If what the AI fanatics and scaremongers predict comes true and generative AI takes away writing jobs, what will become of content writers like me? Today, I’m wearing my thinking cap and ready to imagine a dystopian world where I’m replaced by a machine.

Generative AI, the new ‘Lord of the Content,’ can deliver human-like content within seconds. And with just that ability, this fancy-schmancy technology has already revolutionized the content and marketing industry.

It works faster and more efficiently than humans and has automated the entire content creation process, from researching and writing to editing and publishing, thus reducing the cost of human resources.

With custom training data, generative AI can also produce virtually indistinguishable branded content from human-written one. What becomes of the common, average content writer now?

All About the BOTS

“To err is Human; To not err is BOT!”

AI robots now churn out clickbait headlines and fake news faster than you can say ‘artificial intelligence.’

“A machine wins the Pulitzer.” This is what reality is now.

All my dear content creators, there is no doubt that AI bots are coming for our jobs.

Who will need humans when the bots can do everything, from writing to drawing and creating memes to producing research papers? At least they don’t spill coffee on the keyboard or accidentally reply-all to company emails.

These AI bots don’t need tea breaks or vacations and don’t suffer from writer’s block or get distracted by cute cat videos. In fact, their lightning-fast processing power generates more content than we ever could and make us all look like slow, clumsy typewriters.

(In such a case, we could create a support group for displaced writers or take up new hobbies, like finger painting or gardening. Either way, our days as creative geniuses behind content are already numbered!)

*cue sad music*

Human Writers, Is There a Ray of Hope?

Well, as they say, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Irrespective of generative AI’s advantages, relying too heavily on it has consequences. MAJOR consequences.

AI-generated content lacks the touch of human creativity and originality. This has resulted in a homogenization of content across different industries and a loss of the unique voice and perspective that makes content engaging and memorable.

It also lacks the emotional intelligence humans can bring to content creation, which is crucial in marketing and storytelling.

And don’t even get me started on sarcasm.

Can AI understand the subtle nuances of a sarcastic remark?

Unfortunately, robots are notoriously bad at detecting irony, which means they’ll never be able to write content that makes you roll your eyes and mutter “Yeah, right” under your breath.

Good News: This Is Not the End but a New Start.

In a world dominated by AI, the content writing community needs to sit back and rethink the value they can bring to the table. And if they can’t find something solid, then they need to start creating it.

Here is a list of alternate career options to consider in case bots eat up your job.

• Human Intelligence (HI) Writers: Human writers can write specialized content requiring expertise and creativity, such as in-depth analysis, opinion pieces, and storytelling. AI cannot write how humans write regarding emotions, feelings, context, opinion, and other human-specific aspects based on their varied experiences.

• HI Editors: Present and future worlds are full of generative AI written content. To make AI-generated content more exciting and relevant, brands must qualify them on HI criteria by having human editors on board.

• HI-AI Collaborators: Human content writers can find opportunities where integration of both HI and AI is needed for a successful product or service. Companies can hire humans to add human-specific characteristics to their content. In this way, they can produce it fast and optimize it for human audiences.

• Human Content Specialists: Content writers can find their relevance in areas where specialized content based on human psychology and experiences is required. No AI bots can replace such jobs, ever.

• AI Content Skill Enhancers: Human writers can seek work in IT companies developing AI bots like OpenAI to provide human inputs/expertise to improve the quality of AI content writers.

• AI Optimal Utilization Coaches: Content writers can learn and gain expertise in AI writing tools, and then they can educate people on how to use AI writing bots optimally. They can even prepare user guides and become AI educators in universities.

• Management Roles: If required, human writers can upskill and move into the roles such as analysts, project managers, program managers, AI software development, and big data analysts for the AI industry.

• NLP Researchers: Human content writers can provide valuable inputs in research contributions towards Natural Language Processing (NLP).

• AI Writing Tools Debuggers: Technology is ever-changing to meet the fast-changing needs of the modern world. So, there is always scope for improvement in any programmed tool. And when it comes to debugging, no one can do it better than a human writer. After all, these generative AI tools are made by humans for humans.

As I imagine the dystopian world where content writers are replaced with their AI counterparts, I’m also imagining a positive, utopian world where content writers are not stuck creating boring, repetitive content.

As Sabine Hauert, the Co-founder of Robohub.org, says,

“Robots are not going to replace humans; they are going to make their jobs much more humane. Difficult, demeaning, demanding, dangerous, dull — these are the jobs robots will be taking.”

To some content writers, the future may look bleak. But I believe if generative AI tools become the centric force in the content creation process, our jobs will only get more creative — where we’re valued for the ideas we bring to the table in shining words.

And we’ll be better appreciated for it.

Does that make you feel better, at least a little bit?

Also published here