- Jake Meth is a writer who believes AI tools like ChatGPT are not the threat that writers think they are.
- According to Meth, quickly crafting articles to attract attention in search engines is what AI excels at.
- ChatGPT can only imitate and approximate, so really talented creative writers are fine.
I read a lot recently that the advent of ChatGPT spelled the end for professional writers like me, but fear not. In fact, AI tools like ChatGPT make it even more valuable for writers like me.
how is that? Well, it’s easy.
ChatGPT is really good at writing good things
at the same time, I’m really bad at writing great things.
Most of us have seen examples of what ChatGPT produces. Compared to other AIs published so far, it’s impressive. If you’re looking for answers to fairly simple questions that require processing large amounts of data, this is a worthwhile tool.
This is a major threat to writing professionals who are responsible for pumping out lots of content every day. This type of writing was already commoditized before ChatGPT came along. It is now even clearer that quickly creating articles for attention in search engines and social media is not a professional skill enough to set you apart from your competitors.
BuzzFeed and CNET Introducing AI to support article creationWitnessing such rapid adoption of AI gives writers good reason to worry about what happens next.
I don’t think current AI will replace me
I specialize in writing editorials for clients, and the work I do for them is only partially dependent on my writing skills. I don’t consider myself to be such a pure writer. If you’re looking for someone to write beautiful passages that bring tears to your eyes, you need to look elsewhere.
But this is not a problem for me. My clients are not looking for novelists. They are looking for someone to help them achieve their goal of becoming a respected thought leader. I know how to bring out the best ideas they have to write a compelling editorial in their voice.
Professional skill sets like this abound in the world of professional writing. They are as diverse as they are deep. Good journalists know themselves better than anyone else and have a wide range of sources available whenever they need inside information. Speechwriters are very good at considering the interests of their audience and tailoring their speeches to their clients accordingly.
ChatGPT and other AI programs aren’t the best.only an average of existing
Many of us have seen the clever poetry that ChatGPT creates. But beyond the initial shock, you realize that these poems are just averages, approximations of what a decent poem looks like. Billions of example. A truly talented poet or other creative writer is fine.
ChatGPT cannot do these things. If I can do that at some point, I’ll probably be gone for long.Maybe so will the rest of us.
The reality is that professional writing skills have very little to do with writing, and much more to do with everything a writer does when he’s not sitting at his desk and ultimately writes great stuff.
I am not afraid of AI because I use it to my advantage.
I am doing a much better job than AI. This sets me apart from other professional writers who haven’t found their way.
I empathize with them. As with all technological change, the potential for unemployment is real and scary.
But at the same time, it’s also important to delve into why we became writers in the first place. The goal was not just to process and regurgitate information. It was to inform, tickle, surprise, educate, and convey concepts and ideas that inspire.
From my time in the media, I’ve seen many writers check it out because they’re asked to do pointless, repetitive work that’s underpaid. , perhaps an unwitting messenger sent by the AI gods to remind us to be proud of our technology again.
My advice to writers currently in the shadow of ChatGPT is:
Specialize. And if you’re already specialized, specialize even more.
Think about what you are particularly good at. Even if you’re writing a roundup of tweets during the day, you need something that you really care about, or that you’re much better than most. Lean into it as much as you can. And if you really feel like you don’t have anything unique to offer, start developing a niche or start looking for another field of employment.
These are hard truths. But this is not about fairness. It’s about protecting yourself from obsolescence and evolving your skills to better fit into the modern economy.
If you can do that, you have nothing to worry about.
Jake Meth is the founder opinionatedan editorial writing and strategy firm for thought leaders.