There’s no question about it: the next significant era of our rapidly changing world will be brought to you by the letters “A” and “I”.
I recently put together a newsletter on marketing topics. This is something we’ve done successfully in the past. I showed it to a colleague, who looked it over, and said something that shocked me into silence, “You realize you could have created this entire newsletter using AI, right?”
When I could bring myself to talk again, I got defensive. I mean, there was more than one well-paid writer doing research and writing in their own style. There was the small matter of coming up with ideas of what to cover, reading and summarizing a well-known marketing book, and applying it to financial institutions. Things like that. Things that require thought and creativity.
But you know what? My colleague was right. The entire publication could have been written using Chat GPT or another AI platform. And really, most people wouldn’t even know the difference.
What does that mean, in practical terms?
- We need to think carefully about the value of our content. Yes, the right information at the right time can move someone along in the sales process, but really, how much do people really read these days? Maybe a video is a better content option? And please, keep it short.
- If it CAN be written via AI, maybe it SHOULD be written that way. Because the value of content, in a world where it’s so easy to create, isn’t all that high. Your time might be better spent on things that AI can’t do.
- This brings us to the most important question we need to be asking ourselves right now, and that is: what can I do that AI can’t (yet) do for me? That’s the sweet spot for creating something unique.
At the time of this writing, you can still tell a story, making it personal and able to generate strong interest. Maybe you can even hold someone’s attention for more than a nanosecond. Maybe.
But how long will it be before AI can do that–and possibly better than a human mind?
I don’t know the answers. But I do know that not only will those answers change, but the very questions we need to be asking are also a moving target. The most we can do, and it’s what we HAVE to do, is stay aware of the world around us, follow the developments of AI, use the tools as much as we can, and be ready to embrace change.
