The Truth About ChatGPT or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Machine

Not long ago, when I was editor of our hometown newspaper, I’d read an article about software called GPT 3 and how this technology was being used to write human sounding articles from a few prompts. Intriguing while, more-so, was that the software was being used by news organizations to write stories instead of journalists.

I was curious, but didn’t give it much more attention, thinking there was no way an algorithm could ever replace a human writer.

Fast-forward a few years and me as a freelance writer and the release of ChatGPT, and the idea of the machines coming to take our jobs carries a lot more weight.

I frequent various writing forums and am active on Twitter, and there are two camps within the freelance writing world about chatbots and the future, and they are those whose attitude is that of Private Hudson in Aliens “Game over man!” And there are those who think the freak-out is unwarranted.

So, what’s the truth? Do writers have to worry about being replaced by computers?

Is Skynet inevitable?

Will our great-grandchildren grow up in the Matrix?

The answer to all three is, probably.

How Good is AI Writing Software?

Very good and getting better.

As mentioned, ChatGPT can output text that’s indistinguishable from a human author, and it can churn out articles that would take a human an hour or more to write in minutes.

But, it goes way beyond the generic articles we read on the web. ChatGPT can write poetry, resumes, college essays, computer code, and can even help you find your soulmate.

And I’m sure once this technology is paired with the sex robots that are on the way, it can _be_ your soulmate.

So, Marketers Should Fire Their Writers & Buy a Subscription to a Chatbot. Right?

Actually, yeah. A lot are doing just that.

If you run a blog that earns income from affiliate marketing, and you rely on a constant stream of content, paying $20 a month to get a chatbot to crank out articles is cheaper than the writer who will be satisfied getting paid $5 bucks for ten articles. And the content you get from the chatbot, I guarantee, will be better than what you get from said writer.

So, yeah. For many freelance writers, it is Game Over.

I use ChatGPT. It’s a valuable tool that’s made me more productive. But there’s a danger in relying on it too heavily.

Contentwriters.com says it well:

In today’s market where consumers demand more personalization through the understanding of their needs and aspirations, how can AI fill that void between creating text and actually connecting emotionally with audiences? It cannot and will not for a long time to come.

I also liked this from AS Marketing.

Story-based copy gives your business human values and attributes, which makes your business more approachable and relatable. For instance, if you landed on a website that was bland, very keyword-centered, and overall felt like it was run by robots, would you be moved to purchase from them? Probably not. Emphasis mine

Embrace Your Robot Overlords

As I said in the title, I’ve learned to love the machine. ChatGPT and whatever is on the horizon are amazing tools, but these tools still require human input. The content you get is only as good as the prompts you put in, and much of what you get out still needs fact checking and fine-tuning.

In other words, there still needs to be a human involved.