If there’s one thing all the hullaballoo over ChatGPT has brought home to me, it’s how much I love to write.
If you haven’t encountered ChatGPT, let me bring you up to speed real quick. It’s a conversational, AI-powered large language model that can respond to prompts with decently written text. And the prompts you enter can run the gamut. Playing around with ChatGPT, I’ve had it write children’s stories, blog posts, commercial scripts, bullet lists, haikus, and more. And it does a surprisingly good job… for a machine.
Naturally, this leap in technology has caused a lot of discussion. There’s the “it’s the end of the world for writers” camp and the “this is the best thing ever for writers” camp. If I had to choose one of those camps, it would be the second.
I don’t see ChatGPT, or even future generations of the same technology, taking away writers’ jobs. Its text is flat and a little bit boring… even when you ask it not to be. And that makes sense because at its heart, it’s a predictive model, and so you should expect it to err toward the average writing level of people. Also, it’s a machine and so it doesn’t feel emotions or have real experiences — when it tries to convey those things, it feels… tinny.
I do see the potential for increased productivity though. ChatGPT can help you with research, brainstorming, editing… and it has the potential to save you a lot of time on each. Especially if you practice with it and learn how to give it good prompts and then ask it to refine what it’s done based on additional input.
So, yes… I do think this is more of a boon for writers than a threat. But the truth is, I don’t fit comfortably in either those camps I mentioned above.
Because I love writing.
ChatGPT can help with brainstorming. But I love the brainstorming process. How am I going to even figure out what’s in my head on a topic if I don’t take pen to paper and let my thoughts run wild? (And my thoughts are so much wilder than what ChatGPT is capable of… yours, too.)
ChatGPT can help with research. But I love the research process. It isn’t just reading through the research and understanding the topic. It’s seeing what lots of different people think and then uncovering what’s potentially a new way of looking at things. It’s following the link trail from one piece to the next and discovering fascinating takes on a topic and combining those takes into something that hasn’t been expressed yet. It’s becoming steeped in a topic in a way that a summary of information (what ChatGPT will give you) simply can’t deliver.
ChatGPT can help with editing. But I love the editing process. It’s where I take the diamond in the rough of my own creation and shape and polish it so it shines just the way I want it to. (Which isn’t to say that ChatGPT or another AI tool like Grammarly or Hemingway.app aren’t smart for a final check.)
Does this mean I won’t use ChatGPT as my own writing assistant?
Not at all. It just means that all the things ChatGPT can help me with, I will still make a point to do on my own sometimes. That will keep my skills sharp, and it will keep me close to my craft.
Those two things — sharp skills and being immersed fully in what I do — mean I will be a better wielder of AI tools (and they do take a skilled writer to wrangle them) and that I won’t flounder if for any reason I don’t have access to those tools.
So, if you’re wondering about AI and what it means to you, here’s my best advice. Play with the tool. Become a skilled user of the tool. But continue to write… with everything that entails. It’s okay to take shortcuts sometimes. But the smart writer will continue to take the long way ‘round often enough that it stays familiar.
This Challenge Is Underway
Once a quarter (or so), Digital Copywriter sets up a Challenge for you. The Challenge is meant to help you grow your business or skills in a measurable way, to give you guidance and structure, as well as accountability and incentive. Our current Challenge — to build your own marketing plan — is underway and there’s still plenty of time for you to join. Find all the details here.
And to give you a little extra help in getting started, make sure you watch our Challenge Kick Off webinar where I walk you through all the steps.
In Case You Missed It
We’ve added some excellent new content to the site over the last two weeks.
If you want to learn more about ChatGPT and some of the exciting ways you can use it to help you to be more productive and creative as a writer, don’t miss our most recent Trends & Technology column. Inside, Jen Phillips April shares some unexpected and very helpful ways to use this new AI tool.
Writing landing pages is one of my favorite projects. They can be short. They’re easy to test. And they’re close to the sale, so they pay well. If you’ve been thinking about offering landing pages as a service, but you aren’t sure where to begin, why not get started with Zoe Blarowski’s latest PPC & Advertising column? Zoe walks you through six key steps to create a winning landing page, including examples of each step in action.
And Jennifer Ayling’s newest Reality Blog post is also one you won’t want to miss. Jennifer shares her progress in taking a key technical step to move forward with her goals… how things didn’t go as planned, and what she did to tackle that challenge. There’s plenty of wisdom in here to apply to your own challenges, too.
Coming Up on Digital Copywriter
February 7: Next week on Tuesday, I hope you’ll join me for our Monthly Member Update. This month, we’ll be talking more about AI — and all the different AI tools you can use to help with your writing business… because there’s more to AI than ChatGPT. We’ll also talk about new content and upcoming content and spend a little time fielding your questions about writing and freelancing.
February 17: Want a sneak peek into making ChatGPT into a useful tool for your writing business? Then you won’t want to miss this event with Guillermo Rubio. He’s been using AI in his writing business for quite a while now, and he’ll share his top tips for using it to enhance your craft. Details will be posted soon.
Three Things I Think You’ll Like
One way to improve your skills is to study great examples of the type of writing you want to get better at. But finding those examples can be tough. Fortunately, if it’s email you want to study, SmartBlogger has you covered.
Writing a great headline is an essential skill. It comes into play everywhere — writing blog posts, sales messages, landing pages, white papers… even email. See what Brian Clark has to say about writing headlines that work.
I love this discussion over on Grammarly about the true purpose of AI tools. It’s not artificial intelligence… it’s augmented intelligence, because you’re the one directing the tool.
That’s all for today. Have a great weekend!
