It’s everywhere. The talk of the town. Online, at the water cooler and especially on the likes of LinkedIn.
ChatGPT
In the world of digital content creation, there’s a lot of talk around AI giants ChatGPT and its Google counterpart, Google Bard. Will these artificial content generators be the death of human content writers? Do the words they generate engage readers? Is the information they pull from the internet correct?
We’ve gone beyond the gossip to check out ChatGPT and Bard and how they work. And more importantly, let’s dig into the pros and cons of their impact on the world of content creation.
ChatGPT – What’s The Lowdown?
Alongside ChatGPT being a tongue-twister (say it out loud – we bet at least half of you say ChatGTP instead…), it’s technically known as a large language model which uses machine learning algorithms to generate human-like text based on a prompt or series of questions. Launched in November 2022, it rapidly trawls and pulls vast amounts of data from the internet, turning the results into a coherent response.
Google Bard – Is it the Same Thing?
Google Bard is a similar tool developed by Google. Like ChatGPT, it uses machine learning algorithms to generate text, but it also brings in natural language processing techniques to make the results grammatically correct and stylishly consistent. It’s been trained on conversation and human dialogue and designed to generate creative writing, including poetry and song lyrics (hence the Shakespearean reference).
What are the pros?
ChatGPT and Bard undoubtedly offer valuable content-generating benefits, bringing speed and efficiency that’s difficult to match for even the fastest human writer. You can generate large volumes of text in minutes, which can be incredibly useful for writing product descriptions and social media posts.
Another area where these AI buddies can save time is during the research stage of the content writing process. Just like humans, both ChatGPT and Bard will trawl the internet for answers to its questions. The difference is that AI technology will do it 100 times faster.
Alongside the speed and time-saving benefits, artificial content generators can lend a helping hand when your writing inspiration is running low. When faced with a blank page, using ChatGPT to suggest an email headline or Bard to propose an outline for your next blog can kick-start your creative juices and ramp up your writing.
What about the cons?
These artificial content creators sound amazing, so what’s the catch?
Well, as with most tools, there are also some downsides to using them. For one thing, they can perpetuate a cycle of standard content. Because Chat GPT and Bard pull data from the internet, they can inadvertently reinforce biases and trends already present in the content landscape. This can lead to a lack of diversity in content and a flattening of voices and perspectives, ultimately limiting the content’s potential impact and reach.
AI technology also cannot know if the information it finds is correct. Whatever it finds in response to your query, it will ping it back to you regardless of whether it’s right. And if it can’t find anything, it might choose to make up a response to keep you happy.
Organic Content Creation – the difference between humans and machines
Alongside the caution needed for repetitive or factually correct content, the main limitation of AI-generated content is that it lacks the emotional depth and nuance of human writing. While Chat GPT and Bard can produce grammatically correct and stylistically consistent text, they can’t convey the same level of empathy, compassion, or emotional resonance that organic content (written by us humans) provides.
Organic content creation is often rooted in personal experience and emotional connection, which is difficult for a machine to replicate. When we read a piece of organic content, we can sense the author’s personality and point of view, which makes the content feel more authentic and engaging. By contrast, the content generated by Chat GPT or Bard can feel more like a machine-generated list of words, lacking the same depth and richness that comes with human writing.
Organic content can connect deeply with your audience, helping them to understand who you are and what you offer. It builds rapport with your readers and should form the core of your content strategy.
In a nutshell…
ChatGPT and Google Bard offer incredible capabilities to improve your content creation, including speed and efficiency for basic tasks, plus a helping hand when the inspiration well is running dry.
But organic content creation should form the basis of your content. Ultimately, the best approach to organic content creation is one that values authenticity, emotional resonance, and diversity of perspective – all of which are almost impossible for a machine to replicate.
Whilst creating organic content is the best route, we know that not everyone has the time or resources to write engaging words that connect with their audience. That’s why our clients outsource their content, from website copywriting to product descriptions, to guarantee authenticity (factually correct!) content aligned with their values. So from writing blogs to complete content packages, we’ve got you covered when it comes to organic content creation.
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