job opportunity. AI wrote it much better than the many cold emails I receive every week. Looks like it’s time to take inspiration from AI now.
Lesson? Use AI creatively and brace for the storm. It has arrived. Time to make ketchup when tomatoes are tossed in your face.
What’s in the future?
As I was whiling away my time in disbelief, wasting hours playing with AI tools, the imposter syndrome showed up and started scaring me as usual.
Writer? You? AI tools are the new-gen writers. I knew your writing career wouldn’t take off. Back off. Only the top cream of actual writers would stand a chance. You should have stuck to the good old 9 AM to 9 PM soul-sucking job to at least pay your bills. How can you face your family and friends who had warned you? They will laugh at you now for your career choice. You are doomed, Brinda. You are too late for the party. What else can you do? You lazy a**!
I asked my reasoning mind to come up with something to save my face. What if nobody hires me? My good mind said — You can create your own blog or website and get AI to write content for it. What is your Plan B?
Have you heard stories of wild animals losing their ferocity? Why? To preserve wildlife, many governments ensure the forest department provides sufficient meat to the wild animals. With easy access to food, animals in the forest have lost their ability to hunt.
Similarly, if we become ultra-dependent on AI, eventually, even we’ll lose our individuality, creativity, and imagination. Humans will no longer remain intellectually superior compared to other creatures. AI robots might laugh at us, stupid creatures who led to our downfall.
Let me circle back to the main topic of this article. Will writers lose their jobs? Would a million-dollar company (or any business worth its weight) give its content to an AI writer completely?
As they say, when live gives you lemons, you ought to make a lemonade. Leverage AI and move on.
Here is a quote from Hemmingway to close this. (courtesy ChatGPT)
I asked: Write a powerful quote from Hemmingway as a tweet. Its answer is below.
“But man is not made for defeat,” he said. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” — Ernest Hemingway #motivation #inspiration
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