Does ChatGPT pose an existential menace to entrepreneurs? | MarTech

Welcome to my first column for MarTech, the place I’ll instantly and publicly admit I’m struggling by means of an existential disaster that started on November 30, 2022…

A full-blown, real-life, mind-bending, core-gripping conundrum, the type that causes an individual to right away reposition or curl up within the fetal place. I name my quandary existent-AI-lism. 

I think about that almost all entrepreneurs have been feeling the identical since that fateful day when OpenAI launched ChatGPT and we went from imagining what AI may do to seeing what it would do, to and for our career.

Or as I wish to name it, the day Skynet despatched the Terminator. 

Dig deeper: AI in marketing: 7 areas where it shines and struggles

AI is okay — and it’s simply getting began

Over the previous 12 months, we’ve seen glimpses of how AI may affect our artistic career and advertising and marketing world. Frankly, it’s been enjoyable – like a go to to Jurassic Park earlier than the dinos found out the fences aren’t electrified. 

Admit it, you’ve created handsomer and extra heroic variations of your self with Lensa, which makes use of AI to generate photo-realistic photographs like my headshot. 

Or used the extra clever and fascinating Midjourney, which in just some minutes created the AI-inspired customized art work for this column’s hero picture.

However whereas AI-generated selfies are definitely intriguing and enjoyable, they rapidly turned quaint in comparison with the brand new AI-driven, internet-searching, info-generating reply engine that’s ChatGPT, probably the most spectacular and heralded of this primary era of AI-generated, conversation-driven, language-based expertise.

I admit, I really feel threatened by its unprecedented functionality to answer user-generated, pure language queries with practically instantaneous content material creation. However I really feel when contemplating it as a research and content curation tool.

I don’t suppose it would substitute us entrepreneurs, strategists, planners or creatives within the rapid future. That can be Terminator 2. No, my disaster comes from pondering it would trigger most individuals, executives, purchasers and managers to suppose it might substitute us. Right here’s why.

I requested ChatGPT the next query: 

“Give me a 500-word article about the ethical and practical implications ChatGPT and AI-driven content creation will have on marketing, marketers and advertising agencies. Style is casual but smart with a little bit of wit.” 

Right here’s what it “contemplated” and “created.”

ChatGPT and different AI-driven content material creation instruments have the potential to revolutionize the advertising and marketing and promoting trade. On one hand, they provide a degree of effectivity and personalization that was beforehand unattainable. However then again, they increase numerous moral and sensible issues that should be thought of.

From an moral standpoint, one of many largest issues with AI-generated content material is that it could possibly be used to unfold misinformation or propaganda. As a result of the algorithms behind these instruments will not be at all times clear, it could be troublesome to hint the supply of false info and maintain these accountable accountable. Moreover, there’s a danger that AI-generated content material may perpetuate biases which can be constructed into the info units it’s skilled on, resulting in additional marginalization of sure teams.

One other moral concern is the potential for AI-generated content material to displace human staff. As these instruments develop into extra superior and broadly adopted, there’s a danger that they may substitute jobs which have historically been performed by copywriters, entrepreneurs and different artistic professionals.

From a sensible perspective, there are additionally numerous issues that have to be addressed. One of many largest challenges with AI-generated content material is making certain that it is top quality and that it aligns with a model’s general messaging and tone. There’s additionally the query of the right way to measure the effectiveness of AI-generated content material, as it could be troublesome to tell apart between what has been generated by a machine and what has been written by a human.

Regardless of these issues, there isn’t any denying the potential that AI-driven content material creation instruments like ChatGPT have for the advertising and marketing and promoting trade. For one factor, they can be utilized to generate extremely personalised content material that’s tailor-made to particular person shoppers. This may be significantly efficient relating to e mail advertising and marketing, social media promoting and different types of digital advertising and marketing.

Moreover, ChatGPT and different AI-generated content material instruments may assist to enhance the effectivity of the content material creation course of. By automating sure duties, similar to writing product descriptions or creating social media posts, entrepreneurs can spend extra time on higher-level duties like technique and evaluation.

In conclusion, whereas ChatGPT and different AI-driven content material creation instruments have the potential to revolutionize the advertising and marketing and promoting trade, in addition they increase numerous moral and sensible issues that should be addressed. These issues embrace the potential unfold of misinformation, displacement of human staff and the necessity to make sure that the AI-generated content material is of top of the range and aligned with the model’s messaging. Regardless of this, the potential advantages are plain, similar to the power to generate personalised and environment friendly content material, it might be as much as the trade and society to search out methods to mitigate the problems and make use of the advantages.

Dig deeper: When I asked ChatGPT to write an article about ChatGPT

Spectacular outcomes, simply not insightful solutions

So, what do you concentrate on ChatGPT’s response and duplicate above? Right here’s a touch — it’s positive.

Now I’ll be the primary to confess, it’s fairly spectacular when you think about it was machine-driven in mere seconds. I imply, like click on, tick, increase. 

Thoughts-blowing? Sure. 

Time-saving? Undoubtedly. 

However job-ending? Not but. 

That’s as a result of after selecting my jaw up off the ground and rereading it, it feels prefer it was written by a highschool pupil who spent 10 hours googling the topic, copied and pasted content material from their prime search pages right into a Phrase doc, wrote an similar intro and conclusion, then congratulated themselves on their obviousness. 

At worst, you would possibly say these AI-driven texts don’t yield helpful insights or related outputs as a result of they’re contextually void of my intent and emotionally thoughtless of the viewers’s wants. And I’ll concur that’s true. 

At greatest you would possibly say, however isn’t that simply positive? Properly, positive isn’t adequate once we know that our audiences, consumers and prospects need manufacturers to make them really feel understood, heard, thought of and valued. 

With out people actively sculpting and shaping AI, it might solely generate “good enough.” And as everyone knows, “good enough” ends in artistic content material that hardly causes individuals to react — and fairly often to reject. Simply ask Marvel. 

Don’t get me flawed, I’m in awe of a device that out-googles Google in its capacity to scour the web to contextually discover set up and generate related and relevant content material in seconds versus what would possibly take me, my strategists or copywriters’ hours or days to search out and assemble. 

Possibly that’s why Microsoft invested $10B in OpenAI for Bing. It’s not simply an progressive different to look — it’s the way forward for search, a simpler start line for querying and a shortcut to synopsis. 

So can AI-driven instruments like ChatGPT generate useful insights and work on their very own with out us serving to to assemble info, reply questions and generate outputs just like the modern-day blacksmiths of manufacturers that we have to develop into? 

Something that condenses time to info, time to manufacturing and time to market is a advertising and marketing benefit. However extra vital than the output for these AI engines is the enter, which at the moment nonetheless depends on an individual who can suppose critically and creatively about the issue to be solved and the individuals to be affected. 

Solutions aren’t the one reply to advertising and marketing. Nice advertising and marketing at all times begins with asking higher questions. That’s the place the crucial pondering and essential work will get performed.

Nice advertising and marketing takes intelligence that AI doesn’t but have and nonetheless makes us people a mandatory a part of the system for breakthrough work. As a result of with out us, with out our inquisitiveness, with out our need to hook up with others, with out our innate must push additional, we simply get lazy inputs and apparent outputs from AI. 

And preserve this in thoughts, our consumers aren’t lazy. They’re doing their diligence, their analysis, their comparisons, their consumption — and now they’re doing it with AI condensing their search, consideration and comparability course of. Should you don’t need AI to make the selections about the way you present as much as them, you’ll nonetheless must put money into creativity. In insights. In concepts. 

One among my copywriters at the moment shared that she used ChatGPT to mainly write a six-page place paper in quarter-hour. She shook her head and stated, “That would have taken me three days to find all that information and organize it.” 

I instructed her, effectively now you’ve three days to consider what to do with it and what’s subsequent for the consumer. And to me, that’s the worth. 

Time is the worth. No extra legwork, no extra ready, no extra questioning what and the place the knowledge we wish exists. With AI, we develop into bionic, enhanced and accelerated. For an important issues, AI enhances us, not replaces us. We develop into the Terminator.

Luckily, ChatGPT and different AI-driven search/analysis/content material creation instruments received’t but trigger our career’s extinction in the way in which that the asteroid worn out the dinosaurs.

However much more lucky for us, it would set forth a series response that can change our career, accelerating profound progress in the way in which that steam engines, vehicles, electrical energy and the web have performed earlier than — besides quicker than any of these. 

We could lose some jobs and menial duties to AI, however I don’t suppose anybody misses elevator operators or stagecoach drivers anymore they usually received’t miss writing 30-word social posts both. 

So, welcome the Terminator into your work and firm workflow or put together to “hasta la vista, baby.”