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Hello DALL-E 2, Goodbye Content Careers?

Artificial intelligence in content creation is having a moment. First, access to text-to-image generator DALL-E 2 opened to new users this week. Now anyone who signs up can start creating AI-generated images. Next, an article on ReadWrite cautioned social media managers and other content writers that AI puts their jobs at risk. Should artists and writers worry? Robert Rose

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Aired: September 30, 2022

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If you haven’t noticed, artificial intelligence and content creation are having a bit of a moment. It’s kind of an interesting romance. Kind of like The Bachelor or The Bachelorette rose ceremony – you know it’s forced, but you Just. Can’t. Stop. Watching.  So, what’s the real story?  This is the news you need to lead in content marketing.

Hello everybody. Robert Rose here with the news. It’s what’s new and what’s important in the world of content marketing. (For the best in best practices, you can always go to contentmarketinginstitute.com.)

A couple of stories broke this week about artificial intelligence and content creation. The most interesting is that DALL-E 2, the AI engine that allows you to automatically create detailed images and artwork by simply describing what you want, came off the waitlist. That’s right –new users can start creating images right away.

I’m not patient, so I went in and asked for an image I described as a delicatessen in Delhi, India, in the style of Salvador Dali. Or, said another way, I asked DALL-E for a deli in Delhi in the style of Dali.

I’ll let you be the judge of what I got.

Related: AI Text-to-Image Generators: Job Killers or Friendly Robot Assistants?

But the world of artificial intelligence is becoming huge. An article published this week on ReadWrite talked about how content marketers should prepare for the writing disruption caused by AI.  According to the article, the search team “AI copywriting” is still trending upward.

I did my own searching and found that the term has indeed seen some impressive growth.

CMI’s take: We’ve been doing some deep dives into this world. What we’ve found is different from the ReadWrite article, which concluded that social media managers and other short-form content writers could find themselves out of a job.

I think AI tools will be an opportunity to create new creative writing jobs. The one thing that AI isn’t good at? Wisdom. It can only mash together the things we tell it to – and provide alternative executions of them. But AI can’t merge the ideas of great experience, emotional empathy, and abstract thinking into new, beautiful, and creative things.

I asked DALL-E to give me a new vision of empathy. I’m not sure whether to be freaked out or to laugh at what it came back with.

#AI can’t merge the ideas of great experience, emotional empathy, and abstract thinking into new, beautiful, creative things, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. #ContentMarketing Share on X

AI will be another extraordinary tool, like Photoshop, Figma, and even the digital camera and the printing press were back in the day.

But it will be just that – a tool.

AI news will continue to break. Expect a lot of fear, uncertainty, and doubt in content marketing, thought leadership, and creativity in the coming months.

But that’s just change.  And marketers? That’s what we’re built for.

Related: How To Use AI-Generated Content the Right Way (and Avoid the Downsides)

And that’s it. That’s five minutes of the news you need to lead in content marketing.  I’m Robert Rose.

Tune in to the Ask the #CMWorld Community livestream on Monday, October 3 at Noon ET. I’ll discuss our new research into the past, present, and future of content marketing careers. If you want to know what the job market has in store for content marketing, you’ll want to tune into that.

Until then, remember: It’s your story. Tell it well.

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