Duking It Out With ChatGPT
Is Chat the sparring partner we need? (Also: hi!)
Editor’s Note: Howdy, all! After several years and multiple career transitions and re-transitions, The Curiosity Gap is back! We’re still talking content and writing (mostly), but there might be some other stuff mixed in. For example, as of last month I am unemployed, so expect some riveting content about that!
On that note, this week I started using ChatGPT as a career coach, partly because I really need one, partly because I’m curious about the applications and limitations of AI, and partly because, as they say, you “gotta get a gimmick,” and this is going to be one of mine. So here’s a post about that!
- Katie P.
Duking It Out With ChatGPT
This post originally appeared on LinkedIn and is also on my blog.
This morning, I asked ChatGPT to help me generate ideas for my newly-launched blog (yayyy), and well…
As a friend recently pointed out to me, AI proponents love to refer to AI as a “sparring partner,” and it might be time to retire that particular analogy, because none of these ideas is something I would actually run with.
Let’s look at each of them one by one:
(Note: This is going to get very meta and postmodern, because these are all ideas that I hypothetically believe in and am interested in and that I have told ChatGPT about.)
"The Power of Storytelling in Tech: Why Your Brand Needs a Human Touch"
There could not be a less original idea in the world of content marketing. Sure, maybe I want it for the keywords, but let’s be honest, what chance do I have of ranking for a keyword like “storytelling,” and what am I really adding to the conversation? There has to be a more unique, specific angle I could take on this idea. Maybe make it an interview with someone who has actually seen the impact of story-driven content on their brand, or an expert on neuro-psychology to discuss why storytelling is hard-wired into the human brain.
"How to Write Case Studies That Convert: A Step-by-Step Guide"
Okay, maybe there could be a less original idea in the world of content marketing, and this is it. Every content-focused brand in existence, be they agencies or SaaS tools, will be going for this keyword. What’s my plan to rank for it, with my tiny 2 unique visits per month? And even if I could rank, why should readers read my content instead of the AI-generated slop that inevitably gets top billing on the page?
"Building Equitable Workspaces: The Intersection of Technology, Mental Health, and Productivity"
I have no idea what this one is talking about lol. This is just a hodgepodge of ideas I’ve told ChatGPT I’m interested in exploring (which, yes, individually, I am), mashed together into one MEGA IDEA. In all honesty, there are two ideas here that I could maybe pull apart into two pieces: one about the impact of technology on organizational equity and another about the impact of productivity tools on mental health, which, hey, are things I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. But again, these ideas are generic to the point of snooze-inducing, so I’d have to think of a more unique, differentiated way to go at them.
As you can probably see, the interesting and also kind of annoying thing about this is that in the process of this exercise, I’ve actually generated about six interesting ideas for content I could actually produce (if I’m brave enough). So maybe ChatGPT is the sparring partner I need? Is the premise of this article turning back on itself? Is it eating its own tail? What is "content" anyway?!
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