Will ChatGPT change how we approach content creation? Or worse, will it take my job?

The buzz around AI has exploded in recent months, with much of the hysteria specifically focused on OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool. Launched in November, you’ll already find countless articles about how this free (for now) online language model can, at best, help content writers, coders, computer programmers and students complete simple tasks, and at worst, replace them altogether.

Many in the education sector foresee ChatGPT helping students cheat by generating convincingly human responses to essay questions, meaning schools and universities will soon need to reinvent how pupil performance is assessed. Potentially more seriously, the tool is already being used to create virtually impossible to detect malware, as well as write those phishing scam messages we are all unfortunately too used to seeing (which tbf, often sounded like they were generated by AI anyway).

But, as a content creator, more concerning for me personally is how I’m seeing examples of ChatGPT impact people’s writing jobs.

Here at Berkeley, we pride ourselves on our storytelling methodology, tailoring unique content for every client with work with. We take our time to understand what an organisation needs and create specific messaging to demonstrate their customer benefits. We then take this north star narrative and apply it to all their PR output – from press releases and thought leadership articles, to research reports or social media posts.

Is this a process AI can replicate?

Out of curiosity, I asked the tool ‘Will ChatGPT replace content writers?’. Here is its answer:

“ChatGPT is a powerful language model that can generate text, but it is not intended to replace human content writers. While it may be able to assist with tasks such as generating ideas or researching information, it cannot replace the creativity, nuance, and critical thinking that human writers bring to their work. Additionally, it’s not capable of understanding the context and the intent of the content as a human can, which is crucial to make a content relevant and valuable.”

I don’t think I could have said it much better myself.

When it comes to content writing, my own limited experience of ChatGPT has led me to believe that, while the tool is effective for generating broad outlines of pieces, its colouring skills leave a lot to be desired. It can possibly spark a little inspiration to get the creative juices flowing, but I’m not sure it can ever deliver insightful and engaging content. The copy it generates is bland and derivative, and it would certainly need a heavy degree of editing and before being considered for any kind of professional use.

This technology is still in its infancy. It’s inevitable AI will evolve and seamlessly integrate into our workflow in some capacity. But for now, as a creative capable of creating unique, nuanced, complex ideas, I think for the time being my role is safe from the robots.

If you would like to learn more about how the power of story can help your business, we’d love to hear from you. Or why not join one of our storytelling courses? Sign up today for in-person training in London or Sydney, or a virtual session covering many international time zones.