Five thoughts on OpenAI and ChatGPT

Because everyone else is writing about it...

In the absence of Love Island and British politics melodrama, my Twitter feed is absolutely dominated by one topic at the moment… OpenAI and its ChatGPT product. 

I'm not an expert in this stuff. I mean, I'm still striving to be an expert in product marketing, and that's already a stretch. But, as I seemingly can’t escape it, here are some unstructured thoughts on AI, and how it might affect marketers and people who write. 

(OpenAI and its products can of course do a lot more than just content creation, but this is what I’ve mainly been mulling over lately…)

Opinion matters. 

From the simplest of prompts, ChatGPT can produce a stream of words on any given subject. 

Skills-wise there’s now nothing stopping anyone from being a publisher of fact-based content. Every morning, you could start your day by asking ChatGPT to write you a batch of articles and a supporting newsletter on your chosen topic and you’re on your way. 

So opinion now matters more than ever. Sure, people want informative content, but they also want to be entertained, challenged and inspired. AI can generate content that mimics this kind of writing, but for as long as we know we’re reading AI-produced content, I’d argue there'll always be something that holds us back from engaging with it on an emotional level. What is the value of an opinion from something that isn’t real?

People care about who they’re reading the opinions of. There's context. You have an idea of where someone sits in your values spectrum. For example, I still want to get my travel recommendations from a publication I respect, and by someone who has actually been to that location - ideally a human who knows what it’s like to actually go on a holiday.

As information becomes even more accessible (which feels mind blowing to write, in itself) to the point of being overwhelming, readers will look for beacons of opinion to guide and entertain them. It will pay to have a view. 

Then again, we're likely to face a lot of content that isn't flagged as AI, and I can fully imagine the folks on Twitter rallying behind, or being infuriated by, generative commentary. Which brings me onto my next point... 

Trust is key… 

This is going to get messy isn’t it? Fake news at scale. People gaming ChatGPT - either maliciously or just for fun - to produce incorrect, outrageous answers. 

And, to begin with, regulation won’t be able to keep up with the pace of change. So we’re likely to go through a phase where you’re not sure whether or not an algorithm wrote the article you’re reading. With this comes the risk that what you’re reading is complete hogwash. 

‘Human-written’ authentication will become important, and trusted brands will need to lean into their reputations, as readers search for something truthful, written by somebody they can trust. 

It’ll take longer for new content brands to build a reputation, and premium publications will be able to make more of their tenure. Truth will become scarcer - and very valuable as a result.

…and trust no one.

Ok maybe this is a little extreme. Trust someone(s). But apply a huge pinch of salt to the majority of people spewing out content on the topic of AI right now. Myself included. 

I suspect there’s a massive overlap between the people championing crypto and those currently hyping AI as if it’s the second coming. A collection of chancers and tech bros are pumping out a ton of content on the topic (I enjoyed this tweet on ‘The AI guy’) which creates a wave of noise, and makes it very hard to track down the genuinely useful stuff.

Everyone is in a race to be relevant. To be seen as an expert on the topic, to open themselves up to the opportunity ahead. Which is totally understandable and human. But it also feels like a knee jerk reaction. This trend could be a massive distraction for tech companies and product teams, if you let it become one.

As a general rule of thumb, if these people weren’t posting about AI six months ago, they’re probably not an expert, so tread carefully before following their guidance. 

Basic marketing just became very easy… 

It just became very easy to create your own decent-enough logos, websites, design, animation and much more. The good news for one-person marketing teams? Your job just got a lot easier. The bad news for one-person marketing teams? Your job might not exist anymore. Or, less bad, it might just take a while longer before a company decides to hire its first marketer. 

AI is likely to replace the ‘good enough’ provided by your typical first marketing hire, a generalist who does a bit of everything. Founders will feel like they can do this themselves.  

And if your SEO strategy has historically centred around creating lots of ‘good enough’ content on high-traffic keywords, then you might need to think again. ChatGPT is already excellent at this. We all now have access to a high-volume content factory. But the problem with it is just that. We all have access to it. 

The march to mediocrity 

This collective access to ‘good enough’ content creation will likely lead to an influx of very average marketing.

I suspect that great brand marketers don’t have a ton to worry about here. AI can recommend what a brand stands for, but it’s a human that makes that decision and its people at a company that live the values of a brand, and bring it to life in their work. 

If you are about high quality marketing and design, then originality and authenticity are in your bones. It pays to be different and this march towards homogeneity creates a chance for you to stand out. In fact, the rise of AI is a huge opportunity for talented marketers who are comfortable with going against the grain.

—

Predictive posts like this are always a gamble, and I’m sure I’ll be cringing in 12 months’ time about how wrong I was. But feel free to reply in the comments with your thoughts. 👇

And the best thing about this post? The whole thing was actually written using ChatGPT.*

*not really