Back in 2015, I wrote a hilarious post about artificially created romance novels, whence the gem below. So, how are things 6 years on?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has made automation the norm in more fields than ever. In marketing, AI has transformed the way we communicate. The use of machine learning in profiling audience segments and running programmatic advertising campaigns is an example of how AI transforms the way we can engage the audience at different times.
AI and machine learning are also trying to tackle another big hurdle in marketing: content creation. As content—and content marketing more specifically—becomes a key instrument in digital marketing, a golden era for content creation is dawning. However, might AI content generation replace human writing, thus depriving writers of much-anticipated jobs?
An Advancing Technology
Let’s start by acknowledging how advanced AI has gotten this past decade alone. Machine learning can now mimic the human learning process quite closely with unassisted learning. After defining specific patterns, AI can consume large data pools to learn at an advanced level.
This scaled learning process also allows AI to pick up new patterns and define better, more efficient ways of replicating those patterns. When machine learning is used in Natural Language Processing (NLP), the result is rather spectacular.
We all remember when Google demoed Google Duplex, the company’s NLP entity. Google Duplex was able to make a reservation over the phone, acting as a human assistant, and completely fooling the recipient of the call.
For text and article writing, the advances are more significant. Not only can AI construct complex sentences, but they can also now take context, personal cues, and the articles your audience engaged with the most in the past into account.
This result is that AI content generators are becoming more effective in creating content that attracts the audience, especially when you target a specific audience segment, and you have a lot of learning data for that specific segment.
More start-ups and enterprises are investing in this type of AI. Media companies like The Washington Post developing their own machine learning ecosystem for the purpose of creating a capable AI-based article or content writer.
AI Becoming More Accessible
The use of AI to generate articles and other content is not limited to large companies. Anyone, including small businesses and home users, can turn to AI-powered tools for help in writing good content.
Article Forge is one such popular tool. It started life as a content rotator and rewriting suite and developed into an AI-powered platform for content creation. Article Force uses deep learning, another subset of AI, to build an AI instance capable of writing a unique article.
That last part is very important. With minimal human input, Article Forge can construct an article about most subjects. This is not generic content either because the generated articles are readable and tailored to a specific audience segment.
Article Forge also accumulates its learning data. This means that the tool will get even better as more people—digital marketers and business owners—turn to the platform for help with writing good articles. It is only a matter of time before we see more breakthroughs.
Another popular tool is Zyro. Zyro is relatively new, but the tool has been developed over the course of several years. Like Article Force, Zyro relies on accumulative learning data and vast data warehouses to build a capable AI-powered content writer.
Zyro’s basic tool is available for free. I fed the second paragraph of this article into Zyro’s free content writing tool, and this is what it generated in return:
The idea behind artificial intelligent systems goes back at least to 2005 when IBM wrote its own version that would create an employee out-of-work list based solely upon job titles—think about how ubiquitous all these applications are now! The possibilities of using AI in marketing is endless, including in generating content for marketing.
Minor errors aside, that’s a pretty good paragraph, don’t you think? With some tweaking, AI can scale the entire content operations, allowing marketers to redirect resources towards other, more important things. Things like understanding the audience better, investing in better targeting, and reviewing marketing campaigns better.
It Has Its Limitations
However, AI won’t be replacing human writers any time soon. Yes, at its present rate of growth, AI will be able to write entirely personalized, highly readable articles in just a few seconds. The infrastructure capable of advanced machine learning and deep learning cycles are also becoming more available; they are becoming more affordable too.
However, one limitation is tone. It is difficult for machine learning to pick up on emotional cues. Even with the best AI, you still get that sterile feel when reading the article. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. A more scientific or sterile approach is good for technical articles. It just doesn’t work with personal pieces or op-eds.
Human writers have something that AI can never replicate: emotion. When articles are written by human writers, they are warmer, more relatable, and more pleasant to read. Readers also benefit from the life experience of the writers; the personal touches that they can add to the articles they produce.
“At scale, AI is a lot faster. However, human writers have a lot to offer too, including a more personalized approach in writing or depicting a subject,” explains Simon, head of content at Keen. And he adds:
The best path forward is for AI to augment human writers, so writers can be scaled up.
Simon also pointed out that AI is more than capable of automating other parts of content production. Content rewriting can be outsourced to AI, with a human editor putting the final touches. Variations of an article or a press release can be generated, resulting in more variations, thus scaling up the reach of marketing efforts significantly. Don’t be surprised to see agencies incorporating AI into other workflows, especially since search engines penalize duplicate content—content repeated verbatim across multiple channels.
That brings us back to our original question: can AI content generation replace human writing? For now, the answer to this question is a big NO. A tool, yes. A replacement, no. AI will continue to get better, and they’ll be able to write better articles, but AI will be more of a writing partner for human writers rather than a replacement for talent.
Happy writing!
I hope it doesn’t ever replace human writers, but I suspect, a long way into the future, this might happen.
I understand the desire to produce AI. It’s a fascinating project, but a dangerous one, in my opinion. I’m not talking about the scifi scenarios of them taking over the world, but simpler thoughts of no jobs for people. No point in creating–paintings, poetry, novels, music etc. if it can be done as well, or better, by AI., so what do people do with all that time.
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My hope is that an AI-driven society will be a post-scarcity one and everyone will have a basic income (UBI).
My fear is that you are right and AI will prove, well, challenging for humanity – at least in the short/middle term.
If AI can create art, I suspect a luxury market will emerge for products made by humans. Just like you can buy today a factory-made carpet at a certain price but a handmade one will be valued – and priced – higher. I’m using the carpet as an example, since this is what made the first Luddites revolt against machines 🙂
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I’m glad to read that the answer is ‘No’. One good thing about being old is that I will be dead by the time machines are writing the latest best-sellers.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I suspect even the wee one will be dead before that happens – assuming it ever does!
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I think, as ever, the effect of AI upon content creation will depend, to a large extent, upon one’s position and point of view. I’ve said previously that I am lucky that I don’t have to depend upon writing for my income, but if I did, notwithstanding its possible advantages for efficiency & consequent earning potential, using a tool like this would remove any joy I normally derive from the creative element of the writing process. It would be analogous to cooking a meal by adding a cooking sauce to staple ingredients and just heating, instead of preparing everything individually and monitoring every step of the cooking process: something I also enjoy! As for the question of AI destroying jobs: like any automation, it is inevitable, it’s only a question of timing. We [as in governments] should accept this inevitability and prepare for a future that is not in thrall to ‘wealth’ creation by employment slavery: if this should ever happen [about which I am not optimistic, even well beyond my own lifetime], we have the adaptability to channel our energies into all manner of creativity, which will eventually include finding & exploring new worlds. Cheers, Jon.
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Dear Nicholas and Jon,
I concur with both of you regarding the impacts and ramifications of AI and automations that are permeating more and more aspects of human lives. The day any AL can produce something (almost or just) as multidisciplinary and unique as my latest post entitled “Misquotation Pandemic and Disinformation Polemic: Mind Pollution by Viral Falsity“, I shall indeed resign both as a researcher and a writer!
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Lol – I don’t think you need to worry about that 😀
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Dear Nicholas,
How do you know for sure? I wonder whether you have already taken a good look at my said post entitled “Misquotation Pandemic and Disinformation Polemic: Mind Pollution by Viral Falsity“.
By the way, I have submitted an earlier comment to you just a couple of minutes ago. That comment disappeared and probably was misidentified as a spam. You might want to resurrect it.
Happy April to you!
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Yes, and I agree with your premise. By the way, I’m leaving the link here in case someone wants to check it out: https://soundeagle.wordpress.com/2020/12/19/misquotation-pandemic-and-disinformation-polemic-mind-pollution-by-viral-falsity/
I can’t find any other comments from you (after the one I responded to), so something probably went wrong while publishing. Sorry for the trouble!
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Dear Nicholas,
Thank you. You are very welcome to submit your comment to my said post, as I am very keen and curious to know what you think or make of it regarding the increasingly pressing issues that many of us are facing, worsened all the more by mental pitfalls (or even mental health), social media, digital globalization, populism, illiberal democracy, and other behavioural and sociopolitical factors.
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Dear Nicholas,
Here’s a potential solution: try locating and resurrecting the missing comment(s) at https://nicholasrossis.wordpress.com/wp-admin/edit-comments.php?comment_status=spam
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Well said, Jon! The only thing I’d add is that I can see myself using several AI technologies in a transparent manner without a detrimental effect on my joy of writing. After all, we use Google every day, which is one of the most powerful AIs on the planet!
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That’s a relief.
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Yes, it sure is 🙂
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I am relieved to read that you don’t think A1 is going to replace human writing anytime soon.
I think it is a bit like a machine translation from one language to another which even with the more expensive programmes seems to translate literally. It does not understand emotion, euphemisms, and heaven forbid metaphors. As for translating poetry it usually makes no sense.
Spanish to English
I.e. 1. El perro negro
translates as the black dog
2. It cost an arm and a leg!
Cuesta un abrazo y una pierna.
Which means nothing in Spanish.
The expression for something is very expensive is:
¡Cuesta un ojo en la cara!
which translates as: It cost an eye in the face.
Which is nothing in English.
So: It cost an arm and a leg!
Translates to: Cuesta un ojo en la cara!
Just a thought. ❤👩🦰🧡
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Lol – automatic translations are so funny sometimes 😀
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Thank goodness we still need us humans for something! Lol 😆
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Opening jars, I guess? 😀
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Lol 😆
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Reblogged this on Jeanne Owens, author.
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Great post. The idea of a future with AI has two scenarios that are constantly portrayed: Lazy humans that don’t have to do anything for themselves, until they do and an apocalypse where the machines realize they are superior and seek to destroy humanity. I’m hoping for a middle ground as portrayed in science fiction like Star Trek where the AI works for us, improves the quality of life, and helps us reach new heights. Writing, visual art and music can be replicated by AI, but the creative act of humans creating those forms of art will never be replaced because it is the act itself that has as much or more meaning than the consumption of it. At least that’s my opinion.
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I agree. AI is getting increasingly better at mimicking comprehension. However, that’s in no way the same as actually comprehending. AI research does reveal a lot about us, though, and I’m fascinated by it (e.g. AI ethics).
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Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this intriguing post from Nicholas Rossis’ blog that poses the question: Can AI Content Generation Replace Human Writing?
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Pingback: Can AI Content Generation Replace Human Writing? – Talmidimblogging
Hi! Found you from a reblog by Jeanne Owens. My first thoughts were, oh hell! I finally find a creative outlet that brings me joy and the damn computers want to steal it? Oh well, they may write better than I do, but they will never be able to give me the happiness that comes from pouring out my heart with words.
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Welcome aboard, Jen! I don’t think you need to worry about it just yet 🙂
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Reblogged this on Kim's Musings.
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What?! They are replacing writers now? Is earth becoming AIrth? Oh, yeah they are planning Mars for humans.
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Lol – nah, I don’t think you need to worry 🙂
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At 77, I am already starting to feel a little obsolete… the future looks more scary than ever!
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Nah, we (humans) are still good for now 🙂
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There are days when I still think so!
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