Is ChatGPT Your New Copywriter? - Tiffany Taylor Marketing
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ChatGPT and Copywriting
By Tiffany Taylor

Is ChatGPT Your New Copywriter?

A FAQ to answer just how ChatGPT and other generative AI models fit into copywriting and content creation.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is perhaps the best known of a family of generative AI chatbots known as LLM AI. LLM (Large Language Model) chatbots generate natural language texts from large amounts of data. One of the key features of LLM AI is its ability to understand context and generate text that is appropriate for a specific audience or purpose. For example, the AI can be trained on a specific domain, such as medical terminology or legal language. Generative AI produces various types of content including text, imagery, audio and synthetic data based on user prompts. While ChatGPT is the best known generative LLM AI, there are numerous other generative AI chatbots available, both paid and free.

Can Generative LLM AI replace copywriters and content creators?

The short answer is currently no. Due to a number of risks and limitations, which will be outlined further in this FAQ, ChatGPT and other generative AI should not be used alone to replace professional copywriting or content creation. In its current iteration, the best way to leverage LLM AI is as a complementary writing tool to accelerate and improve writing.

So, how can B2B and B2C writers best use generative AI?

Generative AI chatbots are like web search engines on steroids. The software crawls its data set and/or the internet (depending on the software used) for information and like pieces of content to those requested, as well as modifiers given it, such as target audience, tone and voice, to generate new content.

Writers can use it for ideation, brainstorming, research, outlines, taglines, subject lines, social media posts, and yes, drafts of content including blog posts, emails, landing pages, sales sheets, etc.

What are the risks of relying on generative AI to create copy and content?

First and foremost, the old axiom “garbage in, garbage out” applies. With generative AI, prompting is everything and is a learned skillset. In fact, there has been an exponential uptick in job postings for AI prompt writers and AI prompt engineers recently. As with anything nuanced, hobbyists may know just enough to be dangerous. Additionally, there can be other risks involved with content generated from AI:

  • Copy from AI is not copyrighted. Lifting copy directly from AI and using it in sales and marketing materials means you won’t have any recourse if other entities recycle your copy/content. It also means if you’re providing copy from AI to clients, you need to inform them of your use of AI.
  • Output from generative AI can be incorrect or outright falsified. Since AI mimics existing content based on the user’s request (“AI, create a lead gen email to sell widgets to men over 40 using the PAS format”), it may make up features and benefits and insert special offers, like free trials or discounts you may or may not intend to include.
  • Output may inherently contain subtle biases. Though vast, AI’s dataset is ultimately finite. If the chatbot’s dataset (whether it’s programmed in or includes the entire web) includes cultural biases, those biases will be reflected in its output, putting relevance, reach and diversity at risk.
  • AI is very literal in its output. It will give you exactly what you ask for and the results can appear robotic at times.
  • Generative AI may struggle with creative thinking, developing a brand voice, or crafting content that resonates with a specific audience.

So how can copywriters and content creators best leverage generative AI?

AI can speed up and strengthen pre-writing tasks, including brainstorming, ideation, research and outlining. It can gain context from existing content input into it and, ultimately, provide drafts of actual content. While some less sophisticated businesses may publish content output directly from AI, the actual best practice for professional copywriters/content creators would be to edit and refine the output to ensure accuracy, tone, brand voice, targeting and more.

Ultimately, professional copywriters and content creators will need to evaluate the quality of output generated by AI tools. For example, writers could compare AI-generated content to existing high-performing content or use A/B testing to see how different versions of a piece of content perform with different audiences.

While it may be tempting to replace content or copywriting activities with free or less costly AI tools, organizations shouldn’t rush to throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet. To keep your content accurate, reflective of your organization’s voice and values as well as relevant to your target audience, you’ll want to engage your staff or contracted copy and content experts to refine AI output.

Tiffany, how will you be using generative AI in your writing process?

I am currently researching and digesting information and resources on using generative AI in content creation with a focus on prompt writing. Over the next weeks and months, I’ll be dipping my toes into using ChatGPT to assist with ideation, subject line generation, research, ad writing, outlining and drafting in tandem with traditional methods, refining as I go.

In fact, I ran this FAQ through ChatGPT and asked it to evaluate it for accuracy and identify additional information to add.

Additional questions?

Feel free to contact me at [email protected]

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