AI and ChatGPT are taking our jobs!

Those are end-of-the-world vibes some people are putting out there, but diving deeper into all the possibilities of AI, one thing is clear for social media marketers.

AI is NOT here to take over. When you take a closer look and give it a chance, it’s easy to see how AI, in particular, ChatGPT, is one of the greatest gifts digital marketers could have asked for.

In part one of my dive into ChatGPT, let’s discuss what AI really is and look at the good, bad, and limitations of using AI in your business.

And watch out for part two, where we will go all-in on how it can be used to level up your marketing practices.

In this episode of the podcast, I talk about:

  • Why I was terrified of ChatGPT
  • Why market disruption is a good thing
  • The fall of Blockbuster
  • AI ALL around us
  • My 1:1 interview with ChatGPT
  • The dangers of ChatGPT
  • The positives of ChatGPT
  • The limitations of ChatGPT

This Episode Was Made Possible By:

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Savvy Social Retreat
You're officially invited to my very first in-person retreat happening in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, from November 3rd through 5th 2023.
This all-inclusive retreat is designed for established business owners who really need to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and are ready to work on the big picture topics and carve out enough space to make important decisions in our business.

Memorable Quotes:

  • “ ‘ChatGPT is coming for our jobs.’ Now, that is a quote from Insider Today from an email I just got. And with the rise of artificial intelligence, many of my colleagues are questioning whether we can use artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT for our marketing. And the answer is a little bit more complicated than it may appear on the surface. Will AI take over the world, or is it just another fad?” – Andréa Jones
  • “I was feeling all of the feelings like, is this replacing my job as a marketer? And then I realized this is the beginning of something big, especially as I started digging into it and researching it and the amount of conversation around it, my instincts are going off and saying, Andréa, pay attention. This is huge.” – Andréa Jones
  • “I don't think robots are gonna take over our jobs, but I do think a human that runs and uses AI could be a very powerful combination. And as marketers, it is cutting edge to be that person, that expert, who has spent the time to leverage these tools and knowledge into something big.” – Andréa Jones
  • “Another example is social media algorithms. That is based on artificial intelligence. I was reading this article from marketing institute.com that talks about TikTok and how TikTok is one of those social platforms that is governed by artificial intelligence. They say every video you see on TikTok is directly determined by AI raking algorithms optimized to deliver content that keeps you in the app. So basically you don't have to go to TikTok and say, TikTok, I like this, that, this and the other thing.” – Andréa Jones
  • “So the danger of ChatGPT is that it is scraping the internet for information. So it uses websites, news articles, books, and forums to learn patterns and language patterns, and then the relationships between words and phrases and sentences so that it can have a conversation with you. But it's important to note that this information is not curated or filtered in any way.” – Andréa Jones
  • “Some of the other limitations of ChatGPT is that it's not really that creative. So it's trying to create things based on patterns. It's not ever gonna come up with an original idea…So that can be dangerous if you're using it to produce copy. It doesn't have any personal touches.” – Andréa Jones
  • “There's also a huge privacy concern with all of the data in ChatGPT. So I would not recommend uploading your personal information to the tool because this is an artificial intelligence that's learning from your interactions with it. So the more information you give it, it's learning from that, right? Again, creepy end of the world times feeling definitely in the back of my head here.” – Andréa Jones

Resources Mentioned:

Google Says AI Generated Content Is Against Guidelines by John Mueller
The World Economic Forum

Watch the Episode Below:

Transcript

Andréa Jones (00:00):
“ChatGPT is coming for our jobs”. Now, that is a quote from Insider Today from an email I just got. And with the rise of artificial intelligence, many of my colleagues are questioning whether we can use artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT for our marketing. And the answer is a little bit more complicated than it may appear on the surface. Will AI take over the world or is it just another fad? Let's get into it.

Intro (00:43):
Welcome to the Savvy Social Podcast, the show that blends stories and strategies to help businesses create engaged and profitable online communities using the unique power of social media. And now, your host, Andréa Jones.

Andréa Jones (01:00):
So I'm recording a two part podcasting series all about artificial intelligence, specifically ChatGPT, because honestly, my first reaction was terrified. Very similar to that Insiders Today article. I was feeling all of the feelings like, is this replacing my job as a marketer? And then I realized this is the beginning of something big, especially as I started digging into it and researching it and the amount of conversation around it, my instincts are going off and saying, Andréa, pay attention. This is huge. And my reaction was very similar to TikTok actually, in the beginning. I opened the app, it immediately started playing a video that I didn't wanna see, and I got scared and I was like, this is aggressive. Shut it down. Didn't open the app for months after that. And now I quite enjoy TikTok. So this change that ChatGPT brought on feels like the beginning of something huge.

(02:02):
Now listen, I don't think robots are gonna take over our jobs, but I do think a human that runs and uses AI could be a very powerful combination. And as marketers, it is cutting edge to be that person, that expert, who has spent the time to leverage these tools and knowledge into something big. And this isn't the first time we've had a market disruptor like this. I love the Netflix story. If y'all haven't heard the Netflix story I'll give you like a brief synopsis. And those of you who are og like me, remember getting Netflix DVDs in the mail, <laugh>, yes, we had to go online and then choose what we want, order it, and then it would be delivered to you and then you'd watch it and then you'd pack it up and you'd chip it back. At the time this was trying to compete with Blockbuster, where we'd actually go into the stores and then pick out our little DVDs and go home and watch them.

(03:06):
The market disruptor was when Netflix started streaming. That was huge at the time. Many people didn't like it, especially people who to collect DVDs and like have physical copies of things and own things like that. But now Netflix is used as an adjective. You know, we want to be the Netflix of this or the Netflix of that. And we think about the impact it has had on streaming services in all categories, right? So Netflix changed the game and I think that Chat GPT is doing the same right now. Now, here's the thing about game changers is that it can be challenging to accept. So if we think about the Netflix story, for instance, they almost went bankrupt. Blockbuster completely did not want to get on board. They even tried Netflix tried to sell to Blockbuster, blockbuster said not worth it, and decided not to purchase it, but they regret that one a little bit.

(04:22):
And so it can be very uncomfortable to go through these changes. So today in this podcast episode, and then next week in that podcast episode, I wanna talk through what this is and how you can leverage it as a business owner. Now, before I dive into, I wanna say that my team and I have spent weeks, months researching this and I have had so many notes that I actually put off recording this episode for far too long because it's a lot of information to dive into. So I'm gonna put links to things that I reference in the show notes, which you can find at onlinedrea.com slash 241. So that's onlinedrea.com/241. And I'll put links to all of the things that I referenced in the show notes because there's a lot of research that went into this and there's a lot of resources if you wanna kind of continue learning on your own.

(05:13):
All right. To kick things off, I wanna start off with a definition of artificial intelligence. According to Oxford Dictionary, artificial intelligence is the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision making, and translation into languages. Y'all, we've been using artificial intelligence based on this definition for a while. So it's things that a human usually would do that a computer is now doing. I can tell you right now my Alexa device, I almost hesitated. She's not listening, is she? My Alexa device is artificial intelligence. I can say, Alexa, what's the weather today? And she will tell me what the weather is today and it's a negative 12 degrees. I'd rather not hear that right now, but she could tell, she could tell it to me, right? I can also talk to Siri or Google and do the same thing.

(06:15):
Those are examples of artificial intelligence. Another example is social media algorithms that is based on artificial intelligence. I was reading this article from marketing institute.com that talks about TikTok and how TikTok is one of those social platforms that is governed by artificial intelligence. They say every video you see on TikTok is directly determined by AI raking algorithms optimized to deliver content that keeps you in the app. So basically you don't have to go to TikTok and say, TikTok, I like this, that, this and the other thing. So for me, that would be like TikTok, I like RuPaul's Drag Race, cooking and babies. TikTok is just gonna start showing me those things because it figured it out. So I didn't need to tell a human that the artificial intelligence figured it out. And one of the beautiful things about TikTok, y'all know, is that that artificial intelligence is actually learning constantly, right?

(07:14):
So if you start losing interest in something or you gain a new interest, the artificial intelligence is going to pick up on that based on your viewing and interactive patterns. So artificial intelligence isn't new, ChatGPT though totally shook things up. So ChatGPT as it is February, 2023. This version of ChatGPT was launched in November 30th, 2022. And y'all ChatGPT is the name of the tool. It's not even really branded yet. Okay? But I actually asked ChatGPT what it was so that I could give you a definition of what it is. So ChatGPT is a chat-based artificial intelligence that refers to the use of natural language processing, also known as NLP and machine learning. It uses NLP and machine learning techniques to enable computer computers to understand and generate human-like responses based on text inputs.

(08:20):
It's the type of AI that focuses on conversational interfaces and enables people to communicate with computers in a more natural human-like way. A chat-based AI system can be integrated into websites, messaging apps, virtual assistance and other applications to provide personalized automated customer support recommendations and other types of interactions. So ChatGPT, the one that I am emphasizing here is that it's a natural human-like way of communicating. Very similar to how with Alexa, we can ask it to tell us a joke or if we say something offensive, it will say that's offensive, right? It's trying to imitate human-like behavior. ChatGPT is different from say Google for instance, in that it is learning from you and you control the conversation. So it is a back and forth conversation. So for instance, if I went to Google and I said you know, what are the best recipes for nine months old?

(09:28):
It will give me nine month old recipes. But then I can't say, oh, she doesn't like raisins. Can you gimme a different recipe, right? You have to then start a new search that says, oh, I need recipes without raisins or even recipes with something else. So it requires several search parameters to be able to do that. ChatGPT is a conversation.

(09:48):
In a moment, I'm gonna get into the limitations of ChatGPT and the dangers as well as the potential positive outcomes of ChatGPT. But I wanna note the significance of this moment in history because Microsoft has confirmed as of January 23rd a multi-billion with a b, multi-billion dollar investment into OpenAI, which is the company behind ChatGPT. Okay? So Microsoft is trying to compete with Bing. And then right as I was about to hit record on this, Google also released Bard, which is their version of AI.

(10:28):
This chat-based AI is not new, but ChatGPT's learning model is way more comprehensive than any of the other ones we've seen out there. There are other marketing tools that do this like Jasper AI, OpenAI, but their model is limited. ChatGPT is much more open Now, ChatGPT has a lot of limitations and I asked it what its limitations are. This is getting super meta, but ChatGPT, you don't own that content. So the danger of ChatGPT is that it is scraping the internet for information. So it uses websites, news articles, books, forums, even to learn pattern and language patterns, and then the relationships between words and phrases and sentences so that it can have a conversation with you. But it's important to note that this information is not curated or filtered in any way.

(11:34):
So ChatGPT can be wrong and it has been wrong in the past. You need to fact check and you don't own any of the information that this artificial intelligence is spitting out. So it's scanning the internet net, y'all, and y'all know the internet can be wrong. So it's getting information from sources and even if you ask it to quote a source, sometimes it makes up a source that sounds like it could be real because it's just trying to spit out something that sounds human. Freaky, right? Some of the other limitations of ChatGPT is that it's not really that creative. So it's trying to create things based on patterns. It's not never gonna come up with an original idea. ChatGPT also doesn't understand context like the nuance of language or cultural references or tone.

(12:27):
So that can be dangerous if you're using it to produce copy. It doesn't have any personal touches. So like using the word like for instance in my language, it wouldn't do that. And the big one is you do not own the content produced by ChatGPT. So do not copy and paste it onto social media and onto your websites and all of those things. And I'll talk more about the dangers in a second, but when we think about the limitations of this tool, it is not a tool that you can just rely on to be like a god-like entity. All right? It is very cool and it's very limited.

(13:08):
All right, we're gonna take a break and when we come back I'm gonna talk more about the dangers of ChatGPT and some of the positives that can come from such a cool tool cuz it is fun. We'll be right back.

(13:18):
[Podcast Ad break] I'm so excited to officially invite you to my very first in-person retreat happening in Niagara on the Lake Ontario, Canada, November 3rd through fifth. So this retreat was designed for established business owners who really need to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. You're tired of sitting on Zoom for yet another meeting with your kid crying and hollering in the background. And you're ready to work on the big picture topics like we talk about in this podcast episode. You know, these topics are so important and sometimes we do not carve out enough space to make important decisions in our business. And if that's you, this retreat is designed to help support you. So come join me November 3rd through fifth in Niagara on the Lake Ontario, Canada. This Hallmark picturesque town is perfect for hosting this retreat. It is all inclusive, your room is included, all your food is included.
(14:17):
We are gonna have some amazing conversations, some facilitators, and it's just one of those places where you gotta be in the room. So check it out at savvysocialretreat.com. I'll see you there. [Podcast Ad break]

(14:29):
All right, we're back talking about the dangers of ChatGPT. This tool is riddled with misinformation because it's scraping the internet. Its responses can even be harmful in the way that it puts together information and it can be just flat out wrong. There's also a huge privacy concern with all of the data in ChatGPT. So I would not recommend uploading your personal information to the tool because this is an artificial intelligence that's learning from your interactions with it. So the more information you give it, it's learning from that, right? Again, creepy end of the world times feeling like definitely in the back of my head here, ChatGPT is also only as smart as the person inputting information.

(15:20):
And in part two of this series, I'm gonna dive even further into how we can use this as business owners and marketers. But I just wanna mention that now because if you're thinking, oh, I don't have to write a piece of copy ever again, then you're going to be a little bit disappointed with the tool itself. And you may also potentially harm yourself in your business by having it produce content that is on the surface acceptable, but can be dangerous. So I'll give an example. One of the first things I asked ChatGPT to do was to write an article. Let me, let me give you my, this is my first one. Write a 3000 word blog post about how to build a social media marketing agency in 2023. And y'all, it did, it wrote a 3000 word blog post that said things like develop a business plan, identify your niche, build a team, stay up to date on trends, build your partnership network, invest in the right tools.

(16:21):
And then for some reason it said focus on customer service. This article on the surface appears alright, but when you start reading it, there are certain word choices where you're like, oh, that seems odd. And it's very generic. There are no personal stories, obviously. There's no way to have any personalization in here. That was my first go through at ChatGPT. And so in my mind I was like, oh my gosh, this thing can write an entire blog post. However, Google is against AI generated content. They released a statement from their search advocate, John Mueller, who says, content automatically generated with AI writing tools is considered spam according to search engine webmaster guidelines. So y'all, I could not take this blog post that ChatGPT wrote for me that has some fair points and the same points I'd probably say and paste it into my website and go, bada bing, bada boom, I'm done.

(17:26):
I don't have to write the blog post. So how you use this tool is, has to be strategic. You have to be very careful because we are going to probably see an increase in spam content on the internet as if we needed more of that and it could be potentially damaging to you and your brand to continue to produce content using exclusively this tool. I'll give another example for ChatGPT. I am hosting a retreat as you know, and I asked it to write a promotional post for the retreat and I uploaded all of the copy from the retreat sales page and it didn't quite get the vibe of the retreat. I asked it several different questions in several different ways and I'll talk through in the next episode how to get good results from Chat GPT. But y'all, the initial result was so bland and it didn't understand that it was a business retreat and it basically repeated back what I said and didn't add anything new.

(18:25):
So there's a danger here in continuing to be generic if you use this tool. Let's talk about the positives because y'all, this tool is actually really, really, really fun to use and I quite enjoy it, but I don't want you to go into it thinking, oh, I can write my entire social media post just using Chat GPT cuz it'll be kind of boring. But what you can use ChatGPT for is content ideas.

(18:50):
This is my favorite way to use it. You can use it to also help with brainstorming creativity. It helps with that like blinking cursor syndrome where you're just staring at a blank page. But I actually asked ChatGPT what are the benefits? And it listed things like convenience, so fast and easy access to information. Make sure you fact check it. That's what I said to myself as I'm reading this.

(19:20):
Personalization. It can use machine learning to personalize recommendations for you. Accessibility, it can help people with disabilities or limited mobility access information. You can use ChatGPT for customer service automation, innovation. These are the ways that ChatGPT itself said you could use it so meta, but I love talking to this little robot cuz it's fun. One of the things though that is super important to recognize is that it is a robot. So one of the quotes that I loved in my research from this came from Marketing Against the Grain, the podcast, it says, “AI is just a mirror for your own creativity”. So if you are not creative enough to ask the right questions, it's not gonna give you creative responses in return. The question I asked for you as a business owner is how can we use ChatGPT to retool some of our ideas into something that's actually usable in our marketing?

(20:26):
And this goes way beyond marketing. Weforum.org says that this kind of tool can really help with diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. So introducing AI into business can really help inclusive practices building diverse teams, having a neutral review of maybe application process, bringing natural behaviors to sensitivity training or minimizing biases that we have as we're reviewing data. You know, some of these things have impacts far beyond marketing. I'm gonna talk about marketing, but I do wanna share that this tool can be super fun, super fun way to do this.

(21:17):
Overall, I think tools like chat-based automations can really help us as marketers create social media posts faster, develop the right messaging that really resonates with our clients and customers. Save us time when it comes to analyzing results and give us a leg up over our competition. So next week I'm gonna dive into some use cases of how I've used ChatGPT to help my marketing and give you some ideas for how you can do the same. I'll see you next week. That's all for today. Bye for now.