AI can’t write its own future

mlns='> That story is in your hands [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( Weekly News 12.16.22 Connect With CMI  [Editorial Calendar Tools and Templates To Help You Master Your Content To-Do List]( Chances are you’ve been using the same editorial calendar format for years. Here’s some advice on how to make improvements that will help in creation, process, reporting, and more. (And if you don’t have a calendar, start here.) [Read more]( By Jodi Harris More of the week's best stuff: - [CMI News:]( Can Write, Yet Content’s Future Remains Unwritten]( by Robert Rose - [How To Support the B2B Buyer Revolution With the Right Digital Content]( Ann Gynn - [Time For a Content Strategy Pivot? Here's How To Decide (and Get Started)]( Grace Lau - [27+ Content Marketing Statistics To Help You Succeed in 2023]( by Lisa Murton Beets - [ChatGPT: Why the Future of AI in Content Is in Your Hands [Rose-Colored Glasses]]( Robert Rose  AI can’t write its own future Have you been hearing a lot about ChatGPT lately? I thought so. If, for some reason, you’ve been too tied up with holiday shopping or closing the fourth quarter, ChatGPT is a prototype artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI. This class of generative AI technology receives prompts from users, then generates new text or images (based on the data set used to train the model) in response. That means if you’re a software engineer, you can ask it to [write (or check) your code]( for you. If you’re a writer, you might ask it to write a blog post on technology (reasonable) or a [history of London]( in the style of Dr. Seuss (Why? Because you can). If you’re a student, you might use it [to write a college application essay](. You get the idea. The results are impressive. Sort of. But I’ll come back to that. The response to ChatGPT’s release last week (like other recent developments in AI for image creation and manipulation) has run the full spectrum of the Kubler-Ross stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Some say ChatGPT will fundamentally “[change everything in marketing, forever]( Others say it has “[passed the tipping point]( ,” and we must explore it. One writer even referred to it as a “[pocket nuclear bomb]( and said it should be withdrawn from our collective grasp immediately. Whether you agree or disagree with any particular take, the response has been dizzying. Most of the conclusions in these pieces are tempered by the same word: “yet.” I urge you to focus on the “yet” in these reactions (including this one, by the way). This technology is still in its formative stage. It’s likely to have profound effects on all manner of creative activities – including marketing and communications. The trouble is, we don’t know what those effects will be. Yet. Some people likely will use generative AI technology in a way that harms the creative process and creators. But it’s just as likely that some people will leverage the technology to further the craft of writing – and challenge the rest of us to use the tool to get better at it. There will also be every flavor of messy middle. A quote almost always [misattributed]( to renowned media theorist Marshall McLuhan says, “We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.” This means (and it’s the most McLuhan of ideas) we create technology, but its existence also changes us. It then follows that the meaning of any new technology we invent comes from how it changes us. With artificial intelligence and content creation, we’re in the former stage of that process. But the latter is coming. It seems a bit premature to latch onto the idea that artificial intelligence will disrupt the future of marketing. What was the last new technology to do that? Search? For sure. Social media? Probably. Mobile? Maybe. It also seems unproductive to proclaim that future robot overlords will take over every creative activity in our strategy. Yet. In [Rose-Colored Glasses]( this week, I explain why we shouldn’t fear the changes that AI technology may bring to marketing. Instead, we should focus on the creative doors it may open to us and how we might plot optimal paths to being changed for the better. We don’t yet know what those changes might be. But I’d love to hear your thoughts on where AI might take us. Send me [an email](mailto:cmi_info@informa.com?subject=Rose-Colored%20Glasses) or leave a comment on [the article page](. Until then, remember: It's your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Do you have colleagues or friends who would benefit from Robert's weekly updates? If so, please invite them to [subscribe]( here.   Sponsored Content The Marketing Playbook for Content Creation Want to create marketing content that's ready to perform? Download our Marketing Playbook for Content Creation to start delighting your audience [Download Now »](   More From CMI Gift Yourself a Year of Learning As the year comes to a close, arm yourself with new learnings, fresh perspectives, and a framework to set your 2023 on the right course to advance your practice of content marketing. Enroll now in Content Marketing University and you’ll receive 12-month on-demand access to an extensive curriculum designed to take your strategy to the next level in the new year. 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