“Artificial intelligence won’t replace writers, but writers who use AI will replace writers who don’t.”
That’s one of the many strong quotable statements from the AI for Writers Summit, held virtually on March 30, 2023, by the Marketing AI Institute.
Over 4,000 marketers, writers, and editors attended the four-hour event, including me. Four hours is a long time to commit to a presentation but rest assured: every minute was well worth it.
If you missed the live event, you can purchase it on demand.
AI for Writers Summit at a Glance
You’ve likely heard about ChatGPT and other generative AI-based tools a million times over by now. So you know they’re upending how many of us do business. By “us” I mean everyone from healthcare administrators to financial analysts to manufacturing people to writers, editors, designers, web developers, videographers, and marketers.
Agencies, media companies, and solo creatives all have access to affordable tools to help them work smarter and faster. How well you understand and apply AI is what will differentiate your company moving forward.
When used wisely, these tools can help you get more done in less time.
But they can’t do it all for you. They’re not smart like you.
The summit covered the following:
- The current state of AI writing technologies, including ChatGPT.
- How generative AI-based tools can make writers and marketers more efficient
- A walk-through of some of the cool products available now
- Emerging career paths that combine human and machine capabilities (think: prompt engineer)
- How these tools will impact our careers and our industries this year and beyond
From the Keynote with Paul Roetzer, Marketing AI Institute
What Differentiates Humans from Machines?
AI democratizes words. It pulls from a vast amount of words to answer our questions and commands with remarkable results that will only get more remarkable over time.
But humans have qualities that are necessary for good communication that AI does not have:
- Human experience
- Empathy
- Feeling
- The ability to connect and communicate on a personal level
Action Item: Develop AI Best Practices and Principles
End note: all businesses must consider and develop responsible AI principles. For inspiration review the manifesto from Marketing AI Institute.
For more inspiration, here’s Wired’s AI policies:
Takeaway for Marketing Agencies: The Billable Hour Model is Dead
Marketing agencies typically operate on billable hours. The more billable hours and the less overhead, the higher the revenue.
But what happens when they adopt generative AI-based tools that can help their people complete projects 10x faster? And what happens when their AI-savvy clients, ask about these tools?
The agency that quoted a project at 40 billable hours in 2022 can’t quote the same project at 40 billable hours in 2023. Because the AI-savvy client knows the agency can use a tool like Writer or ChatGPT and get much of the work done 10x faster.
“If you operate off of billable hours, you’ve got to let go of that real fast,” said Roetzer. “It is urgent you adopt a value-based model.”
Thank you.
To corporations: “Have the hard talk with your agencies,” he continued. “If they’re not on top of this, find another one.”
Top Generative AI-Based Tools
The Summit continued with a walk-through of some of the latest AI tools for writers and marketers. Given how fast technology evolving, there could be many more to add to this list.
Ann Handley: Everybody Writes (And Prompts)
Ann Handley, chief content officer for MarketingProfs and an expert on all things content marketing, and Roetzer had a “fireside chat” about how writers can use AI to craft better copy.
They discussed what AI is good for and what it’s not good for. Other topics tossed around:
- Why is empathy so important in writing?
- What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a better writer? (Me: read a lot. Write a lot.)
- How are you using AI in your day-to-day?
- How will AI change the way we teach writing?
Those are my quick takes on this summit. I encourage you to sign up to watch the entire summit on demand.
Note: this is a voluntary plug. I earn no commissions from your purchase. I’m recommending it because I think you’ll get a lot of value from it. There are a lot of useless webinars out there. This isn’t one of them.
What stood out to you from this event? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. And if you’ve enjoyed this post, share it on your favorite social media platform.