When AI Meets Craft: Revolutionising the Written Word

So, the AI boom has happened, and the past couple of years have been interesting for copywriters. Apparently, everyone is now a copywriter thanks to AI writing tools. Yeah, it’s dead easy. Just fire up ChatGPT and tell it to write a blog about something, and that’s your content marketing strategy done.

Much has already been written about AI in copywriting, and I’ve had a mixed relationship with it. The nerdy side of me marvels at the technology. But the purist part of me hates that we’ve condensed a creative, human process into a machine script.

So, while those two sides of my brain have been battling each other, my pragmatist part has now stepped in with a few logic bombs.

Looking back over history, every industry has had its technological revolution. From agriculture to industry, skilled practitioners of their art have been forced to adopt technology or face being left behind.

The Conundrum of AI Writing Tools — A Copywriter’s Perspective

Similar to the farmers and time-served craftspeople of history, my initial reaction has been to reject it at all costs. A machine creating copy and devaluing my skills? Not on my watch.

But then I started playing with AI. And over the past couple of years, I think I’ve now understood its role.

AI isn’t here to replace. It’s here to augment.

Like a builder’s cement mixer, a CNC laser cutter in a sheet metal shop or a seed drill on a farm, they are powerful, time-saving tools – in the right hands.

And that’s the key phrase.

Tools of the Trade: AI as the Copywriter’s Cement Mixer

You can’t just buy the tech and expect it to do everything for you. A laser cutter is a useless pile of expensive machinery in the hands of someone with no idea what it does. But amazing things can happen if you put a skilled sheet metal worker in the programming seat.

Sit an experienced farmer in a million-pound piece of smart tech. They will make it do things that will make your eyes water.

And maybe that’s now the role of a copywriter.

Perhaps our job is to use our skills and experience to drive the tech and make it sing.

Of course, we’ll always have those flashes of creativity which no machine could ever replace. But maybe we can then use AI to develop those moments of genius to blend human and machine creativity with productivity.

Beyond the Machine: Driving AI to Enhance Our Human Craftsmanship

So, maybe AI writing tools aren’t just for anyone who wants to call themselves a copywriter, set up an account on Fiver, and start churning out words for a few quid a pop. I’ll always look over the top of my glasses at those guys.

Perhaps there’s an opportunity for us skilled copywriters to control the narrative, embrace AI and use it to make our copy even better.

Or am I just living in The Matrix?