Copywriting

Be the Human In The Loop… And dramatically increase your value as a freelancer.

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t-shirt with logo saying I am the human in the loop

You have a lot of choices when using AI to write copy and content.

First, you can choose between the major Large Language Models, like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude3 and others.

Then you have dozens, if not hundreds of new AI-writing platforms, most of which are using these models as the engines that drives them.

It’s little wonder the web is being flooded with new AI content, most of it sounding like it was written by a well-meaning robot.

The content isn’t badly written. With some decent prompts, most of these tools will give you a very passable first and second draft.

But there IS a problem.

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What if Sam Altman is only half right about AI doing 95% of your work?

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Kyodo Photo via Credit: Newscom/Alamy Live News

This is what Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said in an interview last fall:

“It will mean that 95% of what marketers use agencies, strategists, and creative professionals for today will easily, nearly instantly and at almost no cost be handled by the AI — and the AI will likely be able to test the creative against real or synthetic customer focus groups for predicting results and optimizing. Again, all free, instant, and nearly perfect. Images, videos, campaign ideas? No problem.”

To put this into context, he’s not talking about GPT-4 or the upcoming GPT-5. He’s talking about when AI achieves Artificial General Intelligence, AGI.

AGI is broadly defined as the stage at which an AI model gains enough skills to perform any task that humans can do, with equal or better proficiency.

We’re not there yet.

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AI can’t shake with anger, tremble with fear, or burst into tears.

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Emotions don’t happen just in our minds.

Emotions stimulate physiological responses… like changes in heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, facial expressions, and muscle tension.

These physical responses are mediated by the autonomic nervous system, and the release of hormones.

Long story short… any emotion you feel is accompanied by a physical response.

As humans, we live, touch and breathe emotions.

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If you’re dismissive of today’s AI writing tools, you’re missing the point.

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writers working with AI tools in the future

It’s easy for writers and copywriters to roll their eyes when they hear about AI writing tools.

At their current level of performance, these tools often produce generic, slightly robotic text that can’t entirely replicate that unique human touch in writing. The sentiment I hear a lot is, “Sure, AI can write, but it won’t write well.”

Here’s the thing… dismissing or ignoring AI writing tools outright because of their current limitations is a mistake. The trajectory of this technology is moving fast… and should have every writer paying close attention.

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It’s time to step out from behind the curtain, and be more human.

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As a freelancer, I am my brand.

I’m me… the good, the bad and the less-than-perfect.

Human, through and through.

I do my best to keep the less-than-perfect parts to myself. But even if they peek out from behind the curtain from time to time, that’s not so bad.

It just shows I’m real.

More specifically, it shows I’m not an Artificial Intelligence.

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5 Examples of stories that add Emotional Intelligence to your AI-assisted copy.

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Using AI to write copy and content offers incredible productivity benefits.

But… AI output can feel dry and generic. It packs no emotional punch.

That’s why I advocate leading with a high level of emotional intelligence. At every stage of using these AI writing tools, ask yourself how to make the copy more emotionally engaging.

One of the easiest and most powerful ways to do this is to use stories. Everyone loves stories. And in the world of marketing, some of the most powerful stories are the ones that include some kind of customer transformation.

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