The recent strike by writers in Hollywood has again brought to the forefront how much people from creative professions are threatened by Artificial Intelligence (AI). During the industrial revolution, machines jeopardized the lives of traditional artisans through cheap and mass production. Similarly, today, AI-driven machines are pushing to peril the professions of writers, photographers, artists, and many others.

Artificial Intelligence And Human Intelligence

Artificial intelligence works on iterative learning, recognizing patterns, and using algorithms to mimic human intelligence. It has been created by imitating the human brain’s neural network. Whereas human intelligence develops through experience, some genetic factors, and intellectual curiosity, artificial intelligence is programmed by computer engineers by feeding algorithms, statistical models, etc., to turn data acquired into actionable results.

AI In Content Writing

Today, artificial intelligence has invaded almost every aspect of our lives. Be it a smartphone or an e-commerce site, everywhere we find the use of AI. And content writing is no exception. Many bots, such as Quill, GPT-3, Rytr, Copy ai, etc., have come up in the market that produces content. Businesses are adopting AI content that is cheaper and written faster.

Benefits And Limitations Of AI Writing Apps

Benefits

• Fast: AI writing tools are fast; they can produce in minutes as many words as a human takes at least half an hour to write. The greatest advantage is data collection and analysis, which a bot can do hundreds of times faster than a human writer.
•  Cheap:  The rate of content writing is mainly based on the number of words or pages written. What you pay for a single article can be used as a monthly subscription for a writing bot and get thousands of articles written.
• Can write on any Topic or niche:  Generally, human writers love to write or are experts in specific niches. But AI writers can write on thousands of topics in different niches.
•  Work continuously:  Machines can work 24×7. Unlike mortal pen pushers, they do not experience any fatigue or writer’s cramps and need no time for relaxation or other necessities.

Limitations

Quality

•  Quality is the biggest drawback of AI writing apps. It lacks the imagination and the emotion of a human being. When you write content, you have some target audience whom you address. Your writing is subjective, and you imagine what people want to hear or read. To convince them, you have to understand their emotions.
•  AI has lots of data and knowledge but no emotional intelligence. For writing reports and product specifications, it is acceptable, but when one writes for e-mails and product promotions, reading the emotions of your target people is a must. 

 Possible plagiarism

 As AI apps produce write-ups based on data already available on the internet or other sources, the chances of plagiarism are high. Recently, the app AI writer faltered in plagiarism checks. And even if not flagged by a plagiarism checker, in many cases, the idea of the write-up is not original.

 Misleading

 In many cases, artificial intelligence fails to analyze certain information correctly, which may be due to errors in programming. For instance, one app, while producing references, mentioned an article that was just the opposite of the concept it explained.

Also, many of you use Grammarly, an AI app, and must have frequently come across some errors/ suggestions indicated by Grammarly, such as ‘rephrase,’ ‘wordy,’ etc., that you ignore to keep the human nuance and stress your view.

 Uniqueness

Einstein has said, “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”

 Originality or uniqueness is another thing that artificial intelligence lacks. The human brain can think of or imagine things beyond their knowledge, but AI has zero power to think. It only sticks to data available and algorithms fed. So, the chances of creating something new or unique are nil.

Can Artificial Intelligence Wipe Out Content Writers

Many people are of the view that AI robots can write like humans and will sooner or later replace human writers. Others say they can never work as humans because they lack the cognitive and imaginative power of humans.

 AI Can Replace Content Writers

Lately, AI has progressed very fast, and many tools can generate text indistinguishable from human-written ones. And many businesses are adopting it to create content; for example, CNET regularly mixes AI-written articles in their content. Google’s John Mueller, too, proposed using AI to bring innovation to writing projects.

The Siege Media & Clearscope has reported that around 52% of business leaders are at present taking the help of Ai-based content-producing tools, and 64% plan to use them in 2023. They further said that 62% and 32% of B2B and B2C businesses, respectively, plan to do the same. However, Siege Media opines chances of AI tools taking over the place of writers are yet to reach maturity.

With the release of the AI application ChatGPT in December 2022, that have done well in the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, many people believe that the days of human content writers will be over sooner or later. Like craft persons or artisans, mass production of content will push writers to oblivion, and as in the case of artisans, only exceptional talents will survive.

AI Cannot Replicate Content Writers.

Many experts in content writing strongly opine that AI apps lack unique human attributes like sentiment, emotion, imagination, and interpersonal relationships. They cannot generate the customer-brand relationship through content. So, however good their writings are, grammar-wise, structure-wise, or idea-wise, they fail to excite the emotions of a reader or motivate them to act desirably.

AI And Human To Work Hand-In-Hand.

Like all good machines, AI tools also need someone to direct it. As they cannot think of their own, they need humans to prompt and program them. Once prompted, they can efficiently generate content. But to date, they can only write on basic or routine tasks, though the way innovations are being made, it is expected they will be able to write more complex content.

The AI apps released to date are mainly designed to increase your efficiency, save time, and do monotonous jobs for you. According to Statista, 53% of adults view them as efficient assistants to do repetitive tasks. But they have to optimize prompts, review, edit the outputs, and give it a human nuance.

According to Professor Mike Sharples of the Open University, UK, an expert in AI writing, the situation that AI tools replace writers has not yet come. “AI tools are excellent, and you should make use of them to optimize your content.”

AI may indeed replace many writers producing stereotypical content that lacks creativity. But more jobs of new categories, like, Prompters, AI-supported Writers, Editors, and Researchers, will be generated.

With the digitization of commerce and business, large amounts of content are required every day. Businesses want fast content generation on trending topics. They also want well-researched, informative content with human nuance for marketing commodities, services, and ideas. So many are turning to AI-collaborated human content writers.

Technological advancement always brings changes. And you cannot fight these changes. Many professions have been wiped out with the advancement of technology. For instance, automation has wiped out assemblers in the manufacturing industry, tellers in banks, ticket booking clerks in the transport industry, and file clerks in many organizations.

Likewise, AI is creating tools and robots to take over jobs like data entry clerks, translators, entry-level writers, proofreaders, etc. But one thing is common: all these jobs are repetitive. Technology has not replaced creative jobs where human intelligence is involved; rather, they have helped them to perform more efficiently.

Similarly, AI-based apps are gradually replacing entry-level content writers but helping creative writers in various ways like proofreading, grammatical corrections, and SEO optimization. So, if you create original and unique content, your job is safe, and AI tools will help you save energy and time.

And if at all AI can gain the cognitive power of humans, it is not only your job but the whole human world that will be in danger.