As GenAI took the world by storm in 2023, I began to see frequent posts from fellow writers and content creators wondering about how, and to what extent, the technology would replace the need for their services. There have been a number of impacts, both good and bad.
Productivity and Efficiency
Streamlining Content Creation
GenAI has been reported to decrease the workload for content creators by up to 60%, mainly by automating repetitive tasks such as data analysis, content drafting, and design work.
Acceleration in Content Creation
About 45% of marketers have experienced shorter content creation cycles due to GenAI integration, which provides a competitive advantage by meeting consumer demand and adapting to market trends quickly.
Job Evolution and Creation
Job Evolution: GenAI is expected to create new roles that do not currently exist and change the nature of existing jobs. While 49% of those surveyed by the World Economic Forum anticipate job creation, 23% expect job displacement, indicating a shift in roles and required skills rather than outright job elimination.
Impact on Specific Professions
GenAI has the potential to replace or reduce the need for humans in jobs such as ad creation, customer service, and software code writing, which have already been affected by AI to some extent.
Changing Roles and Skills
Marketing Roles
Marketers are evolving into roles that focus more on strategy, data analysis, and leveraging AI for decision-making rather than being displaced by GenAI.
CMO Responsibilities
Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) now need to include AI strategy and implementation in their roles, aligning AI technologies with business goals. Not all have these skillsets, of course, leading to the need for additional training and upskilling.
Concerns and Challenges
The rapid rise in the use of GenAI for content creation is obviously leading to concerns and challenges for those in the field. Chief among them are the potential for negative brand impact and the potential for job displacement.
Brand Authenticity
There is a concern that using GenAI could diminish brand authenticity, with 70% of marketers believing this to be the case.
Job Displacement
Some professionals have already replaced human employees with GenAI or plan to do so, according to a survey by Basis Technologies. Some writers in the Facebook and LinkedIn groups I frequent are expressing concern.
One, for instance, shared a story on how Apple is exploring AI deals with news publishers and said: “This does not bode well for writers and journalists.” Another said: “Reading more and more about ChatGPT and feeling deep concern about the future of writing as a profession.”
And recent news reports indicate that, in January alone, more than 500 journalists were laid off from news outlets. In 2023, Politico reports, 3087 digital, broadcast and print news jobs were lost. That, they say, was “the highest annual total since 2020, when 16,060 cuts were recorded.”
The Yin and Yang of GenAI vs. Human Writers
Last year Forbes ran an article titled “I’ve Never Hired a Writer Better Than ChatGPT: How AI Is Upending The Freelance World.” Ouch!
Is GenAI having an impact? Yes. In fact, I’ve had a few clients stop sending work my way that I suspect are experimenting with AI for content creation. But in the past week, two suddenly reappeared, and I think I know why. From a content creation standpoint AI isn’t as easy to use as it may seem. It hallucinates. The content it creates is often dull and repetitive. In some cases, the links and sources it provides are dated.
And there’s another pending disruption on the horizon. While Google says that it doesn’t penalize websites for the use of AI content it is widely known that Google does reward websites for high quality, original, and relevant content.
I’ve observed in the past that any moves by Google to make it tougher for websites to rank tend to drive up the demand for original content. I’m hoping that will ultimately be the case when it comes to the balance in demand for GenAI vs. human writers. I also think that editors and Chief Content Officers will grow weary of having to baby-sit GenAI and face the potential that it might inadvertently create content that is inaccurate or that shows them in an unfavorable light.
Time will tell.
What do you think? Will GenAI and other tools have a negative impact on journalists and writers? Will their jobs be in jeopardy? Will it be harder to find jobs?
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Tags: content creation, content marketing, demand for writers, GenAI, journalists, the writing life, writing with GenAI