Can They Really?
If you follow content marketing trends and industry news, you have probably read articles predicting doomsday for content writers, with robots ready to take away those jobs. Yes it is true that robots are useful in large manufacturing operations; for cleaning and vacuuming; and even as bomb squads. You may see them substituting as pharmacists and bartenders – yes, they fill out your prescriptions as expertly as they fill your glass! However, what place do artificial intelligence and robots have in a creative industry like writing? Quite an important place, say some.
The Associated Press, like several other news outlets, is using an automated reporting platform called Wordsmith to create hundreds of articles, especially finance and sports-related stories. Did you know that half of all the edits made on Wikipedia articles are by bots? New York Times not long ago ran a quiz where readers were asked to identify news items written by robots vis a vis journalists. Those who took the quiz out of curiosity were surprised that they got many answers wrong, pointing to how close robots are inching in the writing world.
Jayson DeMers, a thought leader in the content marketing space, talks of the “inevitable takeover of robots” where in the future, complex algorithms will be able to produce more complicated, emotional stories in keeping with the reader’s taste, history and reading levels. He predicts they will write movie scripts and novels.
Why a Content Takeover is Not Going to Happen
No, you can’t fire all your content writers and hire a robot! Here’s why:
- Robots Are Only Producing Data-Driven Reports: News outlets are making use of robots to produce articles, but these are mostly updates about quarterly earnings, stocks and data-rich sports stories. We haven’t heard of a journalist losing her job on account of a robot. Most content creators are happy for tedious, rote tasks to be taken off their hands, while they can focus on producing more serious, follow-up stories with opinion and analysis.
- Robots Have Knowledge, Not Wisdom: Think of the reasons why you love a certain writer: you take delight in their use of language; you admire the originality in their thought; you are touched by their insight on the human condition. In contrast, robots are repositories of data, but they cannot make connections between ideas the way human beings can. They can provide the facts, but not the context.
- Content Marketing Needs Quality Writing: Content marketing is getting tougher to do, because everyone is entering the field. The only way to outshine others is by producing content that is original, emotional, opinionated (in a good way) and entertaining. Much of this is only possible through effective story-telling, and by drawing appropriate connections that appeal to a reader. Human beings have empathy, emotions and psychological insight which make them persuasive writers and marketers.
- Robots Are Not that Advanced Yet: Some industry experts are psyched about all the developments in technology and see robots taking over all writing someday. Even they are, however, quite sure that we are light years away from any such threat unfolding. Robots are not all that advanced as yet, and they are being used for tasks that most good writers don’t relish anyway.
If anything, robots only emphasize the need to produce content that makes a human connection with the reader. If you are looking for a leading content marketing agency with expertise and experience in SEO copywriting, call 1-888-646-8003 today or email us to learn about our range of copywriting services in Canada.