If your boss hasn’t asked you about ChatGPT, brace for it, because that day is coming. AI, or artificial intelligence, has been permeating our lives for over a decade now. Kids are growing up learning how to just ask Alexa for an answer instead of going to Google, or, god forbid, the Dewey Decimal System.
And now, the technology is bleeding over into the business world—and not just cutting-edge industries and startups. Generative AI tools have made it possible for companies of every size and in every industry to harness the power of AI to work faster and smarter—but that should be done with caution. Read on to see what we mean.
#1 ChatGPT is not an enterprise-ready solution
What?! Once you pick your jaw up off the floor, hear me out.
ChatGPT has quickly become the darling of generative AI. Your boss is talking about it. Your grandma is talking about it. It’s free.
But that last point is part of the problem. OpenAI (the creator of ChatGPT) has been perfectly transparent that it rolled the program out for free as a massive Beta test, and that the company may charge for the service in the future. And as of this writing, ChatGPT was closed to new users.
The good news is that ChatGPT does not have a stranglehold on generative AI content. There are several pay-to-play tools on the market like Writer, Jasper.ai, Copy.ai, and more niche tools. These tools are more focused on business needs versus a middle schooler trying to take a shortcut on their book report, and they come with enterprise-level data security protections.
#2 AI tools are a superpower, not a replacement for human judgement
Generative AI tools can help you come up with more ideas faster, and then refine those ideas to conform to content best practices faster yet. But it still takes a trained eye to cull through AI outputs to determine what works, what needs a little tweaking, and what’s just blatantly wrong.
These tools can also help make good writers more versatile. Don’t know the latest character counts for a paid LinkedIn campaign? Don’t worry. The bot has you covered. But the bot does occasionally get it wrong. Which leads to the next point…
#3 Fact-checking and editing are more important than ever
Read the terms and conditions for your favorite AI writing tool closely, and you’ll find a phrase that boils down to this: It’s not our fault if this tool produces content that’s deemed plagiarism or copyright infringement.
That’s important because generative AI content doesn’t come out of thin air. Natural language models are based on content already on the internet.
That’s bad enough, but what if an AI tool spits out a carbon copy of a competitor’s sales pitch?
Training AI models on existing content also creates issues with bias. Here’s a dramatic example: An AI model ingests Mein Kampf into its model, but it’s not differentiated as a historical artifact (that is, a text which holds its value in providing historical context). Instead, the AI model regards that artifact as a source of truth. A user then asks the AI tool “Why was Germany having problems in the 1930s?”
See the problem?
The next wave of AI tools may bring what some are calling “free-range, grass-fed content,” i.e., a tool where users can carefully choose what source materials the model will pull from—and which it will avoid. At the present, even tools that do offer citations only do so for thesis statements, not every word.
#4 As “good enough” AI-generated content proliferates, great content will rise to the top
Is your business’s product resource webpage lacking because no one has had the time to write up documentation? Put AI tools to work and you can come up with robust documentation in half the time of “old-school” methods.
But AI can only write based on what’s been written before. Given that, generative AI tools are best suited for landing page content and blog posts versus bottom-of-the-funnel pieces that lay out your organization’s key differentiators.
Want to publish a provocative thought leadership piece with a novel claim and a creative lede? That will take human talent—and your audience will be able to tell the difference.
Now’s the time
Here’s the thing: Whatever your organization decides with regards to implementing generative AI tools, do it thoughtfully—and do it now. Perfecting AI-generated content is a bit of a skill, but by testing and adopting the technology now, you’re ahead of the curve. AI tools may not be appropriate for every project or situation, but there are opportunities to create efficiencies for every industry and every business.
How do you plan to get started?
