Can you tell I like a theme? ? (Not sorry)
At my pal Lauren’s request, I’m covering ChatGPT. This is not a WTF Is post because I’m not providing instruction on how AI works. ? It’s not something I have a ton of experience with, so…I’d rather be straight up about that. I have tested it myself, however. And, you guessed it, I have thoughts.
My General Technology Philosophy
Yes, I’m tech-obsessed, but I do not recommend any and all marketing technologies, nor do I recommend tools where it doesn’t make complete sense or will be used.
Tech also changes often in a variety of ways. Twitter, for example, was relevant years ago when the feeds were relatively clear of bots and trolls, and there was more of an opportunity to be seen and heard. These days, though…well, you know. Tech billionaires.
Meaning they might be relevant now but not in the future or vice versa.
The Sides
IMO, you fall into one of three camps:
- It scares the sh*t out of you.
- It’s the best tech since Google.
- You don’t give a f*ck.
The Discussion
1. AI might scare you for two reasons. One:
And two, you may have read some articles outlining serious concerning interactions with AI tools.
2. Some professionals are excited to tap into the literal internet and provide draft content in seconds, or information, or…whatever. There are endless possibilities for how it could be used. Will it take over search engines? Everything else?
3. Well…there is no discussion. ?
Me?
I fall into a mix of “it scares the shit out of me” and IDGAF. Tech tools are only as good as the input. I’m on the internet; I know exactly the kind of trash that fuels it.
If AI can learn, it can go bad. As my dad used to say about motorcycle riding, it’s not IF but WHEN you get into a crash. Maybe I’ve watched too many SciFi and horror movies (I mean, yes), but it’s just a matter of time, IMO, before it impacts someone or certain populations negatively.
The IDGAF side of me doesn’t care because it just doesn’t work for me. I tested it alongside everyone else and found myself frustrated and creeped out.
I use to be an early adopter of everything tech–still am in some ways. I’ve narrowed the field, adopting tools that are more in the data/analytics and workflow realm. Quite honestly, who has time to learn every new piece of technology that comes out nowadays? Once it’s closer to my personal bubble, I’ll invest the time.
Potential Uses
Beyond using it as a search engine.
Writing Things for You
Yes, it’ll write drafts for you. Summarize content for a synopsis. Write social media posts and find appropriate hashtags.
Verify Your Writing
I asked about a particular piece of content I wrote and it provided decent answers:
- Can you read this article and tell me who the intended audience is?
- Can you proofread the article?
- What’s the best way to market this piece?
- What is missing from this piece from a legal marketer’s perspective?
Finding Authority
- Tell me someone who speaks a lot about paid advertising in the legal industry?
- What are the best law firms for labor and employment that are also women-owned?
- Who knows about LinkedIn for lawyers?
To Tech or Not
The answer is, frustratingly, rarely going to be a yes/no. As we say, to each their own. People will find legitimate uses for it.
Despite the questions above, I did ask it more complex questions where I gave it more input for context.
It’s a Not from Me
While I see some potential in AI, ChatGPT in particular bugs me.
Sources
I was trained as a journalist. It’s really f*cking important – seriously – to know how to read and vet an article on the internet.
For that reason, I asked it questions I knew the response to.
I started with the 2023 Super Bowl, an event I knew wasn’t part of its input.
- I first asked it who sang at the most recent Super Bowl. It gave me two answers, basically. It replied with The Weeknd from 2021, to which I said that was incorrect, but then replied with Dre et al. from 2022.
- It was convinced I was wrong, even replying “[…]if you have witnessed Rihanna performing at the Super Bowl, it is possible that you are referring to a hypothetical scenario or a dream.” ?
It was a little off-putting how authoritative it was even though it was the wrong answer.
Then I asked about law firms. Having come out of a great women-owned firm with a national labor and employment practice, I asked if it could list firms in that area. It finally got to the answer I was looking for after specifying the state. HOWEVER. It listed firms that are not women-owned or certified (or even led).
The good news is for the firms who pay to play might have an advantage here…which again, a credibility problem.
The inaccuracies only got worse when I asked it about authorities in the law firm paid advertising space.
- One of the five experts it gave me doesn’t even have “paid advertising” on their website…
- Having been in this space for a bit, three of the experts are not credible at all in the space, two of them aren’t even considered credible in the legal industry.
- Knowing all of these sources, this is definitely a long-term SEO game. So it’s about SEO, not actual, credible expertise.
It’s Basic
I asked ChatGPT if it could teach me how to market through paid advertising, and its response is your basic listicle: define your objectives, set your budget, create your campaign!
It’s really good at summarizing. But its responses are Capital-B Basic.
The Sway
If you asked me what would get me to use ChatGPT?
I could get excited about integrating AI into automation and workflows.
Several marketing technologies have already launched AI features – I’m thinking of Notion and ClickUp, in particular. In-app, you can have Notion AI synthesize your article to display in a field. I seem to like AI functioning within an application. As more of an assistant. “Start a draft document with the subtitles: X, Y, Z.”
It would also be AWESOME if you could, like Zapier, connect your software and use AI to pass data, or even create that data. Automating your automation. Telling it to build databases and such.
But even then I’m worried about security – who gets access to my data?
For Now…
CHECK YOUR SOURCES! 😉
