Episode 7: AI: LET IT BE Your Content Creation Power Tool
I recently changed the name of my podcast from The Rock and Roll Content Show to Content, Robots, and Rock & Roll. It remains the same podcast. We will still gather inspiration from rock and roll music, moments, artists, albums, and songs. We'll still use that inspiration to make better, more creative, more compelling, and more efficient digital content that sets us apart from the robots.
Who are these robots?
They're not real robots. I mean robots in the abstract sense: artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and automation. These concepts are infiltrating the world of content creation right now.
AI is getting pretty good at certain specific tasks. We're not at a point yet where you'll be able to rely completely on AI for every part of your content strategy, but we are at a point where people will start to try.
My premise for this show is that AI is not necessarily going to replace humans in content creation and content marketing - at least not soon. I've played with all the tools, like ChatGPT, DALL-E, and other related AI tools. They're great. They're surprising in some cases in that they can create some really cool things, but they are not all the way there yet.
Content Power Tools
A better way to look at AI tools for content is that of a power tool. A carpenter uses a power drill or a saw to help them build a house. A farmer uses a combine for harvesting their crop. Taking it further, they may use more advanced technology within the cab of their tractor or combine to track crop data. Technololgy may offer GPS-based auto-steering to deliver maximum planting area and straight rows. It may also use scientific soil data to tell the farmer and the equipment just how much herbicide or fertilizer to add in specific parts of their field.
Sure, good farmers can do this all by themselves, just like a carpenter can use a hand saw or a manual drill. They use technology to enhance their existing skill. To make them better at what they're already good at. That's where I'm hoping we can go with AI.
For right now, AI is not going to replace humans. AI is not going to replace human creativity, humor, context, or emotion. For now, it's just going to make life a little easier. You need a graphic for social media or a podcast thumbnail created quickly (see the above graphic accompanying this podcast and blog post, for instance, created with the help of DALL-E 2).
AI can probably do that.
You can use AI tools to help carry out your social media strategy. You can use AI to analyze your website's analytical data, search results, and keywords to implement a smart and effective SEO strategy.
I use a platform called Descript to record, edit, and produce podcasts and other audiovisual media. Descript has AI technology built in that helps to transcribe spoken word as you record it. It can also take your voice and learn it, then reproduce it. Do you need to change a word or add a short phrase or sentence? You can instantly re-record it. Or, you can type the sentence and it will use its AI functionality to generate spoken word that matches your voice. I do it all the time and it's generally indistinguishable from your actual voice.
Where Does Content AI Need to Improve?
AI is making strides in a lot of different areas around content. It's getting better and better. Here's the problem: even the best AI can only learn based on the data it can access. Sure, for the new AI projects, that means a comprehensive sample of internet data: text, images, video, audio, etc. It's getting better all the time.
What happens when it gets data that's not quite right? How does it understand how to suss that out? Sure, the point of AI and Machine Learning (ML) is those kinds of issues tend to work themselves out over time, but are we there yet?
Based on my actual use of GPT-3 tools, I'd say no. Last year I experimented with one of these platforms, the AI copywriting platform Jasper. Jasper would spit out paragraphs and paragraphs of text that was amazing. It was full of information. It appeared well-written.
The problem was that I never knew if it was true.
You might be surprised to know that there's a great deal of incorrect stuff out there on the internet (sarcasm detected). Was Jasper pulling information from only the correct stuff? The promise is that, indeed, the best, most reputable sources are being weighed higher than pages filled with misinformation. But how do I know that? There was no clear way to check that data or view its sources.
Where I saved time with writing (and I'm already a pretty fast writer), I spent a lot more time looking up and verifying facts and figures stated by Jasper.
Another area where AI may not entirely meet the mark is context. What happens when something horrific happens in the world? As I'm publishing this post, we continue to await the prognosis of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin, who was critically injured in a football game earlier this week.
There have been very serious and heartfelt news reporting and updates on social media around the situation. Likewise, there has been some misinformation. What happens when you use AI to create content, and it publishes something (about something entirely independent of the incident) that is out of time or that doesn't set the right tone?
This kind of thing already happens with content automation - wherein people create and schedule automated social media posts - sometimes months ahead of time. What happens when an ill-timed Tweet is posted right after a tragic event? We know because it has happened a lot. AI, eventually, may solve this problem. Until then, it has the potential to make it worse.
These issues are not an indictment of any of the AI tools I've used for content creation. They're all pretty good, and they will get even better. It's simply to say that there are a few questions to answer before good content creators get fully replaced by robots.
Using AI Tools for Content Quality and Efficiency
There are plenty of ways we can make use of and capitalize on advanced technology and the power that AI can provide. Instead of using AI to create content like much of the world seems to be heading towards right now, it's a wiser move to use the technology to make content more efficient.
Before we get into the world of artificial intelligence and making sure that our content is compelling and engaging, let's set a good foundation. Let's go back to our farming example. The fundamentals of quality digital content creation don't really change because new technologies have entered the tractor-cab.
Content marketing is the same. Publishing consistent, high-quality content requires some fundamentals, regardless of whether AI tools are used or not. Let's ask some questions:
What's our process for building content? How do we handle projects - particularly large and intensive ones? How do we promote them? Who's our audience and do we make sure that the content we create is meeting their needs?
Content Project Management with The Beatles
A huge part of executing any content strategy is project management.
Where should we look for help and guidance with content project management? How about the biggest, and greatest rock band in history: The Beatles.
About a year ago I published a post entitled Content Project Management Lessons From The Beatles: Get Back! that discussed the 8-hour Peter Jackson project on Disney Plus that changed the way we look at the final months of The Beatles as an active, working band.
Be sure to listen to the accompanying podcast to this post, and read Content Project Management Lessons From The Beatles: Get Back! to get started with content project management and build a foundation for implementing a smart content AI strategy.
Podcast Episode Details
Listen to the podcast to find out:
The promise of content AI platforms.
The problems (right now) with using AI to create content.
How content AI platforms can be used as power tools for content creation.
How do we create a framework for digital content creation and how do we use AI to help?
Where to look in the rock and roll world for content project management inspiration (hint: it’s the Beatles).