First a disclaimer – this content is written by me and NOT by AI
As a professional content writer, and working as the departmental head of Content, for the last 15 years, unfortunately (or may be thanks to AI), it has become a part of my duty now to prove that the content is written by me.
And ironically, to prove that the content is written by me, I need a validation from AI tool. Clients want validation from AI tools that the content is NOT AI generated.
What about my credibility as a content writer?
No value? A robot will validate and certify that it is human-written. And the irony is that AI tools are themselves not sure, if they are correct. A tool smartly suggests ‘AI tools are not accurate, so any decision shouldn’t be based solely on the results displayed by it’.
That’s how the credibility and life of a professional content writer has changed, especially after the arrival of ChatGPT, the most used article or content generator.
How AI waded into the peaceful lives of content writers
It was around January 2023, when a client asked us, if the article is written by ChatGPT and if it is, it won’t be accepted.
Completely unaware, we did a quick Google! And here it was.
ChatGpt with all its might churning out perfect (they seemed so) articles in seconds. Some of us smiled others apprehensive, some realizing our jobs are at stake, some believing our work is easier now…and some realizing things will DEFINITELY change for us – content writers.
Trials and tests with unending discussions about its impact, how we are to be affected, will it stay, will it take away jobs and so much more continued for a week.
And then a mail comes from a long-term client that he won’t be using our writing services anymore because of ‘Fund constraints’. And then many more followed. Some clients directly said that articles are now available through AI, so they wish to try it out.
Clients start cancelling contracts or stop renewing!
In a month or two we realized things are changing fast! ChatGpt was all over the internet, writing about everything and impeccably. Our projects started drying up and things became extremely uncertain.
This continued for the next few months and we chose to wait and watch.
After a few months, there were stories about extreme use of AI. Experts started talking about how the internet is getting loaded with AI generated content, that lacks freshness, personal opinion, and is basically a rephrased version of what already exists.
- Google wont rank these AI generated articles – latest Google update revealed so.
- They are stereotype and often lack the human touch and emotion.
- They usually use their data based to churn out articles and the database is 1 year old.
- AI will not provide content on certain topics.
And much more.
So, around Oct-November in 2023, we started getting projects with a condition that the content should be human generated. So, with the advent of AI, we became ‘humans’ now.
Human Generated Content – A challenge for writers now
In these few months, few things had changed in the life of a content writer. Honestly I’ll mention a few of them.
First the positives – besides the fact that AI can write a whole new article.
- Research has become a lot easier. Just ask AI model and you will be get the answer.
- Structuring has becomes quick and easier. No use denying that AI creates fabulous structures for articles.
- Creating Images is the latest offered at the present times.
- Editing is now cakewalk. Just copy and paste your information and ask for grammar or spelling corrections. And it’s done.
- It helps in creating headlines that are catchy and engaging for the audience.
- In fact, AI tools offer suggestions on how to improve quality of article.
Now, let’s check some of things that have become a challenge for writers.
Proving that the content is written by the writer and not generated by ChatGpt.
Ask any writer and you will know the plight of the writers like us. We use tools like ZeroGPT and Quillbot but none promises to provide the most accurate results. I have spent innumerable hours, writing, rewriting, rephrasing and changing content just because the bot says it is NOT written by me.
The client needs a screenshot and we keep striving for that we need to get the article approved.
The result?
Frustration of the writer!
Poor quality of content!
I believe things are never going to be the same for writers like me. Freelancing projects have dried up a lot because clients are getting their content done without spending a penny. Who will need writers?
