You’d have to live under a rock to escape the notice of ChatGPT, the chatbot that has apparently revolutionized artificial intelligence (AI) and is going to take the content marketing world by storm. Writers, marketers, and creative professionals are suddenly fearful for their jobs.
While ChatGPT has its advantages, the disadvantages of AI are still notable. We’re not quite at the stage where we can hand content marketing over to AI and chatbots. Learn more about the disadvantages of marketing technology and why you still need the human touch.
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot based on the Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT) language. The chatbot uses deep learning to produce responses to text inputs. In some ways, ChatGPT’s answers seem almost human. The keyword in that sentence is almost.
Chatbots aren’t exactly new, but what sets ChatGPT apart is the size of its language-learning model and the sheer amount of data fed into it. Unlike earlier chatbots, ChatGPT can log information from earlier in a conversation and contextually weave it into the rest of the conversation.
ChatGPT gained popularity rapidly. The artificial intelligence program had 100 million users just two months after its release. To compare, it took Instagram two and half years to get that many users. TikTok needed nine months to reach 100 million users.
ChatGPT is popular. But it’s far from perfect. While you can incorporate the chatbot into your digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, we don’t recommend solely relying on it.
Artificial intelligence has come a long way but still has a way to go before it completely takes the place of a human marketer. Some of the drawbacks of using a chatbot for SEO and content marketing include the following:
ChatGPT doesn’t have the hang of idioms or phrases with a figurative meaning. That can make a conversation with the chatbot seem a bit stiff and stilted. When you read a blog post or article written by ChatGPT, the phrase structure tells you it wasn’t written by a living, breathing person.
When it comes to art, there is a technical component – an artist needs to know how to draw or paint. But there’s also the emotional, creative side of it. Artists need to be able to express themselves, and ChatGPT just doesn’t quite have that expression or artistic touch. Its output is, for the time being, an imitation of expression and feeling, but it’s not genuine.
ChatGPT can give you the facts about a subject, but it won’t go beyond that. You won’t get the “so what?” or the “why?” For now, the content produced by the chatbot is on the level of a third-grader being forced to produce 500 words about their summer vacation.
When in doubt, “lie” seems to be the motto of ChatGPT. The chatbot has been known to make up facts or information when asked a question for which there is no real answer or when asked to provide information about a specialized field. Plus, it only has access to information through 2021, so if you’re wanting to create something on anything new or timely, ChatGPT will not be able to write about it factually or accurately (for the time being).
There are cases when ChatGPT makes dumb, simple mistakes too. Do you want to put your brand’s reputation in the hands of a machine that lies?
One of the hallmarks of natural, human communication is the ability to diverge from a subject to extrapolate the meaning beneath the surface. ChatGPT can’t do that and takes every question at face value. Its literal answers to questions that have an indirect meaning make it more likely to give the wrong information.
ChatGPT is trained to be neutral, which sounds like a good thing but actually works against it. You must choose a side in many situations, whether you’re looking for medical or legal advice. The chatbot’s refusal to take sides makes it stand out as non-human.
ChatGPT is far from the “finished” model. The AI is still in training and needs the helping hand of a few humans to finesse it and help it make sense of all that data.
One last but major disadvantage of ChatGPT is that it’s not human. It’s a machine and is incapable of the layers of nuance, thought, and feeling humans produce. As a brand, you want your content to have a unique tone and stance on the topic at hand. So it’s important to still make sure, if you use ChatGPT, to add your own take, tone, and voice to the content that’s being created. That way, you can stand out and not produce the same thing everyone else is.
Technology has improved digital marketing in many ways, but it’s important not to become too dependent on it. ChatGPT is a tool for marketing, not a savior. You can use it with other technological advances and marketing strategies, such as SEO and voice search optimization, but you don’t want to rely on it. For now and in the foreseeable future, you’ll still need people behind your content marketing and SEO strategy.
Zero Gravity Marketing is a Connecticut-based content and full-service digital marketing agency. We’ll help your brand produce the right message to attract the right audience, giving your content and marketing the human touch. To learn more about our online marketing solutions and services, contact us today for your FREE digital marketing analysis.