I’m a Skilled Copywriter and Editor. Is AI Going to Change Me?

Final yr I had a content material writing gig with a advertising and marketing company. It was my job to churn out 15-20 articles every month for the company’s shoppers.
Do that AI-powered enterprise software:
- Airgram is an AI-tool that information, transcribes, summarizes, and shares assembly conversations. It transcribes speech into searchable textual content and creates sharable video clips.
This company relationship made up round 30% of my month-to-month revenue. I charged a hard and fast worth per article, so regardless of how lengthy it took me to create, I used to be nonetheless paid the identical quantity.
December 2022 rolls round and I obtain a message from the company, ‘Hey have you ever heard of this factor known as ChatGPT?’
I hadn’t.
‘Oh is it a kind of AI writing issues?’ I replied. ‘Sure!’ he stated, ‘It’s wonderful! I wish to swap you to an hourly fee. With this you’ll have the ability to pump out 10 articles an hour!’
Ha, I believed to myself. Unlikely.
Now don’t get me flawed, I’m a fan of something that makes life faster and simpler – particularly in relation to work.
However I’d already tried platforms like Jasper and Copy.AI. And to be sincere, I believed they had been garbage.
There was no method I might ship what the AI produced to my shoppers.
Incorrect info, gibberish sentences, completely no character within the tone…I figured AI wasn’t something to be frightened about for the foreseeable future.
Or so I believed.
‘Look you really want to strive it…I’m telling you it’s wonderful,’ the company pressed.
‘Alright I’ll give it a go,’ I replied.
Nicely, shit
After making a free account, I gave the machine it’s first immediate. Write 500 phrases on advertising and marketing methods for e-commerce manufacturers.
Rattling, I believed to myself as I watched ChatGPT create well-articulated sentences in a matter of seconds.
It was unsettling, to say the least.
I went again to my consumer. ‘Okay, you’ve obtained me right here, this platform is fairly dang good.’
What adopted was finest described as a mini-existential disaster. I couldn’t sleep. All I might take into consideration was whether or not this was going to spell the tip of my profession as a copywriter.
I additionally occurred to be in the course of writing my first ebook, a step-by-step enterprise information for aspiring copywriters.
All of the sudden I wasn’t certain of the mission in any respect. Was all the things I had written now redundant? Am I giving out dangerous recommendation by publishing this? Ought to I cancel this mission all collectively?
I made a decision to place it on pause whereas I found out how a lot of an influence AI was going to have on my enterprise.

Seven months in – how has ChatGPT affected my copywriting enterprise?
Whereas I’ve parted methods with the consumer talked about earlier on this article (for non-AI associated causes), I received’t sugarcoat issues and say I haven’t misplaced work due to ChatGPT.
The actual fact is, I’ve.
And whereas no-one has overtly come out and stated ‘Hey Rach, thanks on your service however we’re going with the machine…’ I’m 97% sure that’s the case. These had been long-term shoppers that had been at all times very proud of my work.
Fortunately, these losses haven’t had a lot of an influence on my money move. As a result of, whereas some shoppers have stopped giving me work, others have began giving me double.
However I do know that’s not the case for different copywriters. I’ve seen many voices on-line saying how quiet the market is correct now. How they’re struggling to search out work. Some are questioning if they need to simply throw within the towel and pivot into one thing else.
As a result of this tech continues to be so new, my feeling is that many companies are having a crack with instruments like ChatGPT proper now. I imply what enterprise doesn’t wish to have greater revenue margins?
We’re in an enormous exploration section proper now. All the pieces is up within the air, and the mud is but to settle.
I don’t have a crystal ball, however my feeling is that issues will decide up once more for copywriters. As enterprise homeowners start to understand that what ChatGPT is producing sounds and appears like everybody else, persons are going to get hungry for actual voices once more.
It’s not all doom and gloom
You understand how when you’ve seen one thing, you possibly can’t unsee it?
That’s what’s occurring with AI. There’s no use sticking your head within the sand and pretending it’s not right here to remain.
However I imagine AI instruments like ChatGPT are going to turn into our collaborators – not our replacements.
We are able to now produce high-quality work in half the time we used to. We not must spend hours on the lookout for credible sources of data for academic model content material.
So if you happen to’re a copywriter and also you haven’t embraced AI but, now’s the time to take action. Hitch your self to the bandwagon or get left behind. And I don’t imply that glibly.
Our position is shifting – as a substitute of beginning with a clean web page day by day, we’re going to be enhancing what AI produces. We nonetheless want to grasp the goal market of our shoppers, their ache factors and wishes, we nonetheless have to know what components ought to go into sure items of copy.
We have to consider applications like ChatGPT as our junior copywriters. We have to information it, inform it the place it’s going flawed, the place it’s lacking the mark.
The excellent news is, your common consumer doesn’t know the basics of copywriting, or find out how to generate good outcomes with AI. Our providers will nonetheless be required.
A brand new period is starting
As we start to navigate the ocean of change introduced on by AI, it’s time to cease it with concern and as a substitute begin utilizing it as software to boost our artistic capabilities.
Our position as author is unlikely to ever turn into out of date, however it actually shall be redefined.
Our understanding of the nuances of language, the intricacies of human psychology, and the artwork of crafting compelling narratives stays irreplaceable.
As an alternative of starting with a clean canvas, we now step into the position of editors, guiding AI to raised align with the distinctive voice and imaginative and prescient of our shoppers.
Visitor Creator: Rachael J. Low is a contract copywriter and editor who works with quite a lot of advertising and marketing businesses producing high-quality copywriting for his or her shoppers. You could find out extra about her providers at https://www.rachaeljlow.com
