Will ChatGPT and AI Replace Bloggers?

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by Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle

Last month, a friend jokingly told me that blogging and copywriting are obsolete. He’s a software engineer so his stance wasn’t surprising. There is growing global concern that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace millions of jobs in professions such as office administration, law, architecture, engineering, finance, management, sales, healthcare, art and design over the next decade. This year, the latest version of ChatGPT passed the US medical licensing exam with flying colours. Experienced doctors may be pushed aside by sophisticated robots that can perform delicate surgeries more precisely and read x-rays more accurately than a human eye can. With that said, it seems both my jobs are in jeopardy, huh? However, here’s why I’m not worried. At least, not yet.

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Cover of word search book

Here’s Why Bloggers Are Safe For Now

1. AI writers such as Chat GPT are unable to produce original independent thought. AI writers can only generate replies based on the data and patterns with which it has been programmed and trained. That being said, AI may be able to identify patterns which humans might miss, and provide useful insight but it cannot think and generate original content, ideas and opinions the way a human can. It is currently unable to provide hypotheses or predictions of the future based on current or past events.

2. Information changes in real time so AI can be slow to catch up. For example, I recently tested the free Chat GPT software with some Jamaican article headlines I plan to write soon and the results were shocking. This software which is allegedly accurate up to 2021 recommended places to visit which have closed as long ago as a decade! For my medical colleagues reading, I asked it about heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) management too. The PARADIGM-HF, DAPA-HF and EMPEROR-Reduced trials have long revolutionized how we treat HFrEF yet ChatGPT is offering outdated information that is no longer standard of care, even in Jamaica. Where are the SGLT-2 inhibitors and ARNIs???

Screenshot of ChatGPT
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3. AI writers often produce inaccurate information. The latest Chat GPT version still makes stuff up. Called “hallucination,” this problem haunts all the leading chatbots. AI systems do not have a clear understanding of true and false so they may confabulate and generate text that is completely false, as opposed to admitting their paucity of knowledge on a particular subject. For example, when I asked Chat GPT about the top 5 things to do in Portmore, Jamaica which I wrote about earlier this month, it recommended fictional places like the Portmore Craft Market and Portmore Lagoon. When I asked for a list of the best 5 restaurants in Mandeville, Jamaica, two of the responses were located 90 minutes away (95km) in Kingston while a third was located 140 minutes (145km) away in Ocho Rios!

Another important reason why AI will lag behind in Jamaica is that we’re third world after all. Jamaica’s internet penetration rate stood at 68.2% at the start of 2022. We lack so many basic necessities in our hospitals, offices and workplaces that I guess we’ll always lag behind whatever is the status quo in the first world. Fancy a robot trying to deliver mail given how highly inaccurate Google Maps is in Jamaica. Many roads which exist cannot be found on Google Maps, while others which have been closed for years are listed as the route to get around.

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How to Use AI to Your Advantage As A Writer

So you’re telling me humans couldn’t be satisfied after we built word processing and speech-to-text software? Sheesh! Writers are people who enjoy using language to tell a story and express themselves creatively. I fear AI writers will erode this fun past time, even though I’ve already shown here why blogging is still alive. But whether we like it or not, AI is here to stay. AI can be a good and inexpensive writing assistant when trained correctly– much cheaper than hiring a human unfortunately. Here are three ways to use AI writers for your blog and website content:

  1. Beat writer’s block! Use AI to brainstorm catchy headlines, article outlines, introductions and conclusions. This can cut your article creation time in half, improve productivity and allow you to put out content more quickly. In return, you can take on more clients and earn more money as a professional blogger. If you use AI to write the body of your articles too, make sure to fact-check it closely and add your personal voice in way of opinions, predictions, real-life experiences and advice. You can even take it a step further by using AI to write your email newsletters, FAQ page and the description of your products or services where applicable.
  2. Use AI to improve blog post structure and readability. Good structuring has a significant impact on your article’s readability and appeal. Use AI to split your article into smaller chunks, or do away with paragraphs altogether and convert your article into digestible bullet points!
  3. Improve SEO. AI can generate catchy meta descriptions, keywords and even alt text for photos which will allow your article to rank higher in search engines.
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Wrap Up

AI writers are a double edged sword. We live in a fast-paced world of convenience but it’s making us more stressed, forgetful, prone to chronic illnesses and lacking in critical thinking and interpersonal skills. I predict the academic world’s issues of plagiarism, lack of integrity and eroded writing skills will continue to worsen as AI writers become more commonplace. I hope we manage to strike a balance globally between controlling AI instead of letting AI control us. Whether we like it or not, AI is the future.

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Published by

Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle

Adventures from Elle is a travel blog for locals & visitors who want to experience the best of Jamaica, one adventure at a time. The blog is curated by Rochelle Knight, a junior resident (M.D.) in internal medicine and published author. She began the blog in 2016 as a medical student & wants to see the world, starting with her home country. Purchase her book 'SIGHTSEE JAMAICA' on Amazon and join her in Jamaica!

40 thoughts on “Will ChatGPT and AI Replace Bloggers?”

  2. Very interesting post Rochelle, it is something I have been looking into myself, they still have some work to do on these things I looked at a recent AI tool for traveling but as you said they have some catching up to do lol, what I realize too is that sometimes the information is limited or not accurate based on location so I think it depends on what it is. Very helpful and useful information. Definitely has its pros and cons.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I agree! What AI does is human mimickry at best. It cannot feel or experience emotions, and it can only ‘think’ about what it has been programmed to do, making AI only as good as its programmer. For me, Chat GPT has been a steep learning curve- probably because I’m not interested enough (at least not yet) in getting the paid version. I ask it questions like ‘top 10 search terms for X’ and it does a decent job at providing responses sometimes. Other times its answers are useless. I’m still learning what I can with the free version to see if it can become a time-saving adjunct of any kind in preparing new posts. If I learn anything useful soon, I’ll do a follow up post

      Like

  4. My son the “computer engineer” and I argue about the basic differences between machines and humans all the time. My argument is 2 fold; first I do not believe that AI can actually be self aware. It is very good at mimicking living thinking but it makes many false assumptions about conciseness as do real scientists. Second, it can do a great job of answering a question but it does not have the capacity to ask a philosophical question. It understands answers but not what questions to ask…

    Liked by 3 people

  5. I know people are getting hyped about AI and writing, but for me I really don’t see myself ever reading a full-length book or even a blog if wasn’t written by a human. It’s being human and producing the content from a human that counts. Interesting article.

    Liked by 3 people

  6. I did enjoy and agree entirely that AI is here to stay but we must control it and use it to improve our efficiency!! Keep up the good work and join our Advocates Network programme to get everyone especially young people in Jamaica involved in discussing and providing their thoughts and inputs for our New Republic Constitution.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thank you so much! There are always 2 sides to a story. Initially I was 100% anti-AI thinking that it’s only used by lazy, untalented individuals but I’ve now seen where it could improve efficiency and even enhance the writing of talented existing writers. Perhaps AI and bloggers can peacefully co-exist 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Great post, Rochelle! I’ve gone back and forth about this issue for some time. Writers may become obsolete due to AI, but AI doesn’t share emotion in its writing. For now, I will continue to use my own words for the blog. If I wanted to publish a Wikipedia page, I would just post a link. Thanks for broaching this touchy-for-us-writers subject.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thank you so much! I agree that this is a very touchy subject. Initially I was very anti-AI but I can see how it would improve efficiency for professional writers. I’ll always prefer to read a human-written post which shares emotions and experiences though. That’s something humans have which a machine can never take from us. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  9. I have written about this subject too. In fact, ethics is my favorite topic on this. As a freelance writer and copywriter, I have done low-paid work for what we call “content mills”. It’s so draining on the soul and I honestly hope that AI gets rid of content mills!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Yes, AI writing is a very ethical dilemma isn’t it? It’s hard to choose a side sometimes. There are a lot of shades of gray– no hard & fast rules, or black or white. I know what you mean about the content mills. That would be one huge benefit of AI. Time will tell 🙂 thanks for reading!

      Liked by 2 people

    3. Content mills are those companies which hire a lot of freelance writers to mass generate content in order to win at SEO. A regular blogger may only be able to churn out content 1-3 times a week, but a content mill puts out like 10 articles a day, however a lot of their pieces may be low quality

      Liked by 1 person

    5. It means doing freelance writing jobs that charge between $0.01-$0.10 per word and you can’t add the work you do for them to your portfolio. Plus, the quality is so bad that you might as well use AI to write it!

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Elle, I enjoyed your post immensely. As someone who struggles with hypertension, I am familiar with Beta Blockers. Recently my doctor jokingly said I would run out of blood pressure medications. So, I decided to research and came across Ace Inhibitors or ARBs. As for AI, I am not scared and not ready to go gaga over it like some people I know. Keep up the excellent work. God bless.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thank you so much Noel! Ha, I hope that day never comes but unfortunately, I’ve had patients who needed as many as 6 drugs to control their blood pressure! It can’t be easy taking all those tablets every day, especially since some are twice or thrice daily medications. As for AI, I don’t think true lovers of the written word will ever be happy over a machine entering our hobby and safe space. I’ll always enjoy reading articles from a human being over a machine any day, but I can see how AI will improve writing efficiency for professional bloggers.

      Thank you once again. God bless!

      Liked by 1 person

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