Can a computer replace a writer?
FUCK YES. Of course they can!
At some point every task gets absorbed by a machine, then the human has a new opportunity to do other stuff.
In fact, what do you think you’re reading this on right now? Am I actually communicating this article to you?
Nope.
You’re reading it on a machine → Which fetched it through a trillion dollar machine infrastructure → Which got it from my machine server → Which I uploaded from my laptop machine.
This entire interaction you and I are having right now is happening because of machines!
…and us humans have the balls to think a machine could never replace us. We are all using machines right this second!
Well here’s the good part:
Humans currently control machines.
Humans who adapt, thrive.
Humans who don’t adapt, die.
“If you don’t make technology your bitch,
you will become it’s bitch.”
-Bill Clinton
(Just kidding he didn’t say that, I just made that up….but you get the point)! 😛
Let’s take a look down memory lane at what the “writing” world used to be.
If you were a writer back in the early 1900’s your tools of choice would be FAR different than if you were a writer today.
Paper. Typewriters. Pens. Folders. Filing Cabinet Systems. Adding Machines.
These were all the futuristic mechanical machines that used to rule the landscape not too long ago:
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Paper fastener machine.
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Envelopes and folders would be a big part of your life.
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Pens used to be big business
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Vest pocket adding machine.
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Remington typewriters.
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Filing cabinets would fill offices.
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Old school crayons for checking.
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Knowing how to use a typewriter was a high tech skill.
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Being able to type accurately was also highly valued.
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Ledgers were still a thing.
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Typewriters were like the computers of the day.
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Has anyone made a carbon copy in the last 25 years?
Now of course we look back on this stuff like it was so silly….but back in the day knowing how to operate and utilize these machines was high tech stuff, and could get you a job in an office around the country!
Imagine if someone who was used to operating a typewriter never gave into learning a computer.
They’d be out of a job.
Same kind of thing as accountants, secretaries, doctors, librarians, lawyers…..
The one’s that don’t adapt to new techniques eventually wither away.
Your “Circle of Opportunity” is larger with more technology!
Back in the 1920’s if you were a hotshot at using a typewriter, you might get a job simply duplicating documents with your typewriter. Your options for searching and getting a job would also be limited to your immediate surroundings.
The amount of income you make would be limited by your productivity, which is basically the task of a human Xerox machine.
For example if you were some suspender-wearing-pipe-smoking-1920’s-typewriting hotshot, you could still only provide work to people in your immediate surroundings. So this would be your entire “Circle of Opportunity” back then:
Such a tiny Circle of Opportunity :-/
There’s ZERO chance you could work for a company from across the world, as the communication technology just wasn’t there.
However as modern day person with computers, internet, software etc….your Circle of Opportunity is essentially WORLDWIDE if you have basic computer and internet!
Thanks to technology you can provide services to people anywhere in the world.
Now I can sit on my ass in Puerto Rico, feet kicked up, laptop out, and crank out a 3 page AppSumo email in 90 minutes that will go out to 500,000+ readers across the world and might generate $50,000 of revenue by tomorrow morning:
Thanks to technology there’s been an extreme enlargement of my own “Circle of Opportunity.”
However……you can only participate in this new Circle of Opportunity if you keep up pace with basic technology of the time.
This 1920’s tech bro was on the cutting edge then, but has had to adapt to stay competitive.
I think something to keep in mind is that automation usually happens on a reasonably slow pace, so you can see where things are going and adapt.
We didn’t go from monks hand-copying sheets of paper to the iPhone overnight. It happened incrementally. There were millions of small improvements to technology that slloowwwllyy started improving a persons ability to distribute information:
Starting from a monk hand-copying text to another sheet of paper, we have come to this world of computers and phones and internet…..but it happened gradually with incremental improvements at each step (and thus time to adapt to each small change).
While the pace of innovation is happening faster than ever before, it’s been kept up with by the pace of being able to LEARN ON YOUR OWN.
While you’re sitting on the toilet today playing on your phone, you can also watch every Standford course on YouTube for free. So being able to keep up with changes is easier than ever.
…..but back to our questions of “can a computer AI replace a writer?”
Well let’s see an example of a fully-generated article based off a few words:
This article was generated by a computer:
….yeah this article SUPER SUCKS. In fact it’s completely un-usable. But a computer CAN write an article, and do it in like .000005 seconds. Eventually it will get better and better, and start being useful for small text blurbs such as:
- Basic product descriptions.
- Social media replies.
- Customer support replies.
- Ad headlines.
In fact all these things already exist.
But this technology will get better and better over time, and as someone who pays attention to the writing industry, this will clearly be a useful tool that will allow me (or you) to provide more services for more people.
Increased Productive Output = Increased Income and Productivity.
Sincerely,
Neville “Totally Not a Robot” Medhora
P.S. See my full swipe file here….it’s delivered to you by a machine.
P.P.S. Watch videos I pre-recorded and then allow you to watch through a machine.
P.P.P.S. If you’re reading this, you’re currently interacting with a machine.
P.P.P.P.S. Become a triple threat by learning more skills that control a machine.
P.P.P.P.P.S. What do you think??
Hey!
and Hii Nev
First of all, I wanna thank you for all the knowledge you are providing and have provided on the greatly exciting subject of copywriting, and as a matter of fact, I honestly think it is a great feeling to become a teacher for ur future competitors, erm anyway.
I think the question here is not that what we can do with the technology to enhance our capabilities in writing a copy or vice versa, but the question here is that will there be a time when the technology will express itself better than a human writer, and if that happens wouldn’t that means the end of the career path for a future copywriter or a copywriter in the future.
Hey Neville,
Came across your “writing a sales page” series and I’m loving it. Thanks for all your hard work. It is really awesome.
Quick question though, how do you make your images! I think they are a real differentiator. I read your one post offering options like Googles Slides, Google Drawings and Sketch.io but I’m still at a loss. Maybe I’m just lame and not resourceful, but some added detail on how you make them would be fantastic!
Thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
– Ryan
Hey Ryan! It’s a lot of iPad Pro’ing and Photoshop’ing with the images!
I write and draw on the iPad all the time as you can see on my personal blog :)
https://www.nevblog.com/category/notes/
Wow, that’s a lot of work you putting in right there #thumbsup.. Its time for me to make technology a bitch #smiles
Loved this one Neville!
I think the new technology could be REALLY useful to established copywriters. With saving time on the mundane tasks etc etc. So that’s great!
I think the only problem is that it’s often the easiest stuff (like product descriptions) that new writers have the opportunity to do. So maybe it might be good for current copywriters but harder to break into it? I’m not sure.
Hey “Guy with a pen” 😂
I agree…..if you use technology wisely, it eliminates a lot of the bitch work out of your day.
As for breaking into a profession with increasing complexity I think it’s two-sided thing:
GOOD: While automation will take over small and boring tasks, the ease of which to learn this new technology is free-er and easy-er than ever. Also younger people tend to be more accepting to new technology, and therefore can get an advantage that way.
BAD: It does kind of destroy the older way of doing things, and those that don’t adapt will get lower wages.
Basically if you keep up with technology you’re good and actually have MORE opportunity!
Exactly! Machines have been a great Circle of opportunity, especially in the business world. As the technologies are constantly improving and reshaping the entire industries with the power of advanced technologies and software. Well! I guess, The best part of these tech innovation is that we could control it with our own advantage. Nice article, keep posting.
Thanks Rebecca! Totally agree with you….a machine is like a really dumb employee that can do small and extremely-defined tasks over and over forever and for very cheap. If you utilize these machines, they can do a tremendous amount of work for you and make you a far more effective business person :)
I saw an article somewhere about the economic argument for making robots pay tax, which is an interesting theory.
Of course, the company owners would have to pay the tax, derived from the profits made from efficiency and productivity improves brought by their automated workforce, but that tax would then fund infrastructure for us meat-bags. I think that’s a good idea, but there’s always a chance the robots would object and strike, or revolt and make us into their organic battery farms like in The Matrix.
Hey Tom, I don’t agree there are any meat-bags left.
Everyone has a phone right?
If you have an electronic device that augments your powers as a human (being able to call anyone, being able to read the internet, being able to find any information etc)…..you are part cyborg.
Also anytime a robot is added, it’s usually doing a job a human does not want to do, or is very dangerous to that human.
Anytime technology has increased, so has the standard of living for humans.
People complain about machines/robots taking over……….as we live in air-conditioned houses (powered by machines), writing a comment from our phone (powered by machines), onto Facebook (powered by machines).
Great article, Neville. Loved the ‘Circle of Opportunity’ concept, especially. As AI makes writing easier and better, what specific traits of a content marketer/copywriter would still remain relevant?
Hey Chintan, history has showed it will likely only INCREASE the “Circle of Opportunity” for a copywriter (or any writer in general).
The main problem for a lot of writers is not actually writing quality work, but rather large-scale distribution. Technology keeps offering more-and-more platforms for people to showcase their work without an old-school gatekeeper (such as a newspaper editor or book publisher).
This is a GOOD thing :)
That makes sense, Neville. Looks like the cards are stacked in our favor, then :D
Saving this one!
Glad ya liked it Gil :)
The power of a WORD come from the FEELING!
It’s something that can never change despite of technology.
For example, OLDER generation they knew the sense of read a love letter by hand font, unfortunately as one of smartphone generation a sense we never got!!
P.S excuse my English it’s my first comment in my life :)
Hi Yassine, I agree…..HOWEVER I still think “emotion” is a mechanical process that occurs in our head that can be replicated at some point (not very soon, but at some point).
An even older generation from hundreds of years back probably would complain the next generations never got the joy of “storytelling from the elders because of all these newfangled books!” 😛
This may be true in general, but the pace of progression you’ve mentioned isn’t exactly on point. Technology advancements in just the last 50 years have outpaced anything from the previous 5,000. Newer tech grows at an exponential rate, and while we may not be flying our own cars in the next 20 years, I think it’s possible that many of the “traditional” type jobs will be lost to automation of some kind. Not applicable to jobs that require real motor skills, or positions that require logic and reason, of course.
Hey P, I agree it’s definitely progressed faster, however the ease of skill acquisition has ALSO increased.
For example 50 years ago if you wanted to learn to repair the air conditioner in your car, you’d have to know someone who could physically tell you how to do it.
This lack of knowledge can also mean people could take advantage of your ignorance and charge you hundreds of dollars for what could’ve been an easy fix.
Now you can just search “Fix AC on 2006 Honda Civic” and find the answer right away (from multiple qualified resources).
That access to information allows knowledge to be acquired hundreds of times faster than in previous years.
The trick is not to hide your head in the sand or bemoan AI and how it’s going to replace you. It’s to figure out how you’re going to master AI and turn it into your writing slave. I write for companies that supply AI and I’m watching them closely to see what I can use.
Great advice Andre :)
It’s funny to read articles throughout history that robots are taking their jobs. Those robots create new jobs, and also we have essentially merged WITH robots to do our own jobs (we’re both writing on machines to each other right now)!
I can see a useful tool generating an article similar to the one above, then giving it to a writer to edit and enhance; it definitely cuts down on the research portion, assuming that the information comes from solid sources. Still as Jim said good writing comes from the heart, even calls to action. I have yet to see a robot produce good copy to persuade someone to buy something, but I am sure that day is coming.
LOL oh, and you may not be a robot, Neville, but you are a taco-fueled, copy writing machine!
Hey Pier. I am TOTALLY NOT A ROBOT ::beep boop::
These generators are great at small blurbs and descriptions for now. In fact many large companies run their entire AdWords campaigns using computer generated headlines (I’m glad robots do that job because a human would become hella bored)!
A lot of writing comes from emotion, from inspiration. While it is easy to see a machine pull up one line or another out of its logic circuits, it doesn’t have a heart to generate ideas, driven by passion. That accounts for a lot of ideas, always has.
Very true Jim. I will say for stuff such as short product descriptions or AdWords headlines a soul-less robot can still crank out some good stuff!
The fortunate part is that just further increases our “Circle of Opportunity” in business. The way my current business operates would’ve required a multi-national large corporation 100 years ago. Now a dude with a laptop can administer the whole thing!
It seems very few people are doing the same job their parents do the exact same way.
An accountant in 1900 will be using vastly different tools than an accountant in 2000.
Very true Neal! In a way their jobs can be the same (such as an accountant), but the tools they use nowadays are completely different.
I see the same thing happening for the job of any writer. Same concept, just different tools.