Let’s talk about generative AI. 

You’ve heard about it every day for months now. Maybe longer. And we’re still only scratching the surface of AI’s capabilities.

Two themes are at the forefront of the AI conversation: the jobs it will replace, and the danger it poses. 

That first theme has spawned a deluge of articles, blog posts and newsletter emails convincing us their authors are irreplaceable. Or, if the author is feeling magnanimous, telling us how irreplaceable we are, ideally with an honest look at what jobs might be about to disappear.

Let’s skip all that. 

The Dangers of AI

In many ways, we’re charging ahead into the unknown with AI. That had several tech giants and experts nervous enough to begin an open letter calling for a pause on developing systems more powerful than GPT-4. 

(That’s Generative Pre-trained Transformer, upgrade 4, if you like knowing your acronyms!)

I have no idea if they’re right.

AI’s limited but powerful learning potential and ability to detect patterns in data beyond human capability make it an incredible tool for analytics. It also makes it hard to predict, often resulting in “emergent capabilities” far beyond what anyone ever intended.

That can have some daunting, maybe even scary, implications. But let’s talk about the other side of that coin: the potential for good.

The Other Side

I think we need a little mental shift to see the other side. At first, people saw AI as a tool, but in its more adaptive versions people began seeing it as a pet. Most people love their pets, take comfort from their pets, spend lots of time with their pets, but then we watch Planet of the Apes and find ourselves feeling grateful our companions haven’t risen up. Yet. That’s our current attitude towards AI.

Try going a step further and seeing AI as a business partner. 

In an effective partnership, the skills and capabilities of the other person aren’t a threat. You’re in this together, so all that matters is that the two of you together can accomplish more than you would apart. You share resources, learn from each other, and delegate tasks to be as efficient and successful as you have it in you to be. 

Right now, AI can generate ideas and short bursts of copy in record time, but it makes mistakes. The limited datasets used to train generative AI can lead to outdated copy riddled with bias or lacking important context and new information. And automated corrections will mangle your text if you let them. 

So for now, content creators need to pull out their editing caps and get to work. AI has given us all a swift upgrade into the role of evaluator. 

I think it would be unwise to assume AI will never be able to do “that,” in just about any context. I fully expect the AI-human partnership to continue developing in ways we can’t predict. And I think there’s a more pressing concern. We’ve all been asking ourselves “Can or will I be replaced by AI?” when we should have been asking “Do I or will I have access to AI?”

Access and equity will define this ongoing technological revolution. The good news for now is that generative AI tools are widely available, giving businesses, marketers and writers an incredible boost to their data analysis and content output. That has us pretty excited.

So when it comes to digital marketing, we can’t predict the future, but we’re enjoying the ride. Here at Jester, we’re happy to continue creating and tailoring high-quality content with the speed of AI and the expertise of years in the field. 

Want help taking your digital story to the next level? Jester is here to help!