Photo courtesy of Yuyeung Lau.
This era of humanity is witnessing a change with the rise of AI technology and how it can aid many human activities like writing papers, self-help guides, and art. Many people are embracing this new innovative technology but there are also reservations about it as well. There has been a major controversy in the media about the use of AI technology and how it can ultimately corrupt what it means to be human. There have been instances where art and creative texts have been generated by an AI and used as a means for marketing.
This article discusses the differences between AI-generated work and human work, which at this time in age, can be hard to peel apart. The question to ponder while reading this article is: can AI-generated work eventually take over human work? There are different opinions and controversies but for now, we will discuss how individuals or companies are creating programs to distinguish whether the work is human or AI-generated.
Many companies have been choosing to work with AI-generated material for a few reasons, but of course not limited exclusively to these reasons. They have voiced their support for AI-generated content because it becomes an easier commodity for the company. Essentially, many companies argue that the work is more precise and of higher quality, than you could more than likely not find from human work. The Harvard Business Review explores the ways that businesses are using these technologies by demonstrating the technology itself. They use a program called ChatGPT which offers smart responses to users’ questions. ChatGPT writes, “Automated content generation: Large language and image AI models can be used to automatically generate content, such as articles, blog posts, or social media posts. This can be a valuable time-saving tool for businesses and professionals who create content on a regular basis.
The list above is actually written by ChatGPT, could you tell that this was generated by AI technology? If these are benefits that companies are using to create a better user experience, how can we decide whether or not something similar written by a human creates a clear communicative idea on how this technology is not beneficial to the original work of humans?
Although many businesses believe that AI-generated content is ultimately faster and much more polished, many people have disagreed. There are often mistakes that a chatbot can make when giving you an answer or writing out something for you. Many people who have studied literary texts or art can almost automatically conclude that something has been written by a bot. Thus, this alludes to the ongoing issue of plagiarism when using AI-generated. There have been speculations that many companies like Google will flag this content and label it as plagiarized content. In fact, Google has been issuing warnings related to AI-generated content and how it goes against Google guidelines. This is a significant issue when trying to use this content within your business.
Another issue is the content that is being regurgitated has no real substance to the reader. Writers who have been trained in SEOs know that it’s more than just spitting out keywords in order to find itself on the first page of a search engine. Search engines like Google will flag posts that have no substance for the reader and instead just use keywords to create more attractive content. The lack of creativity and human touch is void from these responses and it could potentially harm a business rather than create a good flow of traffic to their content. Many people click out of a site once they realize that it is AI-generated content. In fact, much of this content has to be edited by human editors in order to somewhat pass for a knowledgeable piece of content.
With the rise of this technology and the amount of publicity it’s getting, it has become a commodity for many companies. Many users claim that they understand and know when this content is AI-generated and that the ideas presented are similar to ones they have seen before. There is no consciousness behind these responses that allow for different ideas. Many aspects of the generated content usually concern themselves with popular trending topics and keywords used in SEO practices.
While research and observations are still being conducted on the topic of AI-generated content, as a user and consumers there is a chance for us to make a choice on this controversial issue. The differences between the AI-generated response and human responses are told by the benefits and drawbacks of the new technology. One of the key aspects to look for is a formulaic language that is often used within AI-generated content. Other key considerations one must consider are citing sources or lack thereof, repetition of words, and shorter and basic sentences rather than long critically analyzed sentences.
As humans, we are connected to the warmth that human-made content gives us when we look at it or read it. There is no doubt that the need for human touch is essential to creating a community between each other. While AI-generated content is a new and exciting technology, we must remember that there are hard-working creative people who can give you a similar response with better content and quality rather than the formulaic writing from an AI generator. A closing thought and question to leave with you is what you value within human work and creativeness. If you found out, for example, that a Van Gogh painting was an AI-generated piece of art, would it change your perception of that piece? What are your thoughts on this new source of technology?
