create invitation cards from dictation . As all this evolution has been taking place among generation Alpha , generation X and millennials are only getting the hang of Fireflies and Otterpilot and struggling to retrieve and edit these notes from the cloud .
We can no longer ignore the role of AI in writing . The grammar checkers could be more familiar tools such as Grammarly for example or the content generators that finish your emails and text messages . Perhaps also the one that asks you whether you meant what you wrote as you churn out copy and offers you suggestions to better framed phrases . Copy writers , print journalists and editors have already experienced the brunt of these tools with reduced headcount in advertising and media agencies . Draft copy can be outsourced to machine writing . Interviews can be turned in transcripts real time and passed on to mid to senior level editors to proofread and make sense of the story . This has been said to improve efficiency in copy dominated industries but many roles within organizations have been lost because of these tools .
Things we can look out for and expect to impact the writing and even PR industry significantly in a few months include lack of creativity , rise in plagiarism and the fact that Google now can rank AI generated content . The third aspect will significantly impact SEO and online PR . This might push agencies that still rely on manual SEO generation to adopt assisted written tools to beat Google algorithms . It will be like playing a video game versus the computer and hoping to win . If Google will accept and rank articles that are written and SEO generated using a set of keywords that have been fed into AI software - and given that Google has its own Gemini platform , then the SEO game will be elevated a couple of notches
# FREEPIK
higher forcing more and more people to adapt to usage of these assisted writing tools . The game is about to change from the generation of original SEO copy to power to spend on the best SEO generative-assisted tools .
Writers must not lose sight of ethics if things continue to move in this trajectory . Data privacy rules will become more stringent . Already these laws are a thorn in the necks of many people and organizations . Countries continue to tighten regulation around the use of data . For machine writing to become more precise , users will have to feed these AI tools with more up to date information continuously . This means that as we generate copy and create PowerPoint presentations and invite these AI assisted tools to meetings , we have to increase our personal data security . During the pandemic period , we already experienced online hacking of meetings , how much more hacking of AI-generated material stored on the cloud . This written information and blueprints can be illegally acquired for a ransom , easily copied , edited or even deleted . We often loosely use the colloquial that Google knows everything ; well , it is also about to have a written record of everything in a few years as we get more and more adaptive to contentgeneration AI tools .
AI can take over routine writing tasks and even develop initial ideas for a range of written articles but the fact that these tools are dependent on machine learning means that there will be a lot of duplication of information from sources that they can easily access . Strategy presentations that often have similar words can easily be replicated by these tools if not securely coded or stored .
Imagine a scenario where the marketing and communications team has assigned
MS Co-pilot to create a background presentation about a certain product that is yet to go to market . Co-pilot will scan the whole organization ’ s drive to find the information that matches the product . This information may be with the R & D team and has remained exclusive to them as they conclude the development of the product . The marketing and communications team on the other hand has to get busy with putting together initial go-to-market ideas in place .
The AI tool is highly likely to give them the information they need as per the latest R & D report . The information may be misleading and backdated for the marketing and communications teams by the time the product is going to market if the final documents are not updated and synced on cloud . This can have a direct impact on sales targets and even market pricing . Using these writing tools requires utter precision which can be forgotten in the heat of deadlines . The honors to uphold ethics still remains with the user .
As we get into the new year 2024 , it will be interesting to see how close these tools come into the workplace environment for communications professionals . The impact for marketing is almost direct and has already been witnessed as far as advertising collateral developed using AI generated images . Many agencies have already lost billable creative hours , stock image revenue and photography assignments which are now all available at utterance of ‘ Hey Siri ’.
The skill of writing is one that has long been admired by many people . The ability to coin words and write books that inspire and entertain generations . The incredible ability to take a person ’ s thoughts and life story and package it into earth moving biographies and autobiographies . The gift of organizing narratives and creating color in the minds of new readers through fictional tales .
Today , people can well write their own books . This is an excellent opportunity for a lot of people . The quality of the writing might not be superior , but the opportunity is present . The disadvantages , we are yet to become accustomed . The power of AI . As a writer , will you alienate or collaborate ?
Diana Obath is a seasoned Public Relations and Communications Specialist . You can commune with her on this or related issues via mail on : ObathD @ gmail . com .