It’s been a few months since ChatGPT launched, and we’ve purposely stayed mum on the subject until we could assess the product and determine our stance as a team. Now we have one, and it’s this: AVC won’t be using ChatGPT for copywriting anytime soon (if ever).
When the world first learned about ChatGPT and started experimenting with the AI for content generation, there was a lot of excitement — and also plenty of nervousness from people who thought their jobs would be in jeopardy. (That was us. We were “people.”)
But now that everyone’s had more time with ChatGPT, the excitement and nervousness are quelling a bit. Here’s why … It’s just not a very good copywriter.
In this post, we’ll explore the reasons we aren’t using ChatGPT for writing — plus, some things to watch out for in case you decide to use it and the ways in which the technology can actually be useful.
ChatGPT is not a good long-form copywriter.
We know we’re biased, but we’ve really challenged ourselves to take an objective stance here. We’ve also traded numerous “which version of this text was generated by ChatGPT?” guessing games among ourselves, so we feel super qualified to comment.
If we were to give ChatGPT a grade for writing, we’d give it a D, especially for long-form writing. While it can generate text, it tends to be rather repetitive, dry and boring, and lacking in originality. It’s not as creative as we are. It’s not as funny as we are (obviously). And it often declines to generate negative content, which — newsflash — sometimes is needed.
It’s super generic.
Here’s what we’ve told our clients: If all you’re looking for is content and not sourcing, marketing messaging, creativity or soul, then by all means use ChatGPT.
That may sound like we’re trying to persuade people against using it, but we’re really not. We have some clients who use it to create filler content for their websites, and ChatGPT does an adequate job for them, which is great. (Of course, there are still mixed opinions on how AI-generated content affects SEO.)
Just keep in mind that ChatGPT’s range is limited. If you have a specific brand voice, for example, you are unlikely to get a great piece of content from it. And unless you have perfected the art of prompt writing, you’ll likely get back something little better than drivel.
It’s not guaranteed to be accurate.
It’s well-documented — and confirmed by ChatGPT’s very own CTO — that when the program doesn’t know the answer to something, it just makes up a response. In our tests, such errors induced giggles and guffaws, but what if we hadn’t known better? At best, publishing inaccurate content hurts a business’s reputation when information is discovered to be false. But in some cases — and we’re thinking about our healthcare clients in particular here — inaccurate information can be injurious.
In one round of our game of “identify the AI copy,” we asked ChatGPT to write a blog post using the client’s own website as the source. Even with that directive, the generated copy invented services the client doesn’t provide. We have also seen it misinterpret clinical research and medical advice.
The bottom line is that if you do decide to use ChatGPT for filler copy, you should still take the step of having a subject matter expert (or two) review it, just as you would with copy written by a human.
It lacks … humanity.
This should be obvious, but sometimes people, especially those holding the purse strings, need reminding. Effective content really requires a human understanding of other humans. And artificial intelligence doesn’t quite have it. Subtleties, stories that evoke emotion, clever wordplay — they’re just not ChatGPT’s forte.
It doesn’t cite sources.
With reported content, it’s important to use and cite credible sources. Everything we write for clients is researched, and we provide citations/links for where we found the information presented. Or we conduct interviews with SMEs and then get their sign-off. ChatGPT does not, which makes it harder to fact-check — a step that’s not only responsible but also required by many corporate legal departments.
It’s not strategic.
Seasoned content writers bring more to the table than just writing. They know just the right questions to ask a source. They can spot holes in a story. They can infer things that aren’t said, picking up the vibe on a conference call or at an event. They advise when there might be a better way to present information. They think strategically. And they come up with new ideas, whereas ChatGPT merely recycles information that’s already out there.
Fine, but what CAN ChatGPT do?
Clearly, we’re not fans of using ChatGPT to generate copy. But it does have some strengths. Here are some things it’s pretty good at:
- Writing generic song lyrics or poems. Sometimes generic is what you need for a specific task, and this is a fine application. For example, we used ChatGPT to help us write rhyming clues for a treasure hunt. (But we still made tweaks.)
- Outlining. Sometimes you don’t know where to start on a topic, and ChatGPT is actually not bad at putting together an outline for topics. You’ll likely need to refine it, but it can at least get the ball rolling.
- Writing subject lines. Provided you’re not looking for anything too clever, you can give ChatGPT your email content and ask it to write a few subject line options. Or you can write a subject line and ask it to provide additional options.
- Social media posts. Again, they won’t be creative, but if all you need is simple and to the point, ChatGPT can help, hashtags and all.
- Jumpstart a brainstorm. If you have a general topic idea, it can generate ideas for angles of posts. While it might not be super creative, sometimes the basics are what you need. Plus, why not use it to generate those baseline ideas that you can riff on?