Articles

Wondrous Tools Often Don’t Replace The Person Wielding It

Oh no, not another article about ChatGPT!

I don’t know about you, but I am drowning in content about this artificial intelligence platform that can generate original copy.
Gasp!
My TikTok feed is ONLY videos about ChatGPT… not joking… all of them.
Gasp!
If you’re a writer, content creator, journalist… even a lawyer… you ARE doomed!
Gasp!
ChatGPT will transform everyone’s job… or replace it!… Right now!
Gasp!

Simmer down now.

ChatGPT is very cool.
It’s early days, but it’s already able to perform some interesting writing, coding, spreadsheet macros and other tasks.
But, I also think that Seth Godin was spot on when he wrote this:

“If your work isn’t more useful or insightful or urgent than GPT can create in 12 seconds, don’t interrupt people with it. Technology begins by making old work easier, but then it requires that new work be better.”

And then this:

“…there’s a gap between people who are simply stumbling around with silly short prompts and folks who are figuring out how to engineer an excellent prompt. We’re all the boss. Giving better instructions gets better results.”

Or, transcribed as: It’s a tool… and it’s only as useful, unique and powerful as the person wielding it.

As a writer, do I believe that this technology makes me obsolete?
I do not.
Think about the arc of more recent tech that has helped writers/creators:

Think about word processing.
Think about spell check.
Think about Google.
Think about blogging/publishing platforms.
Think about Grammarly.
Now, think (more seriously) about ChatGPT.

ChatGPT may be able to replace me… one day, but we’ll see.

I’m not going down without a fight!

Why?

Because I don’t write articles to game the SEO/Google system.
Because I don’t write articles because someone told me it’s my job to just write articles that keyword stuff and game the system.
Because my job isn’t to write content that is bland, watered-down and corporate.
Because if you think articles like, “15 ways a newsletter can help your business” or “How ChatGPT will change marketing forever” are great… well… that’s your opinion (and you’re entitled to it).

With that, ChatGPT has helped (like word processing and Grammarly) make my daily writing/content work much more effective.

It has helped me take a podcast guest’s standard biography and punch it up to the point where a couple of edits have made it something more than what I was doing previously (just a simple copy & paste from the guest’s website).
It has given me some great ideas for email and general communications, instead of staring down at an empty screen and blinking cursor.
It has validated (and improved) a few pieces of content by providing additional areas of interest to write about, without me having to take my own inventory of the topic.
It has become an invaluable content assistant in the past short while (like word processing and Grammarly).

You can replace the word “writing” with whatever metier pays your bills.

To the smart, ChatGPT is a powerful tool and assistant.
To those just trying to game some kind of system, ChatGPT is going to help you churn out the exact same mediocrity (with less cost and time).

Always remember: Writing is easy. Great writing is almost impossible.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.