Should Freelance Writers Worry About Being Replaced By ChatGPT?

As a content writer, seeing the news about ChatGPT and its ability to write articles from scratch must be scary. Like many people, you might wonder whether you will be replaced by a robot one day. With inventions like ChatGPT, is it more likely than ever before?

Like you, I have been asking myself the following questions. So far, this is what I have come up with.

I hope you find it useful.

Topics Covered

• Writing Quality content is key
• Understand ChatGPT
• All I have discovered about ChatGPT
• What Google Says about AI
• Closing thoughts

Writing Quality content is key

You have nothing to worry about if you write quality content that meets a need and engages with real people. Keep that same high-quality level of writing, and you will thrive post-ChatGPT. On the contrary, mediocre content with no real depth or thorough research is most at risk.

So what is quality content?

Quality content is usually compelling with a clear message that is imparted to its rightful audience. It is content that is always useful because it is rooted in fact and personal experience. Right now, robots cannot write from personal experience.

 I agree that ChatGPT will affect large swathes of the content creation industry, but mass-produced, low-quality content has always been primed for disruption. Serious writers have grappled with content mills, where regiments of writers get paid by the cent per word. Similarly, reputable artists have also struggled with copyright issues and low-effort copycats.

Jothan Lim

Understand all you can about ChatGPT

The best way to adapt to this new way of living with AI and the best way to do this is to review ChatGPT itself.

That’s why I have also played around with ChatGPT. I asked if it could write me a poem, some historical facts and more.

The poem was good. However, it sounded more like a Shakespeare sonnet than anything, but I did some digging, and it just followed the flow of famous historical poets.

All I have discovered about ChatGPT so far

• Not everything ChatGPT publishes is factually correct. If you want to use it, you will need to factually check the content it shows you and make sure it’s 100% accurate.
• I don’t think ChatGPT should be used for writing poems. I would instead write a poem from my own experience.
• It doesn’t know how to think; it only knows how to predict.
• ChatGPT is still developing. It has yet to be at its best, but it is an excellent tool for research.
• ChatGPT is still learning and will improve the more you use it. However, it still can not write from a real human point of view.

What does Google Say about AI Generated Content

So whilst we are at it, what exactly does the #1 search engine have to say about AI generated content?

Let’s have a look.

Google has many years of experience dealing with automation being used in an attempt to game search results. This said, it’s important to recognize that not all use of automation, including AI generation, is spam. Automation has long been used to generate helpful content, such as sports scores, weather forecasts, and transcripts. AI has the ability to power new levels of expression and creativity, and to serve as a critical tool to help people create great content for the web.

GOOGLE SEARCH CENTRAL

I recently attended a webinar (SMX Marketing Expo) where Kathy, the VP of Google Search, discussed Google’s stance on AI-generated content. She said it is good that AI content can help people who aren’t confident writers to start writing (because it’s easier to edit than writing something from scratch). She also explained that articles written by AI that are helpful and useful would rank well on Google. Most of these said articles would have been checked and re-edited by humans. They will also have added real-life examples lived by the humans to make the piece come to life.

Closing thoughts

Based on my observations, I wouldn’t advice using AI to generate whole pieces of new content. You can get good content using it for ideas on topics to cover on your blog post, stories, thought pieces and so much more.

In addition, there is still a market for in-depth opinion pieces based on real-life situations that you, as a human, can delve into in your writing. That’s why I think, as a writer, we still have much to do in our industry. They aren’t getting rid of us anytime soon.

Are you still worried about being replaced by an AI tool or robot? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.