We, Robots: Levelling Up Your Copy Game with AI
Simply click and drag your
cursor over a passage of
text from the article below
to tweet or share.
The advancements of AI are startling and seem to be moving faster and faster—are we moving towards the robot-ruled future described in Asimov’s I, Robot? Well, there’s no need to feel threatened (yet). In fact, there are several ways you can use AI tools to streamline your copywriting process and get the thumbs up from clients sooner.
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI and released in November 2022. Once given a written prompt, ChatGPT can spit out well-written responses from anime to quantum theory. Its current wide release, ChatGPT 3.5, is extremely popular, while its upgraded sibling ChatGPT 4.0, released in March 2023, is currently only available for a limited number of subscribers.
As we learn more about AI tools and utilise them more and more, is it OK to rely solely on a robot’s copywriting output? Well, not exactly. Inspired by Asimov, we must set ourselves some laws for AI and its integration into working and copywriting. At least our agency has.
First Law: AI Tools May Not Injure Your Writing Style or Allow Your Human Touch Come to Harm.
Integrating AI into your work systems is an excellent way to involve AI tools in your pre-existing routine. Starting off, you can download a free Desktop app and create a shortcut to bring up the chatbot wherever you see fit. If you want to go one step further, you can add an extension to your Google Docs and Sheets and even integrate it as a tool in work chatrooms.
The beauty of this is that it’s there when you need it, wherever you’re working. You can ask it to get you started on a tricky e-mail, to look up synonyms, and to write headlines for your blogs and caption copy. ChatGPT has a wealth of knowledge, and the only way to get used to its capabilities is to use it, and integrating it into your pre-existing systems is a good way to get acquainted with it swiftly.
Regarding your copywriting, utilising AI outputs as thought-starters is a good way to inspire you to hit the ground running. Getting it to write out some puns, popular sayings, or rhyming words is helpful in inspiring you to get into the groove of copywriting while still injecting your personal writing style. One of AI’s drawbacks is that its copy can feel same-y, dry and in a manner that may not inspire potential customers to purchase products. Using your editing brain is essential to cut and shape AI outputs to your copywriting sensibilities.
However, if you’re stuck on a task, and the clock is ticking, you don’t want to waste your precious time editing robotic copy, so how do you get the best out of the tool?
Second Law: AI Must Obey the Orders Given It by Human Beings, and Its Output Is Only as Good as Its Prompt.
Finessing your prompt to get the best AI output is a work in progress for us and all new users of ChatGPT and AI. AI needs detailed information to give a good result, which means putting as much context in your prompt as possible. The key is to be specific and notify precisely how many words you want and what you’re writing for, as well as references to bolster its output. Telling it to write specifically Social Media Caption Copy, for example, will even gift you with some emojis to utilise in the final copy, as well as the general tone of voice of that copy style.
If you are unhappy with ChatGPT’s output, you can ask another question, and as long as the page is open, it will remember your previous inputs to send you a more tailored response. If it sounds too wordy, you can tell it to simplify. If you need the copy shorter, you can set a character limit. Utilising the AI’s chatroom in this way can help you shape AI copy without doing much legwork.
However, writing the best prompt is still a work in progress. I don’t think we ourselves have mastered the complexities and capabilities of the tool, nor how to write the perfect prompt. Going in, getting your hands dirty and asking it the hard questions will be the best way to figure out what works best for you.
Third Law: AI Will Be Integrated Completely as Long as It Does Not Conflict with the First or Second Law.
AI is how the world is moving, and as it advances, we must keep up with the force and move with it—this will be our future. However, AI will not take over our jobs, and human writing will never become obsolete; instead, we can use these tools to improve our writing output and inspire us to create better, punchier copy for our clients. As agencies, it is vital to establish boundaries with your staff so AI tools are better utilised and integrated into writing workflows and not solely rely on its capabilities.
In fact… has AI written this whole blog? Kidding. Or am I?
In the market for a creative comms solution? You’re in the right place.
Click here to get in touch with our team.
