AI and ChatGPT, is it game over for the wordsmiths?

Marina’s blog: My brother, Matt Johnson, who continues to run ClearLine Communications Ltd focusing on the non-leisure maritime industry reviewed this topic at the beginning of 2024 and since then AI has moved into the mainstream of business practice at a breathtaking pace. Time, then to see where we are with it.

Matt took a look threats and opportunities that I offers to a content creator / copywriter in a specialist field such as both the commercial maritime and the leisure marine industries.

Content creators are generally considered to be near the top of the list of those functions that will be most vulnerable to being replaced, so it seemed logical to explore what it can and can’t do by giving it some tasks to execute and so see just how gloomy the outlook for us really is.
Of course, its first drawback (from its own perspective) is that it can’t interview people. A lot of what we do is produce original content, and while the subject matter itself may not be new the combination of the event, the sources of the information and their individual perspectives almost certainly will be.  Secondly, AI can’t know about a new product that our client is offering before we do!  So we still have to research and write.

When it came to gathering information to give context and the bigger picture to specific events and announcements, Matt and I agreed it was more useful, but we found ourselves picking out bits of information that were helpful rather than using whole sentences, let alone wholesale cut ‘n’ paste.

Also, the style can be a bit more clunky or formal than we might trying to achieve – depending, of course, on what we are writing and who our audience is. 

What AI is good at, is that it is a great search engine. You ask it a specific question and you get a precise answer complete with links to the sources. That is very useful!  It will also suggest sub-topics to allow exploration of a broad subject – like, how to prepare my school-leaving teenaged niece and nephew for a potential job on a superyacht!

Most importantly, AI is not always right – even though it can give seemingly well researched information with great authority.  So our work for our clients has to be original and properly researched.  I do confess thought, it’s great at checking my press releases for errors!