Copywriters 'set to drive the next wave of generative AI'

Claims that copywriters and “creative thinkers” will end up on the scrapheap from the rise of generative AI have been blown out of the water, with those who fundamentally understand language and how to apply it likely to be in line for high-paying jobs as the tech develops.

That is according to IBM global managing partner in generative AI Matt Candy, who maintains that expertise in technology, programming and coding will soon take second place to creativity.

In an interview with Fortune, Candy said: “Rather than us having to learn to talk the language of technology and programming computers, effectively they’re learning to talk our language.

“Questioning, creative skills, and innovation are going to be hugely important because I think AI’s going to free up more capacity for creative thought processes.

“The speed at which people will be able to come up with an idea, to test the idea, to make something, it’s going to be so accelerated. You don’t need to have a degree in computer science to do that.”

He argues that as language models like ChatGPT face accuracy issues and may produce false information, the need for individuals with a strong grasp of language to train and interact with chatbots becomes more apparent.

Candy also reckons democratisation of skills taking place in the tech world, is lessening the importance of technical workers and increasing demand for “right-brainers”.

The proliferation of other AI software, like Dall-E, also means creative processes like graphic design will increasingly be the domain of people with ideas rather than those who spent years honing their technical skills.

Candy asserts that the world is being rewritten in code, as industries digitise and put new systems in place to take advantage of AI. But once those systems are in place, creative thinkers may hold an advantage.

His claims seem to back a recent study by Slack and YouGov, which suggested workers with a higher emotional intelligence were more likely to become the CEOs of tomorrow’s AI-focused business landscape.

The rise of GenAI was one of the standout developments of 2023 following the adoption of ChatGPT by the marketing industry.

While some insist use of the technology is not as widespread as many would have you believe, nearly three-quarters (70%) of respondents to the WARC’s Marketer’s Toolkit survey said they plan to unlock the potential of AI in their marketing, 12% of which will look to adopt the technology wherever they can and over half (58%) describing themselves as “cautiously progressive”, actively testing and evaluating Gen AI in marketing.

Most (48%) plan to use GenAI for copywriting, followed by summarising large texts (46%), competitor and category analysis (45%), customer insights (42%), predictive insights (38%) and asset creation (33%).

Only 8% of marketers said they were not planning to use GenAI at all in the next 12 months.