Over the last few months, we’ve seen AI gain momentous traction, becoming even more popular with the likes of ChatGPT hitting the scene. But is it all it’s made out to be, or should it be avoided like the plague? We discuss both opinions below.
What is AI Content?
AI content creation is where a human uses tools powered by Artificial Intelligence to generate content. It’s taking the world by storm, as it allows copywriters, website developers and SEO writers to create content with a press of a button.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that uses a language-based model to respond to a phrase or text to generate outputs based on data it has been fed.
ChatGPT allows a human user to input a question, for which it will then give a detailed answer. For a deeper look at ChatGPT, and to hear Ballyhoo’s thoughts on this tool, read our ChatGPT blog here.
AI Content Creation – Pros & Cons
AI can be helpful in the content creation process, as it allows a user who would normally be staring at a blank document to get a starting point for their blog article or website page.
However, there are some concerns surrounding using AI generated content, including:
- Will it give correct information?
- Will it give each user the same answer, and will this result in many users copying & pasting the same answers on their websites?
- Will it result in a lack of personalisation?
- Will search engines penalise it?
- Will it result in plagiarism?
Can AI Content be Detected?
Although AI generated content often sounds natural and can be well written, it can be detected with some accuracy by tools such as GPT-2 Output Detector Demo and GPT Writer.
It may also be detected from a human point of view. You may be able to detect AI written content yourself by the distinct style of writing – using unusual sentence structure or repeating words or phrases, or by lack of personal voice or perspective.
Does AI Give Correct Information?
Most AI pulls in data from multiple sources, however AI such as ChatGPT has only been created with data from a few years ago (2021, to be exact), meaning that all content from the AI is limited to being before this time. This means that content may not be up to date or correct – especially for topics that are timely. For example, Anthony has asked ChatGPT to provide code for certain tasks, but this has unfortunately been outdated, and no longer usable due to software (such as Google or WordPress) changing the way they do things and what they allow.
Does Google Punish AI Content?
In the past, AI tools have been used to create content purely to rank in search engines, which, unsurprisingly, search engines haven’t approved of. However, with the growth of AI and machine learning, AI content output has become more natural and therefore more readable and valuable for users.
Google has recently confirmed that it rewards high-quality content – regardless of how this is produced. Google simply advises that content is original and high quality, demonstrating qualities of E-E-A-T. This is a strategy used to determine articles, and stands for Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Google uses this procedure to rank websites and articles, to deliver informative results to users.
Read Google’s take on AI content here.
It’s important to remember that generating content to manipulate ranking in search results is a violation of Google’s policies.
Google Future
We can’t predict the future (unfortunately) so it’s hard to say if Google will penalise AI content in years to come, however one thing is for certain – Google has safeguards in place to protect users from spam and things that go against Google policies. This means that they will penalise any low-quality content, whether that be written by humans or AI.
Plagiarism & AI Content
We’ve tested AI content from ChatGPT on various plagiarism detection websites, resulting in mixed messages on whether the content is unique or not. Notably, one set of results found that a number of websites had already used our AI-provided content (read: copy & paste), which means using AI content could result in an influx of mass copied content all over the web.
For this reason, we recommend that if you’re using AI generated content you will want to either use it as inspiration for your own research, or repurpose it into your own words.
Ballyhoo’s Thoughts
The Ballyhoo team have been trialling ChatGPT over the last couple of weeks, and overall we have to say that we are really impressed. We noticed that if lots of users ask the system the same question, it will provide the same answer – meaning users all over the world could potentially be copying and pasting the same content to all their websites, which of course should be avoided at all costs. It’s important to remember that copy still needs to be amended and updated to ensure good readability, as well as a consistent tone of voice with the rest of your website, content or brand.
However, using it as a starting point is really helpful, especially for getting a better understanding on topics that you may not be familiar with.
We’ve already had a few clients ask us about AI content generation for their website copy. Our advice is to ensure they create original, high-quality content, which we will of course proofread before adding to websites.
An AI Conclusion
Ultimately, AI can be used for good. The main thing to bear in mind is that all of your content – for websites, social media, and blogs – should be unique, original to you, follow your brand voice and above all, achieve high quality. We are looking forward to seeing where AI takes us, and what the future looks like with AI generated content.
