Featured article by Jennifer Stillers, Independent Technology Author
Every day, the world evolves technologically. From high-speed internet to electric cars, humans always find new ways to make things easier for themselves. That’s why we have automatic vacuum cleaners, automatic recycling machines, and even virtual assistants. But can AI fully replace humans in every field? Was Sarah Connor’s fear of the terminator right all along?
Tech has undoubtedly improved the art of writing too. Many top media firms already leverage it to create content. Are you old enough to remember when a typewriter was the standard tool for writers? Do you miss the feeling of pushing its carriage and turning the platen? It seems like eons ago, doesn’t it?
Nowadays, you can write an entire article from a tiny hand-held device. There are even programs to help you detect spelling and punctuation errors in real-time. But as an essay writer, is it possible to leave all the work to technology? Will artificial intelligence take away the one thing you love the most – your shot at writing?
The pen is mightier than the sword, but will it hold its own against computer codes? Let’s find out!
Hi! I’m Artificial Intelligence, Nice To Steal Your Job
You cannot defeat your enemies until you know who they are – Anthony Horowitz.
Let’s start by introducing the impostor and alleged bane of content writers – AI. Artificial Intelligence is the capacity of computers or computer-controlled machines to do stuff that would otherwise require human intelligence. The primary difference between AI and human intelligence is that the latter includes emotionality and consciousness.
How AI Writes
AI uses two types of technologies: deep learning and natural language processing. It taps into millions of databases to get information for writing. With deep learning, AI tries to imitate the workings of the human brain in how it handles data and patterns. Natural language processing tries to analyze and use languages the way the human brain does. AI writing programs learn writing and sentence structure rules to write articles.
Pros Of Artificial Intelligence In Content Writing And Marketing
Whether you work with a team of writers or are a lone ranger like Johnny Depp, content writing can be stressful. You have to research keywords, draw topics from various sources, write the content, proofread, share and review it regularly. These processes can be mentally and emotionally draining in the long run, but machines can help you organize your plans, data and guidelines to make you a more efficient writer.
With an AI writer at hand, you can get more work done in less time than unaided human content creators. When you learn that The Washington Post used a robot reporter to create 850 articles in 2016, you can imagine what the future holds.
AI can help writers and analysts research, collate tons of data, hasten content creation, and personalize user experience. Natural language processing can also simplify data and charts for the layman to understand. Even some banks have begun to leverage AI to compile equity research reports.
Cons Of Using Artificial Intelligence In Content Writing And Marketing
Often, there is a lack of creativity when AI manages content writing as it operates based on data provided by a human. For now, articles written by artificial intelligence are informative but plain and soulless. It gets even worse when you try to spin an article; AI ends up changing words with synonyms that don’t fit its context. It doesn’t always work and is definitely not the way to go when you need to form an emotional bond with your readers in an article.
AI also cannot use personal experiences to spice up articles and sway readers in the desired direction. Sometimes, the tipping points for content readers aren’t statistics, analytical reports and directness; more often than not, a touch of genius is all it takes! And that is an aspect of content writing that AI writers have problems with.
Will AI Replace Professional Essay Writers?
The success of several AI writing programs like Quill has shown significant progress in AI writing. But despite all the frenzy, AI writers cannot fully replace professional human content creators. AI writers lack the creativity, subtlety, emotions, and empathy that human writers pour into their work.
Human content writers naturally love to express themselves through stories. Tyrion Lannister in the Game of Thrones even famously said that nothing in the world is better than a good story. And that is the true ace in the hole human writers have – their expression. AI writers can churn content from databases and imitate intelligence, but they can’t deliver the emotional attachment that humans can.
AI writers and reporters still don’t fully grasp writing tones; they can’t easily differentiate between the feelings a health blog’s audience expects to get and what sports blog readers would like to know apart from dry facts. Sensitivity is thus a focal point in creative writing. Therefore, only human writers can understand and connect perfectly with the emotional whims of their target audience.
As far as writing content and reports goes, experts don’t think robots will replace humans anytime soon. Humans are integral in directing AI, defining story templates and deciding the datasets to analyze. Unlike AI writers, human content creators understand customers’ and audiences’ emotional drivers used to customize solutions for them. Human content writers also dig deeper than AI ones, investigate source materials and come up with unique angles to any idea.
AI writers are not here to run human content out of business; they just take up jobs that humans have left behind due to society’s quick pace. Press Association believes that AI writers will fill roles that didn’t exist before and help short-staffed news establishments. Finally, AI writing will only make professional content writers better at their craft, thus increasing their value in the market.
The Bottom Line
So, what’s the takeaway? Although artificial intelligence reduces the stress of content creation, it still has flaws and should not be the only option used for writing. It is faster and more efficient but it cannot fully replicate a human’s efforts. Technology will improve, but it’s unlikely to understand the intricacies of human emotions and psychology. In the war between man and machine, both sides will become allies like Detective Del Spooner and Sonny in the movie I, Robot.
About the Author
Jennifer Stillers is a content writer, proofreader, and tech enthusiast. She started her career as a volunteer in high school with a group of tech lovers. There, she realized her passion for writing and tech. Jennifer got a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and now works as an analyst for tech companies. She is also a part-time essay writer who works with students to improve their grades while creating blog content on a wide range of topics.
