It's a little bizarre to be at a point in history when it bears considering whether technology is going to eclipse innate human creativity.
That said, artificial intelligence (AI) first contributed to music in the early 1950s, so it's long been involved in creative projects to some degree. We could even consider predictive text on our early 2000s Nokia brick phones as a primitive form of AI writing.
Recent advances in AI writing software have resulted in an increase in the amount of AI-generated content published online. Should writers be concerned?
Before we start to panic and envision a Planet of the Apes scenario—but with robots—let's consider whether AI really is the death of creativity, or whether it's a helpful tool that can create compelling and 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1... *coughs in robot* (Just kidding!)
ChatGPT took only five days to reach a million users, and Jasper's net worth has reached $1.5 billion, so there's no denying generative AI is already a massive industry.
But is the interest in and desire for AI content generation warranted?
Some agency owners are favoring the software for a variety of reasons. It's cheaper than hiring a human, and it's quicker. Plus, there's an element of novelty that makes AI-generated content fun to experiment with. Jasper specifically focuses on helping marketers create content by offering over 50 templates for various forms of content, such as blog and social media posts, ad campaigns, email marketing, and more.
Want to learn about other generative AI tools? Check out MarketingProfs' AI Tools Directory!
How to Use Tools Like ChatGPT and Jasper
We've done some research from the perspective of professional copywriters to clear things up on what AI writing tools can do. Here's what we determined.
1. Generate blog post title ideas
When writer's block strikes, enter generative AI! Generating blog post headlines is a useful way to employ AI in your content strategy. Wrestling with writing a concise but meaningful post title can be tricky, but AI prompts can help nudge you in the right direction.
It's also handy if you're stuck on subheadings within your blog post, and for email subject lines, too.
2. Get ideas for outlines
AI tools can provide helpful material for further inspiration, which can be especially helpful if you're writing about a topic that's new to you.
Using generative AI, you can generate outlines that help you organize your thoughts and provide a framework for your post. AI-created outlines take the work out of planning a blog post, allowing you to enjoy the creative process of writing it.
3. Generate copy for humans to edit
If you don't have an in-house copywriter or you haven't outsourced a professional copywriter, AI can provide you with a starting point. Some tools are quite proficient writers; with a bit of human editing, the material can be suitable to publish. But there is a caveat: You shouldn't fully trust artificial intelligence as the sole author. It needs human intervention.
4. Gathers sources for backlinks
This use of AI has been a bit of a gamechanger for improving SEO. Backlink generator tools use AI technology to scan your writing to find options for backlinks that can increase traffic to your website. Using AI to generate backlink suggestions is many times faster than doing it manually, and the AI tools can search a wider range of sources than a human could.
What We Still Need Human Writers For
And now, behold the humblebrag.