I used to be the loudest anti-AI writer in the room.
In fact, just a few months ago, I was on stage confidently saying AI will never replace the human writer.
Now, I’m the President at a leading AI writer for SEO marketing – Content at Scale.
I want to tell you about my journey, and why I – one of the most anti AI writers in the room – adapted to the times.
Additionally, what I’m seeing after being in this role for a quarter of a year now.
We live in a time where AI is making its mark on every industry, and the world of writing is no exception.
But, instead of fearing it, I want to tell you how we can adapt, evolve, and grow. Ready?
A writer’s call to arms: Time to adapt. Watch this. 👇
If you are in writing, marketing, or even run a business around one or all of these things, then you might relate to me.
When I was 19, I had a dream to spend the rest of my life writing. I was determined to learn how to make money from what I loved. So, I dropped out of college to follow it.
Here’s the thing: AI didn’t exist back then.
Through the years, I was introduced to robot writers (as we called them). And, I laughed. When I tested them, they were garbage. I truly thought we had 50+ (maybe 500+) years before this tech would rival a human.
Now, just six short years later, ChatGPT and GPT-3 is the world’s fastest adapted-to technology. AI models like ChatGPT are getting closer to passing the Turing Test, which evaluates a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from that of a human.
GPT-1, released in 2018, had 117 million parameters, while GPT-3, released in 2020, has 175 billion parameters. It’s the largest AI language model on earth.
I know, it’s crazy. I was once reluctant to step into the world of AI myself, but I soon discovered that it’s not here to replace us.
Here are some of my greatest takeaways thus far.
Google says the innovation of AI is greater than the invention of electricity or fire
Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichaim, says AI is the most profound technology humanity is developing. “I’ve always thought of AI as the most profound technology humanity is working on—more profound than fire or electricity or anything that we’ve done in the past,” he said. How will Google adapt?
That’s a big question. Google has confirmed they’re working on an entirely new search engine (Project Magi).
It will replace their current search engine model, and could roll out to a few users as early as this summer.
This was fast-tracked after Google was set to lose $3B if Samsung finalized their default browser move across devices to Bing (which they’ve reportedly been considering) 🤯.
With a whole new search coming…
Will SEO content still matter?
It’s a question you have to ask.
Here’s my answer.
Domain name power and authority won’t be going away.
No way. The world, the internet, relies too much on those things for them to just disappear. (But, ranking factors that push websites forward to gain traffic will most definitely evolve.)
How are both of those built?
100% with high-quality, EEAT-friendly (user-focused) SEO content.
Even when Google adds ChatGPT-like features to round out their existing autocomplete (the drop-down that auto-fills when you type), their AI is still going to pull from websites that favor (help) the user.
Which are built through, you guessed it – high quality, relevant content & links.
Perplexity.ai is a great example built by OpenAI engineers that shows us the future of SERPs.
How it works is a lot like the footnotes we used to write in our college essays. Those essay footnotes will hold a lot of weight.
The CTR (click-through rate) to your site could go *UP* from ChatGPT-like-SERPs…because you end up competing with less. Links and domain authority will matter more than ever (again, content!).
If you want to future-proof your content, think about adding more content sooner rather than later to start building that topical authority and domain strength.
Best way to get ahead of AI changes that affect your business’ marketing: by creating great content.
Remember — Google doesn’t care if you use AI to do it.
Just make sure it’s GOOD, and worth your audience’s time to read.
If you think AI is evil and because of that thought, you’ll stay away from it – you give up your power. This is important to remember. What if you were in a cold dark house and someone said hey, I found out how to make your house full of light and warmth — and you ran away in fear? Well, you’d be the sucker in a cold, dark house.
AI is the same.
AI will make your job easier, better.
Don’t run in fear. You’ll just completely miss out if you do that.
If your strong suit isn’t writing–AI can write for you.
If your strong suit isn’t data entry–AI can do that for you.
Learn the benefits of AI and integrate them into your workplace.
What Marketing Experts I Trust Say About AI
Joe Pulizzi Made An Eerily True Prediction
In 2017, Joe Pulizzi predicted that by most of content would be automated in a few short years. He said this in a comment on my post on Content Marketing Institute. He was spot on, even though I thought he was crazy at the time. Well done, Joe. One of your predictions came true after all. 😉
What Paul Roetzer, Founder & CEO of Marketing AI Institute, Says About Knowledge Workers
Paul Roetzer, Founder & CEO of Marketing AI Institute, says AI will impact millions of knowledge workers over the course of the next few years—people who think for a living.
That’s writers, marketers, salespeople, programmers, architects, engineers, lawyers, etc.
He says there is NO avoiding it. He recommends we focus on education and training for yourself, and your teams. Everything starts with understanding.
What Ann Handley, Digital Marketing Pioneer, Says About AI Transforming Writers
Ann Handley, digital marketing pioneer and Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Everybody Writes, has said in her newsletter that she believes AI will transform writers… not just writing.
She says AI has elevated the bar for all of us.
Can you write better than the robot? Two choices, she says:
- No? Let’s work on that. Here’s a good place to start.
- Yes? Then how can you use what the robots don’t have—your insights, emotions, experiences, creativity? How can you use the tools as a way to transform yourself?
What Mark de Grasse, President at Digital Marketer, Says About AI Making Marketing Better
Mark de Grasse, the president at DigitalMarketer, the leader in education for marketing pros – says content will get automated, and BETTER.
He believes, quite accurately, that AI will make good marketers so much better.
He says all data entry work will go away; all the things we wanted automated anyway will be. One marketer can do infinitely more content now with AI tools.
SEO Leader Aleyda Solis Reminds Us to Fact Check
Aleyda Solis, SEO leader, says to remember that AI has its limitations.
While it doesn’t know current data, we need to be extra cognizant of fact checking.
The Surprising Conclusion to this Post*
This technology is here to support and enhance our creative process.
Because as writers, we have an incredible gift – the ability to connect with others through our words. Our creativity and empathy are what make us irreplaceable. And now, with AI by our side, we can focus on our strengths and let technology handle the rest.
So, to my fellow writers, I say this: Embrace the change.
Let’s adapt and grow together.
With AI in our toolkit, we can reach new heights and continue to make an impact with our words.
I invite you to join me on this journey. Let’s create a brighter future for writers in the AI era.
*Every word of this final concluding section was written by ChatGPT. I gave it some words that I personally wrote, and asked it to finish this post in the style of Julia McCoy. It crushed.
