In content creation today, generative artificial intelligence (AI) can be seen as a modern day Janus, the Roman god with its two distinct faces – one that looked to the past and the other that looks to the future. The past looks back on our evolution as humans from writing on cave walls, carving symbols in blocks of clay and inscribing papyrus and rice paper to banging out pages of words with typewriters and computers. The future looks to how technology will continue to impact the creative process, this time not only by aiding the process of getting our thoughts out of our heads into visible symbols and words that others can see and read, but in aiding the first step of the creative process. Now for the first time we have content creation tools that produce text-based or visual content using AI technology based on written prompts. But how will it shape the future of humanity and how will it impact business in general, specific types of jobs and the content creator in particular?
Generative AI as the Steam Engine of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
One of the four main themes at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos last month was “Artificial Intelligence as a Driving Force for the Economy and Society.” One program in particular — “Generative AI: Steam Engine of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?” — looked at how the development of generative AI has catapulted AI technology to the forefront as one of the fastest and most impactful innovations of what is being called the Fourth Industrial Revolution. From creation to production and distribution, some predict its effect on work and society is analogous to the steam engines of the First Industrial Revolution from 1760 to approximately 1820–1840. During this period, the economy was transformed from agriculture to industry, processes became mechanized and products were manufactured for the first time. The discovery of coal and its mass extraction, as well as the development of the steam engine and metal forging, revolutionized the way goods were produced and exchanged.
Writing in Forbes (“From Davos To Dominance: How AI Is Rewriting Our Planet and Business”), Mark Minevich examined how Davos’ provided a glimpse into the future impact of AI across various sectors in this Fourth Industrial Revolution. One area was AI’s impact on knowledge workers — professionals like writers, analysts and researchers. With algorithms matching or exceeding human capacity across many cognitive domains, whole professions may not become obsolete, but certain responsibilities will face automation and new complementary roles will emerge.
Again, the Janus nature of generative AI is seen as both a way to streamline business operations and as a weakness, according to a recent survey from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that was released as Davos began. Nearly 75% of the 4,700 CEOs from 105 countries (more than half from organizations with more than $100 million in annual revenue), said, “it will significantly change the way their company creates, delivers and captures value in the next three years.”
Specifically, CEOs expect generative AI to help with a number of on-the-job tasks, including a task unfortunately labeled “headcount reduction.” Fully 25% of these CEOs expect generative AI to reduce headcount by 5% or more this year. On the other hand, only 36% of 300 marketing executives worry that technology will replace them, according to a recent poll from SOCi, a San Diego-based technology marketing firm, according to MediaPost.
In its report, PwC notes that CEOs must remember that AI is only as powerful as the people using it. It’s a tool to help people be better at their jobs – not replace them.
The View from the Top Worldwide Communications Groups
Underscoring this view of AI is Publicis Group, the second largest communications group in the world. According to Arthur Sadoun, Publicis Groupe’s chief executive and chairman, and Carla Serrano, its group chief strategy officer, the notion that AI will take people’s jobs doesn’t apply at their agency.
“In our case it’s very simple,” Sadoun said in an article on Campaignlive.com. “AI is at the service of our people, AI is going to superpower our people, AI is going to help our people grow and be better. And this, by the way, is in a company that is growing and that will continue to grow. AI will need people to work differently and we will train them to work differently.”
Like Publicis, WPP, which is the world’s largest advertising agency group, is also prioritizing AI and views it as an opportunity, not a threat, according to an article in The Media Leader.
“AI is transforming our industry and we firmly believe that AI will enhance, not replace, human creativity,” said WPP chief executive officer Mark Read. “We are already empowering our people with AI-based tools to augment their skills, produce work more efficiently and improve media performance, all of which will increase the effectiveness of our work.”
And as content creators, that’s the role of generative AI – to help us do our jobs better and create the highest quality content that captures the interests our intended audiences and moves them to act. We are squarely today at the intersection of AI and creativity as it is actively changing how we work now and how we will work in the future.
With its dual faces, AI has already shown its potential to be the next step that revolutionizes content creation. The goal is not to replace human creativity, but to augment and amplify it. Content creators are essential to maximizing the power of generative AI. Striking a balance between AI assistance and the human touch is essential in the editorial process. It’s the only way to ensure that the finished content is factually correct, original, relevant to its key audiences and contains a personal point of view.
Interested in finding out how Writing For Humans™ can help you create the most clear, concise and compelling content? Contact me at randy@writingforhumans.co for a free, no obligations consultation on leveraging this powerful technology.
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