The Sky is Falling? Copywriting and Artificial Intelligence

Lately, the biggest buzz in the writing industry is if artificial intelligence is going to replace humans.

It stresses me out.

When I was a kid, I used to watch a brilliant cartoon series by Disney called Talespin. It took place in the 1930s using characters from The Jungle Book, thrusting them in a vintage era where the main character, Baloo, was a cargo pilot and had misadventures in his beloved plane, the Sea Duck.

Oh, how I miss those golden days of television.

Anyway, in one episode a genius inventor creates robots that are able to pilot planes and they quickly take over the industry, putting Baloo out of business alongside every other pilot in the show. The allure of these robots was that they didn’t sleep, didn’t eat, didn’t need breaks, and didn’t need to be paid. What wasn’t to love? That was, of course, until it was discovered that during malfunctions, they put the lives of their passengers in danger, necessitating a daring rescue by Baloo, who showed his superior piloting skills and ability to think on his feet.

All the robots were scrapped. All the pilots got their jobs back. Everyone was happy, appreciated, and valued. Episode over. End scene.

I knew, even as a kid, that in real life it wouldn’t end so well. The robots would take over. People like saving money too much and care about people too little. Since that moment, I’ve been dreading the day that technology replaces real workers.

Now, newfangled job-endangering technology is entering MY industry. Copywriting.

So here’s the thing. I’m a rather anxious person. The kind that runs around in a panic screeching, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” at the nearest hint of anything problematic. Yes, I am about as high maintenance as you’re probably imagining right now. This whole AI thing sure seems like a sky is falling moment to me. At least, initially.

But maybe it’s not.

Let’s dive into this, shall we?

Why AI?

AI writing programs are popping up right and left. There are all kinds of pricing, formats, and details available. Customizable for every need, budget, and company size. Want to have a blog written about how awesome your hand soap business is? Plug in some stuff into one of these programs and suddenly you’ll have an article! You can even have them do SEO (search engine optimization) for you, using all the fancy keywords that get your article seen by the most people.

What’s not to love? You save the cost of hiring a copywriter, get your finished product done fast, and even have SEO, grammar, and other technical aspects handled too! Huzzah for technology, long live AI!!

Not so fast…

4 Big Problems with AI

1. First, AI is a misleading term. A better description is machine learning. AI isn’t actually intelligent. It’s technology that has the capability to learn. What does it learn? What HUMANS teach it. That’s right. It still requires human involvement. We haven’t gone full blown Skynet and murderous Terminators yet. Humans have to give AI its parameters, instructions and marching orders.

2. Guess what? AI still makes mistakes. Grammar will still need tweaking. Wording may be repetitive or unnatural. It may sound stiff, overly formal, or use slang or concepts incorrectly. If you think you can just slap an article from an AI author on your site without any proofreading, you’re asking for trouble.

3. The copyright quandary. Yes, I’m using the term copyright, not copywrite. This is the kind of copyright where you have an exclusive, legal right to something. In this case, whatever writing is being done for you by artificial intelligence. Right now there are all sorts of possibilities as to whether you’ll actually be able to copyright something written by an artificial entity. Many legal decision makers currently require a human entity to be involved in authorship to qualify for copyright.

What does this mean?

You might have an article, email campaign, or a white paper created for you by AI. However, if the system ends up ruling against copyright for AI, your end product will not be protected. Your competitor could decide to use that same white paper for THEIR use, and not pay you a penny.

That said, it’s all up in the air as to what will end up happening with artificial authorship. Maybe the system will provide protections in place after all. Right now? It’s a murky, murky mess. Do you really want to leave yourself unprotected in the meantime?

4. Problem number four? I’m gonna pull a Baloo on you. That’s right. When the plane was crashing down it required human (or in his case, cartoon bear) thinking to right the vessel again. AI is not equipped to think as critically as humans. It’s going to take a long time to reach human-level cognition, (if such a thing is possible). Our instincts are better. Our ability to “read the room” is better. Our capability to tap into emotions, to put ourselves in the shoes of future customers, to be relatable, entertaining, and illustrate value, will always be better.

Why Humans?

It’s not about writing fancy or inhumanly accurate with comma placement. It isn’t about SEO or buzzwords or writing fast and cheap. The value of good copywriting comes from understanding buyers. Knowing what they’re looking for. Knowing how YOUR product or service can help someone who is searching for a solution versus sleazy selling tactics and manipulation.

Good copywriting is genuinely connecting with people on a level that says, “Hey. I get it. You want THIS solution to THIS problem because you’re THIS kind of person. Here’s something that will make you happy and here’s why, while I’m at it.”

Bam. Happy customer. Happy Seller. Happy copywriter. At the end of the day, only humans will be able to understand other humans. If you think you don’t need understanding to market your product? Yikes. You may want to rethink a few things.

But go ahead, if that’s your cup of tea. Hire your robot pilots and then somehow be surprised when the plane starts going down. Or, you can keep a human in your back pocket instead. After all, we humans can be rather handy, even if our comma usage is a touch suspect, at times.

And if you take nothing else from this blog post? Nothing else at all? Go watch Talespin. Seriously, people. They don’t make cartoons like this anymore.