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After several years of existing on the down-low, Artificial Intelligence has finally gone mainstream. But what exactly can this new technology do and where do its limitations lie?
As a marketer, it is impossible to avoid the topic of AI. From podcasts to industry blogs to social media, it’s been the talk of the town for months. While some view it as a complete game-changer, many are concerned about its implications on marketing and ethics. At this point, it’s nearly impossible to determine which side is right.
Love it or hate it, AI-generated tools like ChatGPT are here to stay. But, let us be the first to tell you that AI tools aren’t an ends to a mean when it comes to effectively marketing your brand. In this blog, we’re breaking down the importance of humanizing your AI-generated content.
The Limitations of AI
Before we dive into the nitty gritty of why you need to be humanizing your AI-generated content, let’s talk about the limitations of using these tools.
Experienced marketers are well aware that the current hype around AI-generated content may be too good to be true. In fact, the name itself can be misleading since it does not involve true AI, but instead relies on machine learning algorithms and natural language processing. While impressive, these tools are not yet capable of passing the Turing Test.
As a result, the marketing industry has been cautious in adopting these technologies due to their significant limitations. Even ChatGPT, whose OpenAI chatbot broke all the records and surpassed 1 million users within the first week of being launched to the public, has notable drawbacks.
Here are the top five limitations that every marketer considering the use of AI-generated content should keep in mind:
External Sources and Potential Plagiarism
Machine-generated content is not original since it combines elements from various sources. AI tools do not cite their sources, potentially leading to plagiarism. This applies to both visual and written content.
Recency
AI-generated content’s effectiveness is heavily dependent on the quality and recency of the data it is fed. This poses a significant challenge for tools like ChatGPT, which rely on a snapshot of the internet from 2021, limiting its access to up-to-date information.
Despite the hype and bold claims about its abilities, ChatGPT’s inability to access live web data makes it challenging to create factual content on topics that experience frequent changes. As a result, ChatGPT has been known to provide seemingly plausible but incorrect responses.
Questionable Facts
As of right now, there is no real fact-checking mechanism built into the most common AI tools, just user feedback, which is often abused, meaning the content you are provided, often designed to build your credibility, is not trustworthy. Like any good journalist who’s worth their salt, you should fact-check everything that’s produced by AI and don’t assume it’s correct information.
Lack of Creativity
AI-generated content is essentially crowd-sourced and lacks originality, making it difficult to use AI tools to create unique content and develop a content strategy that sets you apart from competitors. As a result, your brand voice and understanding of your audience will not be reflected in your content, which will be similar to other AI-generated content that draws on the same data and language models.
Moreover, as AI-written content proliferates on the web, these tools will increasingly generate content from already AI-generated content.
Potential For Search and Legal Trouble
Search
Google recently posted an article explaining how it treats automated and AI-generated content. Where previously it stated that it will devalue AI content it can detect in its search rankings, after the announcement of BARD, they have now clarified their stance.
It is no surprise that between the recent Helpful Content and Spam updates, many sites heavily utilizing AI-generated content experienced a major hit in their rankings.
“However content is produced, those seeking success in Google Search should be looking to produce original, high-quality, people-first content demonstrating qualities E-E-A-T.”
Legal
Some distinguished publications are facing PR hits as they incorporate AI-generated artwork on their covers and articles. Furthermore, some of the world’s largest organizations are being sued for plagiarism due to AI-generated content.
The Art of Emotion
As you produce content, it is essential to remember that quality is key. Since AI has been on the rise, many companies have begun pushing out an influx of auto-generated content through things like blogs or social posts. The issue with this is that this content lacks the element of human touch.
AI is incapable of human reasoning or understanding emotional nuances. This technology can process data quicker than any human but fails to pick up on these cues, which leads to content that sounds like Wikipedia posts. And, let’s be honest, who’s going to read that?
To demonstrate the importance of adding in the emotional aspect that only humans are capable of, let’s compare OpenAI-generated content to copy produced by a copywriter using the prompt below:
Prompt: In a paragraph, write from the perspective of a mother writing a note to her daughter.
OpenAI:
My dear daughter, as you grow up and navigate through life, always remember that you are loved unconditionally. You are an intelligent and strong young woman, capable of achieving great things. I am proud of the person you are becoming and the choices you make. While life may present challenges, know that I am always here for you, ready to support and guide you.
Copywriter:
To my firstborn, my chatterbox who woke me without fail before 6 a.m. every stinking day, the day you were born (which was at 4 a.m. by the way!) is the first time in my life that I’ve ever felt whole. I will never forget that day or the way you came into this world with a lusty cry for life. You taught me many things — how to love others unconditionally even when I’m too dang tired, how to successfully get baby poop out of the carpet, and to never trust toddlers with sharpies. But seriously, you were the first one to teach me about ME, and for that, I am eternally grateful. Every time you reached a new phase in your life or you succeeded through a new milestone, I too reached those successes. We did it together, as we always will. Every new thing you learn, I’ve learned along with you. And that, my dear, is such a special gift.
As you can see, there is a big difference between the emotion a human is able to display in writing versus the emotion a machine can mimic.
In addition to adding an emotional touch to keep your audience engaged, you need to tell a story. Our love for a good story is universal as human beings. Therefore, crafting marketing content that incorporates storytelling is an effective way to connect with your audience. To infuse AI-generated content with a human touch, consider integrating elements of storytelling. This can transform the content from a robotic composition to a relatable and authentic piece that resonates with the reader.
Improve Your Searchability
Search engine optimization (SEO) is vital to growing your brand. Believe it or not, Google receives over 105,000 searches every second. The search giant looks at relevant keywords, body text, and over 200 other factors when determining where to place a site in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Failing to optimize your content for SEO could result in missed chances for generating traffic and sales.
While AI is capable of selecting suitable keywords, it’s essential to have a human who is utilizing a keyword research tool to identify the most effective terms to incorporate into your content. Otherwise, you risk investing significant time and effort into editing an AI-generated article only to discover that it lacks context-relevant keywords and essential information.
Final Thoughts — Don’t Go Firing Your Writers.
Artificial intelligence is not perfect, but it has been proven to be a valuable tool across many industries. However, in terms of effectiveness in marketing a brand or product and retaining audience engagement, it still needs a lot of work. Long story short, the human touch is key to producing quality content. So don’t go firing your writers — you still need them now more than ever to finely craft content that steals your audiences’ hearts, attention — and wallets.
At Ardent Creative, our team of digital marketing experts know precisely how to take content from plain and simple to entertaining and enticing. Bonus, it’s promised to bring in tons of traffic that connects with your brand. Reach out today to see how we can help your brand excel.
