People all over the world are worried about AI taking their jobs. As content creators and copywriters, we’re no different! We see the technologies that are starting to generate content with minimal human input. Granted, AI writing technologies still have a long way to go, as you can see from the AI-generated Harry Potter books… but as the technology is evoloving, should we be concerned?

The verdict: Although AI will definitely make some sort of impact on the copywriting/content creating profession, we’re not intending to switch professions anytime soon. Here’s why.

Repetitive Jobs Are Easy to Automate, but Creative Jobs Are Still Very Difficult for AI.

First of all, it’s important to understand how AI is taking jobs. Repetitive, routine-based jobs like truck drivers and fast food workers are the first jobs to go. You’ve probably already seen evidence of this at your local fast food restaurant where you can order through a machine rather than a cashier. AI has by no means wiped out all these jobs yet, but they are disappearing at an increased rate.

They will continue to disappear before jobs that require more critical thinking and creativity (like copywriting jobs) become vulnerable to automation. Creating content is not repetitive. It’s subject to the needs of each individual client. So, automation is going to have a harder time taking over the field.

AI Writers Aren’t Very Reliable (Yet).

One current example of an AI writer is called GPT-2 from OpenAI, which is supposedly one of the most powerful and accurate AI writers currently available. OpenAI has produced several examples of AI-written content, including writing based on The Lord of the Rings, the Civil War, and more. The GPT-2 is only able to generate “reasonable” pieces of writing half the time. A copywriter that only writes “reasonable” content half the time wouldn’t be able to stay in business for very long. Copywriters are prone to mistakes, but, at this point, copywriters are much more consistent and reliable than their AI counterparts.

Artificial Intelligence Doesn’t Create. It Replicates.

One of the major problems with using AI as a copywriter is that AI can only replicate what already exists. It’s unable to create truly original content. All the AI writers that exist so far must be “fed” articles and content that a human wrote. They mix up and rewrite the existing content to create something new—or something that at least seems new. This is how GPT-2 works.

Other automated writing software like AI Writer and Word Ai are all about researching and rewriting human-written content. They are incapable of creating cutting-edge content on brand new information. This means that currently, AI writers are incapable of writing content for a brand-new company’s website or releasing breaking news for the first time. AI may be cutting-edge technology but when it comes to producing new and interesting content, AI writers will automatically fall behind.

AI Can’t Relate to Human Emotion.

One of the first things we were taught as writers was to engage with readers. Typically, this means appealing to a person’s emotions. This type of writing is effective for advertisements, website content, blog posts, and more. AI will have a disadvantage in any of these circumstances because artificial intelligence is obviously incapable of human emotion.

Copywriters are storytellers. Even if their writing takes the form of web content or a social media post, it’s grounded in some type of story. These stories could be from customers or company founders. Artificial intelligence can’t create personal, engaging content because it doesn’t have any personal stories to share. That makes it more difficult for AI to engage with consumers.

AI Writing Doesn’t Stand Out.

AI cannot make sense of human nuance. For example, the common everyday expressions that you and I take for granted are completely lost on artificial intelligence. Things like “Don’t put your eggs in one basket” or “Out of the frying pan, into the fire” are nonsensical to machines. Research scientist Janelle Shane even proved this when she asked a neural network to write new idioms based on 2,000 classic proverbs. The results? Hilarious expressions that don’t even make grammatical sense such as “A fox smells it better than a fool’s for a day” and “A good face is a letter like a dog.”

This also points to AI’s inability to take a nuanced approach to pretty much any topic. They will always want to write about things in black and white. And humor? AI has yet to master making writing funny. Ultimately, all of this points to the same thing: AI writing is boring.

AI Can Write Data-Heavy Text.

Although AI won’t replace copywriting jobs, it does have the ability to change the job. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Certain types of writing lend themselves to AI more than others. For instance, artificial intelligence is able to handle the kind of dense, technical writing that many writers might be intimated by. And AI can do it with better accuracy than a person. This could even serve as a good starting point for a writer who is struggling with a topic. The AI could write the more difficult, factual aspects of the text, and the copywriter could add in story and emotion to make it more engaging.

Acritical Intelligence Saves Copywriters Time.

AI can also help save copywriters time. Copywriters and professional writers in the future can use AI to do mundane tasks like help with business reports and even some journalism. For example, The Washington Post has utilized the artificial intelligence robot Heliograf to write simple sports coverage, including tweets and some articles. Even The Post admitted that Heliograf will not be replacing journalists on the staff any time soon. Rather, it frees up journalists to concentrate their efforts on more “in-depth reporting.”

Copywriters Will Have to Adapt.

Although AI may not be able to replace copywriters, it will still make a major impact on the industry. Copywriters who want to keep their jobs can’t get married to the old ways of doing things simply because they are tradition. Just like copywriters today have had to adapt as the advertising world has become increasingly digital, copywriters in the future will have to adapt by integrating artificial intelligence.

Of course, we’re more than a little biased in saying all of this. At Strong Estate, we do believe copywriting in the future will likely be done with the assistance of AI… not done completely by AI. We look forward to seeing how it could help us out and change our field for the better! As always, if you’re in need of creative copywriting for your business, you can order your content today.