In her TED Talk “What Will Happen to Marketing in the Age of AI?,” Jessica Apotheker of Boston Consulting Group explains a study conducted by her firm and Harvard University, which revealed that “when people overrely on generative AI, the collective divergence of ideas drops by 40%.” According to Apotheker, this means that innovation is being stifled due to the absence of new creative ideas.

I never thought I’d say this, but I would trade artificial intelligence for the 10 pounds of Encyclopedia Britannica volumes and clunky TI-82 calculator that lived in my backpack during high school.

Unlike AI, those tools couldn’t hand over the answer to an assignment. The only place to find a quick, direct answer was by pestering an older sibling or a parent for help — if you were lucky and they were patient. If not, you were basically screwed. Somewhere along the way, critical thinking acquired a bad rap.

Now, Google’s AI Overviews appear at the tippity-top of search results for all users. The feature compiles various pieces of information to provide a quick, summarized answer. The same for product reviews on Amazon. “Ask Meta Anything” AI is the default search on mobile for Instagram and Facebook. Apple iOS 17.5 just announced Math Scratch, which solves math equations when you draw them on iPad with an Apple pencil. Not to mention, Apple Intelligence combined with ChatGPT is hitting iOS devices in late 2024.

It’s just. So. Much.

As the line between human- and AI-produced works becomes increasingly blurred, what is more important to you: automation or authenticity?

Imitation Game

There are two types of AI: predictive and generative. Predictive AI is powered by data and statistics to help analyze trends or make forecasts and predictions. Some refer to it as the “left brain” of AI, whereas generative AI is considered the creative “right brain.”

The best example of generative AI is ChatGPT, which quickly creates articles, blogs, outlines, poems and stories out of whatever it grabs from the internet. Everything that ChatGPT generates is derivative, a conglomeration of existing material. That’s because AI-generated content is the digital equivalent of imitation crab: It’s artificial, most people don’t know what it’s made of, and it does its best to resemble the real thing — but will never take its place.

There’s a word for that: plagiarism. That’s why, when I spot AI-generated text in media quotes, LinkedIn posts, blogs, product descriptions and social media captions, I feel insulted. Especially when the piece was “written” by a marketing agency, brand rep, consultant or sex educator.

It’s not because of the possibility that my writing might eventually be ripped off and never credited — assuming that hasn’t happened already — or because I’ve committed most of my 20-year career to writing. I take it personally on behalf of consumers who are looking for accurate sexual health information, and on behalf of businesses that are unaware that this work is often plagiarized.

AI does not care how it represents a client, even if that means distributing false, inaccurate, outdated or biased information. AI does not possess the knowledge that a professional develops over time, like intuition and a complex understanding of nuances in their particular field.

In case the ethics and credibility argument doesn’t sway you, then consider this: aside from lacking spice and authenticity, duplicated content is hurting your SEO.

AI Integrity Standards

Having a lax or nonexistent quality-control policy makes it easy for freelancers to submit AI writing, and for subpar ideas to be reflected in your content. One example of a lax AI policy is “We allow AI, but we tell our writers to use it only for writing improvement.” You make the call, but it’s a slippery slope.

Freelancers, employees and businesses in the sexual health industry could benefit from implementing a set of professional standards for integrity as it relates to AI. Like all matters of company culture, an effective strategy will trickle from the top down.

Tips for employers:

• Employees and contractors need to be compensated appropriately. Being overworked and underpaid will only encourage employees to spend less time creating good work. I say this as a result of personal experience in this industry, not speculation. Revenue sharing is not an acceptable substitute.
• Replace expectations of high-pressure “crunch time” with designated creative time.
• Avoid combining creative job roles in your organization. A copywriter did not go to school for graphic design or video editing, and vice versa.
• ChatGPT is not an acceptable copywriter substitute.
• Implement a fact-checking or plagiarism review process prior to publishing.
• Know when and how you will purposefully utilize generative and predictive AI.
• Consider adding an AI restriction clause in your employee contracts.
• Use tools like Copyscape, Grammarly and Turnitin to help detect AI-generated text.

Tips for writers:

• Make it clear on your website and social platforms that employers can trust you to provide original, AI-free work.
• Know that ChatGPT does not always provide accurate results, even when asked to cite sources. It has been known to provide false or fake academic research papers.
• Fact-check AI content against more than one source.
• Cite references.
• Include a proper copyright notice with your work.
• Use a search engine to track your work online. Copy a passage of your writing and search for it in quotes. According to Plagarism.org, “If you choose a sufficiently unique passage, any hits returned should be copies of your work.”
• Set up automated Google Alerts and get contacted if that exact phrase appears online.
• The Stop Internet Plagiarism guide at Plagiarism Today can help you reach the plagiarizer directly or remove your work.
• Contact a lawyer.

To quote Seth Godin, the value of a brand is “the sum total of how much extra people will pay, or how often they choose, the expectations, memories, stories and relationships of one brand over the alternatives.” Creating that kind of relationship with a brand requires insight, innovation and creativity — the exact human capacities that AI lacks.

Is Generative AI Helping or Hurting the Pleasure Biz? by Casey Murphy originally appeared in XBIZ.