My Dirty AI Secret

I’m sorry… I almost cheated on you.?

Thankfully, I failed miserably.

You see, I wanted to use ChatGPT to write this article.?

I figured that I could save a lot of time and effort and get the AI tool everyone is talking about to do the hard work for me.?

I thought that if ChatGPT could generate some interesting, useful and relevant content about email marketing and persuasive copywriting, I could pass it off as something I had toiled over for hours, but in reality, had only taken a matter of minutes to produce.?

And you wouldn’t know the difference.?

I could tick it off my to do list and move on to the next task.

I mean, all I had to do is write a few instructions into the chatbot and it would spew out content, right??

OK, its first attempt wasn’t great, but I went back and refined the results with a few extra prompts. With a bit of trial and error, I knew I could knock it into shape.?

And the final email was pretty good (thanks ChatGPT!)

I admit I was moments away from publishing my first fully AI-generated content, my finger hovering over the trackpad on my laptop…

But then I got cold feet.?

There was something profoundly wrong.?

I realized I couldn’t do it to you.

I know we’ve never met, but it felt like I was letting you down.?

And you deserve better.?

That’s why I trashed the original message and started over again from scratch.?

(This is also my excuse for why I’m a day late sending this out, but I’ve learned a very valuable lesson!)?

I could have got away with it and who knows, you might have read it and used the advice it contained to improve your own emails.?

So right now, as you read these words, you might think I’m getting all worked up over nothing.?

That I should just suck it up and embrace the future.?

I mean, what’s not to like about having your own content creation machine??

ChatGPT works at super speed.?

It can generate ideas and content in seconds, and that's a gift for people, like me, who tend to leave things until the last minute!

And yes, it's ruthlessly efficient, something that this procrastinating flesh and blood human being struggles with.?

You don't have to worry about typos or grammatical errors.

You also don’t have inconsistencies in tone.?

And therein lies the problem.?

Truly engaging copy IS inconsistent.?

It takes abrupt…

Turns.?

As advanced as ChatGPT and its rivals are, they still can't quite grasp the complexities of human emotions and experiences in a way that is believable.?

It doesn’t make mistakes.?

It doesn’t have to navigate the real world that’s full of mundane distractions like taking the dog for a walk, making breakfast for the kids or tackling a problem at work.?

Right now it doesn’t produce content that can give the reader (yes you!)?that warm and fuzzy feeling you get when you read a piece of copy that really resonates.?

It’s the difference between listening to ‘Rock and Roll’, the opening track of Led Zeppelin IV on vinyl… and then on Spotify.?

The song remains the same (in-joke for Led Zep fans)… but the warmth, the depth, the life and yes the crackles of the needle on the old vinyl are lost.?

It’s cleaned up, flattened out and well a bit too perfect.?

(I know I know… I’m as much an audiophile snob as a copywriting purist… but these things matter to me!)

Now don’t get me wrong, I think ChatGPT is already the go-to tool for email marketers, content creators and countless other professions.?

And it’s still only 3 months old!

I know I probably don’t need to say this but… I beseech you with every molecule of my email marketing body to start using it and experimenting with it as much as you can.

But we still have a long way to go before it can capture that special ‘something’.

The crackle of old vinyl.

It can't connect with an audience on a personal level in the same way that a human can - a connection that can make all the difference when it comes to evoking trust, credibility and likability - the things that are essential if you want to develop a deep and long-lasting relationship with your audience.?

A relationship that can lead to real results - whether that’s high engagement, brand building and, yes, sales!?

And that's where things get a bit tricky.

Sure, AI can help you knock out clean content.?

But if you're trying to create something that's truly unique and relatable, you're going to need to put in some extra effort.?

The thing is, our quirks and imperfections are what make us human.?

We're not perfect, and that's what makes us interesting.?

AI can't replicate that yet, no matter how hard it tries.

Look, I know I’m a dinosaur and that Chat GPT and tools like it are here to stay. And I am the first to champion them as a complete game-changer that you MUST use to help you create content and sales messages.?

But it still has a long way to go…

There are no instruction manuals… yet.?

Sure there are useful tutorials uploaded daily to YouTube?

Prompt-filled ebooks appearing on Kindle…?

And I’m even told TikTok is a great place to pick up prompt tips!

But we’re still in the very early days of learning how to use AI.?

For a tool that holds out the real promise of transforming our everyday working lives, it’s going to demand a LOT of hard work to figure out.

But that’s what makes this so exciting and urgent.?

Whole new sectors and jobs will be created for people who become experts in mastering how best to interact with AI tools.?

The next step in AI’s evolution will be to personalise results based on the user's interactions, personality and background. It means a new kind of professional will arise who knows how to communicate with AI in order to get the best results.?

In other words, we all need to learn how to become AI Whisperers.

We need to become intimate with this amazing tool.

We need to spend time getting to know the kind of questions and prompts that will produce superior content that is rooted in the human experience.

Ok, that’s the end of my confession…

Now tell me about your affair with ChatGPT! ;-)