Will AI End My Career?

Tech companies blamed AI for their massive layoffs, even though it was really about overhiring during COVID. That brought back my own AI fears. When AI was first announced and made available to the public, copywriting was marked as highly likely to be replaced. Naturally, I rushed to look into it.

After a few experiments, I was shocked by what it could generate in seconds. Panic set in. I felt doomed. All that blood, sweat, and tears, just to get replaced. But then I did something: I challenged those thoughts. I wanted to see if there was any real reason to believe I could not stay employed.

And after some critical thought, I found a few:

Copy that Converts

People using AI to write copy might not know the difference between quality copy that converts and generic copy that gets ignored. To get the best copy results from AI, you need copywriting skills. Guess the ideal candidate to use AI to ensure effective copy is met before deadlines are met given this circumstance — a copywriter. A season copywriter with AI is more powerful than a non-copywriter multitasker using AI.

→ The most qualified person to get high quality copy from AI is a copywriter.

Creativity Matters

Peter Theil, co-founder of PayPal and current investor of AI company Palantir stated it’s the writer that will survive AI since creativity will be needed to stand out. In a world where anybody has the ability to generate text in seconds, how unique will everyone’s voice be? I wouldn’t say so. Even if you prompt a certain tone of voice — you’d still need the creative and logistical bandwidth to piece it all together.

→ Human creativity is critical in the AI age.

Human Interaction Needed

Being a copywriter sometimes goes beyond writing. You have to ask questions that get overlooked. You have to investigate detailed documents like a detective to be able provide accurate copy. You have to engage with other humans to get a feel of the project’s goal. And much more smaller interconnected pieces to the process. AI can build out an impressive starting point, but not 100% accurate finishing point.

→ Copywriting goes beyond writing.

In-Tune with the Times

An ideal copywriter has to have their finger on the pulse with pop-culture, news, and unwritten rules of society. AI collects information from past inputs. They’re are instances where AI couldn't possibly collect the ‘vibes’ from the real world. This is where humans creativity shines.

→ Copywriters analyze the unwritten parts of society.

Other Companies Are Hiring Copywriters

This one genuinely surprised me. Many other organizations still see value in human copywriters. I noticed using AI is an in-demand skill. However, I’m unsure about junior copywriter’s being in-demand.

→ Demand isn’t out of question.

Could the past remind us?

I wasn’t apart of the workforce when computers took over. But from what I research, there was widespread fear about replacements. The reality of it is it mostly empowered workers and transformed jobs.

→ The computer revolution could be compared to now.

Reasons to Use AI

I do think AI should be shunned though. It’s an amazing tool that saves time. Here’s the best cases that I found:

Small Business AI is great for small business and soloprenuers who absolutely need some starting material. They have access to professional copy at their fingertips. Not to mention pre-made designs from Canva templates. It has never been easier to get a professional looking brand before.

→ Pro grade branding is widely accessible.

Learning

Because you can generate text fast. It’s good to learn generic copy to which you could improve and humanize upon yourself. I used to have to screenshot whatever I could to take inspiration from. (I still do this though if I really like the ad). With AI, you could even ask questions on how certain things was written a certain way being your personal tutor.

→ AI is a great teacher.

Empowers Workforce

As a creative worker, I use every tool I possibly can to complete the mission. So of course using AI will help. Imagine how much time could be saved and how efficient a team could operate.

→ A powerful tool that can’t be ignored.

Reason for Human Copywriter

Large Company with High Volume Work

Speaking from experience, if a company has lots of moving parts fast, it’s ideal to have a person who's clear on the brand standards that can work with or without AI. Plus, it centralizes branding to be more uniform because theirs a dedicated individual or team. I been writing everything from napkin cocktails to naming music venue (and everything in between), and If I —a seasoned copywriter using AI— gets stressed about my job, I can only imagine how much a non-copywriter using AI would get.

Creativity to Stand out

Great taste is a weapon. If being above average is priority, keep organic copywriters. I already mentioned this above, but let’s say for an argument sake a startup wants to make an impact. They didn’t invest all this time, money and resources to blend in the crowd. No marketing experience among them but they want the gold. They want the glory. Unfortunately, they’re on the path of bankruptcy. They’re aware most businesses fail by year 2.

What’s the better bet?

Option 1.) DIY their own marketing material and guessing “that’ll work”.

Option 2.) Hiring a seasoned specialist that researches, crafts, and tests copy that's guarantees results.

Sometimes cheap is expensive.

You Need a Human for Accountability.

AI glitches. AI slop occurs in writing too. Outage occurs. An AI company going bankrupt doesn’t affect a copywriter’s ability to produce. It might affect a multitasker generalist. Maybe the copywriting task gets put to the wayside because the multitasker keeps forgetting — and if they remember, the quality lacks. It’s nice to have a dedicated guy who’ll just handle it.

You Need Different POVs

“Got Milk?” — Remember that ad campaign? It came from a marketing department chatting about milk usage. It is not uncommon for great ideas to come from a group of people in casual conversation. Different human perspectives can trigger intuitive lightbulb moments for great ideas. AI is infamously known as a yes-man.

How I Practically Use AI

Head Start Copy: It’s good at giving you a launchpad. Even if 95% of it gets rewritten. It’s really to kill writer’s block and the prevent the dread of staring at a blank page.

Additions Idea Generation: It’s helps provide additional ideas. To be fair, it generates bad generated ones too.

Finding Synonyms: It’s faster to use AI for synonyms than to Google them.

Rephrasing Sentences: After a long day of writing, when I have a complex idea to convey, I’ll have AI take a first pass—this works great.

Proofreading: After a long day of writing, my eyes are fatigued. It’s easy to miss typos. AI is great for catching those.

My Personal Belief

It’s a tool, not a replacement. I hate that AI is associated with EM dashes — I use them all the time.

Will my career end because of AI?

Maybe. It depends on what my employer values and what they prioritize.

-Kev