Traditionally, innovations and technological advances have always evoked fear and suspicion. Society and individuals tend to question whether technological progress truly signifies societal advancement or rather signifies a loss of rights and opportunities for workers in many industries.
This is exactly what is happening in 2023. Artificial intelligence developers, like Open AI with ChatGPT, have rapidly evolved their solutions. We suddenly find ourselves with numerous available services where AI promises to assist in many aspects of life, including work. So much so that in a joint letter, researchers and tech world leaders, such as Elon Musk or Steve Wozniak, have asked AI companies to halt their developments for six months, so that society can legislate and plan for its arrival without jobs, companies, and institutions being swept away like a tsunami.
We will see how the sector advances and evolves, but blocking progress is never the solution to prevent innovations from becoming a problem. Typically, legislating and allowing the system to adapt calmly tends to be the most intelligent and “fair” approach. We saw this with the advent of CDs, mobile phones, the internet, and even streaming television.
And in our sector, will Artificial Communication be the new thing?
OpenAI’s generative artificial intelligence is capable of creating texts and content in a matter of seconds, in a way quite similar to how a human would. You can ask it to write an opinion piece, and the “machine” will provide an article of five or six well-written paragraphs, in less than thirty seconds, with an acceptable vocabulary and a fairly good structure.
If you do not analyze it carefully and on a quick read, you might be unable to discern that it is the result of an algorithm and pass it off as original and acceptable content. However, if you stop and read it many times, you will realize that it’s just alright, not outstanding or excellent. Obviously, it lacks the author’s “opinion” and each person’s unique style. However, yes, it is acceptable in some instances.
Will AI be the end of writers and newsrooms? The answer is no, absolutely not. AI provides us with data and topics that can serve as the basis for journalistic content. In seconds, the machine can give you some ideas that, when worked on by a professional, can be the beginning of quality content that meets the objectives set before its development.
Creativity is one of the main differences between products developed by AI and those of communication professionals. In the end, the algorithm searches for sources on the vast web combines them, and provides a good summary of what it has found. But, as of now, the algorithm can’t be endowed with creativity and originality, giving humans a qualitative advantage over Skynet.
This does not mean that the machine will not develop to such a point in the future. It means that we have a very good opportunity to make our work valuable, distinctive, and quality, standing out against mediocrity and mechanical jobs that do not truly add value.
