Is AI Generated Copy EVER Compatible With Ethical Marketing?!

The 4 red flags every ethical business owner should consider before using AI generated copy…

“I’ve written a Burns Night poem! … Well, actually, Chat GPT wrote it.”

With (vegetarian) haggis in our bellies, and a fire crackling in the corner of the room, my friends and I gathered for an evening of merriment and poetry reading.

I wasn’t new to the concept of AI generated content, but the prospect of a poem written by AI was certainly very intriguing. You see, until that point, I thought of poetry as a uniquely human ability. As a personal passion of mine, I’ve always enjoyed how poetry can give me a glimpse into the writer’s inner mind… and watch as the words penetrate my soul, compelling me to explore feelings and ideas that I’d never considered before. Could a robot do the same?

In short, no.

Did Chat GPT write a poem? Yes. It even rhymed. Was it on theme? Absolutely; this robot riffed about stories, fire, and friendship in a believably ‘human’ way. But was it any good? Eeeh… it was fine.

Let me tell you, nothing gets my heart sizzling like a friend who has written a poem - even if that poem is a bit 💩

First of all, who am I to say what is good poetry and what isn’t? My experience of the poem is just that, mine alone. But whether a poem is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ isn’t really the point in my eyes.

When a friend writes a poem, they are diving deep into that realm between imagination and the physical world. Somewhere in that threshold between thought and speech, a poem is unearthed. Once the dam is broken, a poem spills out, unspooling itself in rhythm and words. To venture into this lawless land of creativity takes courage. To then read aloud your findings… well that takes a sort of reckless bravery usually only found in the hearts of toddlers climbing up things they really shouldn’t be climbing.

That is the part of poetry I adore.

And when my friends embark on that crazy journey? I have nothing but love and praise for them.

Part of me hoped to see something out of a sci-fi film - a robot entering this place previously only explored by people, pulling out a piece of art so fascinating that it caused the room to question what makes us human!

Hey, maybe my expectations were too high.

But when I tell you this poem was disappointing… I can’t over emphasise the blandness of it.

As the night drew on, friends shared poems they had found in books, in Instagram captions, and in their own hearts. And, oh, the humanness of it.

In isolation, the little robot’s poem was perfectly fine. But when followed by a room full of people placing their most treasured thoughts and experiences in front of the fire to be pondered by all, Chat GPT’s efforts were exposed for what they were - an amalgamation of words, plucked from thousands of books and articles that came before it, and squished into rhyming couplets.

I am not for one moment denying how impressive this technology is. I am actually very excited to see how creatives, marketers, business owners, and writers will collaborate with AI to refine their process, make their work more efficient, and expose them to new ideas. Alex Cattoni did a fascinating interview with Austin Distel from Jasper AI all about how AI will impact the future of copywriting. Distel said, ‘the truth is, a human brain needs to be the direction for writing great copy.’

Before you read on, please know this: I’m excited about AI generated content’s potential! I’m not afraid of AI - in fact, I already use AI to benefit my work! (more on that later…)

But, as with all advances in technology, I have some questions and concerns about the ethical use of AI generated text in marketing.

The Pandemic of Chronological Snobbery

C.S.Lewis defined chronological snobbery as, ‘the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate of our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that count discredited.’

That is to say, a commonly held belief in most of Western culture is that we are always progressing forward. That, all art and science of the past is inherently inferior compared to the present or future.

It doesn’t take much prodding to dismantle this view quite quickly.

Progress isn’t linear, much less straightforward. I’m no tech-genius, but I don’t think it would be outlandish to say that technological ‘advancements’ are in fact a tangled web of reaching into both the past and the future, desperately trying to heave the two closer together.

Ethics certainly isn’t linear either. Good grief, would you look at the state of our world?

If you are planning on incorporating AI generated copy into your marketing strategy, I challenge you to think carefully about the direction in which this technology is taking you. Technology is not a synonym for progress.

Quickfire AI Ethical Dilemmas

Something I’m wary of is just repeating information out there on the internet that already exists. There are people far cleverer than me that have put a lot of time, thought, and energy into researching the following concepts. I urge you to Google these yourself:

🚩 Plagiarism and Transparency. Is AI generated content plagiarism or not? Who gets the credit? Oof, this is a big can of worms.

🚩 Human Biases Present in AI Machines. AI is not some blank-slate, totally unbiased, supernatural being. AI is made by human hands. And those hands? They’re drenched in human biases. Anyone who claims to be working towards a fairer, more ethical world, needs to actively be learning and growing in becoming more socially conscious and inclusive. The question remains - can AI keep up?

🚩The Myth of Having ‘More Time’. A big concern for me is the claim that AI generated content is more ‘efficient’. If we look back at history, when has ‘efficiency’ truly given us more time? Letters in the post evolved into swamped email inboxes. You can only walk so far, how about an hour-long commute stuck in traffic instead? Let’s not fall into the trap that AI generated content will give us more time for leisure and creativity.

🚩 Internet Pollution. Hoards of homogenous content, click bait, and churnalism have a real-world carbon footprint. We simply don’t need more guff.

When Do I Use AI?

I’m all about transparency. It would be hypocritical of me to sit here pointing out all of AI’s ethical conundrums without turning the mirror on myself.

So, when and how do I use AI in my work as a copywriter?

I use AI for keyword research.

There is nothing more soul-sucking than filling a spreadsheet with a hundred different ways to essentially say the same thing, then inputting each of these into Google over and over again in an attempt to find something that’s going to work for my project.

AI is technology that can do something traditionally done by humans. And oh my, I am grateful for my little robot friends that can pump out different keywords and phrases for me to test against my rigorous SEO research methods.

I’ve seen a lot of discourse around the idea that AI generated content could be used to smash your way through writer’s block. Honestly? This hasn’t worked for me yet. Nothing can compare to a good night’s sleep and some time out in nature.

When I Write Copy For Your Business, it is Proudly Human-Made

We’re used to paying a premium for handmade clothes and goods. We’re used to hiring a professional photographer when we want something better than an iphone selfie. Squarespace makes nice websites, but unique websites created by web developers and graphic designers just hit different, don’t they? (Get a snazzier website is on my to-do list)

It’s the same with human-made copy.

AI can absolutely write you something usable. I pride myself on writing copy that connects real life humans with your business’s unique story, using research, imagination, and spade loads of creativity.

Is human-made copy right for your business?

Let’s schedule a call to talk through your copywriting dreams!