The limits of A.I. in copywriting.

Not a great writer.

When people find out I am a copywriter, the first question most people ask nowadays is what I think of AI – what will that do to the writing game.

AI might replace poor writers, and might let people think they are clever or responsible for a creation, but the copy is never really good, and people are disinterested in reading it. There is something about it that has them disengaged.

So it hasn’t yet replaced good writing done by humans, precisely because other humans don’t want to read it.

Here’s why:

People love a story,

…especially if it is a story of exploration.

Writing is thinking. As we write, we think more deeply about the subject we are writing about, and the discoveries we make along the way invoke emotion.

Thus we have an emotional journey while reading someone else having making discoveries.

That’s very engaging!

We learn through writing, we explore through writing, and a good writer will take us on an adventure both intellectually and emotionally.

Robots have no emotion, no self-awareness, so can’t be surprised by anything they come across; can’t have a crisis, so anything they produce can’t have genuine emotional exploration – it’s just information with a facsimile of emotional hooks.

Humans also love to read flawed humans, probably because we are flawed ourselves. There was a famous feud between Edgar Allen Poe and Rufus W. Griswold where Griswold tried to put readers off by spreading the word that Poe was a self-destructive insane drunkard.

Which, of course, made everyone want to read Poe and shot him to even higher fame.

Robots have none of the flaws that we can relate to. They make errors, are untrustworthy, but never show doubt or craving in their mistakes. They are just confidently incorrect.

Humans also like to feel they are part of a conversation. That they are engaged in the discussion.

Good writing lets the reader feel included. When do you mind being asked a rhetorical question? It could be that obvious, or it could be subtle, such a human anticipating the reader’s reaction, and writing the next line in response to that.

Are writers clairvoyants? Can they predict your future emotional state? Or do they craft it?

Makes you think, doesn’t it.

Robots of course have no empathy, so no ability to know the human reader’s emotions, let alone predict it.

Which leads me to my next point:

Emotion creates action.

Information does not cause action. Information sits there in the neo-cortex waiting for something to happen. It is inert.

If you have emotions on a subject in you already, some pre-existing feelings, maybe it might give you rise, but the information itself does nothing.

And information is all an AI has.

As opposed to you reading a long-awaited solution to the thorn in your side, the problem that has irked you for years, the itch you couldn’t scratch, finally – FINALLY you hear of how good it would feel to be rid of your problem and lead a better life, and I can hand you that solution! You can conquer your fears, grasp the sword, slay your dragon and be the champion of your tribe… just by contacting Dave from Bayswater on THIS number.

BE the hero. Call Dave.

Which brings me to…

Humans love to be IN the story.

This is part of the Storybrand method – the client is the hero, we are merely the wizard in a cave handing them the magical weapon or flying carpet or whatever they need to complete their quest.

This takes empathy as well – the writer needs to explore what the reader fears and hopes for, and tells that story, tapping into the emotions that the hero may feel in failing or succeeding in this all-important mission.

Side-note: Humans are much more motivated by fear of disappointment than the victory of achieving goals. The negative rather than the positive.

I told you we were flawed.

So, as opposed to an AI info-dump, which can only mimic emotional play, a good writer can draw the reader into a conversation, make them the hero of their own story, draw on their emotions, create new ones, summon a whirlwind of motivation, then direct them to… TO…

Call Dave in Bayswater.