3 ChatGPT predictions from a lazy copywriter.

04.12.24 | By Bri Nixon

3 ChatGPT predictions from a lazy copywriter.

An AI thinkpiece in 2024? Groundbreaking.

I am a self-proclaimed lazy copywriter. But I would argue this is an asset. Of course, it’s also in my best lazy interests to be proficient at making this case.

I will do half-arsed first drafts of copy so that a day later I can make half-arsed edits. The result is typically a full monty of success.

I’ll take a shower at lunchtime on a WFH day because I’m too lazy to get up early. This is obviously also when strokes of genius occur with half a workday still ahead.

Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V are my favourite keyboard shortcuts. I love to reuse and recycle (and Rihanna). Turns out customers appreciate hearing repeated messages and it’s the key to successful marketing.

I will find the quickest and easiest way to do things, so you can imagine my delight when I first heard about ChatGPT. A robot? To do my job? While I get paid to do my job? Amazing.

If only it could actually do my job.

It cannot fact-check. It’s an unreliable research assistant. It is consistently, torturously formal. And American. It lacks my sense of humour or my (extensive) pop culture knowledge. Its lexicon is bigger yet more boring than mine. It is desperately earnest, always adds the wrong emoji, and is weirdly obsessed with colons.

But that does not stop a lazy copywriter.

I have spent hours upon hours plugging in prompts to get the kind of social caption or subheading I’m looking for. Sure, I probably could have written it for myself in 10 minutes. But I’ve been determined to make ChatGPT my workhorse.

The funny thing about laziness is that it doesn’t always look like laziness. Sometimes it looks suspiciously like dedication and upskilling. Almost as if the ability to do less work has become a commodity in itself in the digital age. In a world where efficiency is king, laziness is no longer about doing nothing—it's about doing just enough to look brilliant, with minimal effort. It's the hustle culture's ironic cousin: productive laziness.

As part of this commitment to laziness, I have developed some theories on ChatGPT.

Creatives will learn to harness AI.

Prediction 1.

I don’t understand why people use ChatGPT to write emails.

For starters, this takes away the absolute thrill of crafting the most perfect email that dances on the line of passive aggression and professionalism.

But I also beg the question, when did emails get so hard to write anyway? And I’m talking specifically for people who are paid to write. Instead of marketing emails that feel like a conversation with an actual human, we’re getting jargon-filled word soup or, worse, the dreaded [First Name] placeholder error. This is where I see the opportunity: character and personality. Because how hard is it to just be human over email?

Not nearly as hard as brainstorming solo. And this is where I predict the opportunity lies.

There are infinite ways you can brainstorm with ChatGPT. Here’s how I rate a few different prompting styles:

“Give me 10 tagline ideas” 1/10

“Imagine you’re a brilliant copywriter. Now give me 10 tagline ideas.” 2/10

“Pretend you’re a 32-year-old woman living in South Yarra, and your recent purchases are Tony Bianco ballet flats, a cute top from DISSH, CeraVe cleanser, dinner out at Entrecote, etc. You’re walking to the tram stop after finishing your consulting job in the CBD. You see a poster advertising a skincare brand. The poster makes you stop and look, and smile. Next time you see this brand you will have positive connotations. What’s on the poster?” 6/10

At first, you might get something generic. But then you pester it to “be more distinctive” and you stumble onto something cool (for a lazy copywriter, anyway).

"Unreal Glow for a Real World"

(A soft-focus image of a mysterious figure with luminous, otherworldly skin against a cosmic background – almost as if she’s just landed from a chic, otherworldly place. Small text below reads:) "For skin that belongs somewhere beyond. But was made for here."

Is this a finished idea? Not at all. But it’ll get you thinking outside the box.

This is the territory of ChatGPT that I think we’re heading in. And it’s much better than what the first prompt would've gotten you:

“Glow Where No Filter’s Needed!”

STOP using ChatGPT to give you answers. START using it to open up possibilities. Robots are allowed bad first ideas, too.

We will seek out more human interactions.

Prediction 2.

I think the AI-fication of so many marketing funnels (or marketing hourglasses… whatever) will make us subconsciously categorise interactions with humans as superior.

The Olds already formed this opinion at the dawn of TV. But increasingly The Youths are echoing the same sentiment. Can’t we talk to a human? Please? Or at the very very least, read an ad written by one?

AI is learning from what exists in the world. And that’s worrying because there’s already so much repetition in the world from other lazy copywriters (shout out).

The proliferation of “your way” is just one example. Towels your way! Renting your way! Contraceptives your way! It’s no wonder ChatGPT also spits out mundane ideas.

Bricks-and-mortar retail environments are on the rise. Real-time selling on TikTok Live and infomercial-style Instagram videos are becoming more commonplace and successful. It seems that we want, at some stage on the purchase journey, to hear from or see a real person.

I predict that the more ubiquitous ChatGPT becomes, and the more we can diagnose AI language, the more value we’ll put on its absence.

The kids will be okay.

Prediction 3.

This is more a manifestation than a prediction.

Part of me fears for the new wave of copywriters (or anyone paid to write) who do not know what it is to stare at a blank page and feel their palms sweat as they attempt to have an original thought. But I also fear I’m the old man shaking a fist at a cloud.

I want to caution the younger generation about running straight to ChatGPT before giving it some solo thought, the same way our parents warned us against relying on calculators for simple math. But then I remember how their cries of, “You won’t have a calculator in your pocket!” were proven wrong. We do have a calculator in our pocket. In fact, we have a fully-fledged robot consciousness in our pocket.

I believe the kids will adapt to using ChatGPT in a new way. It will be a completely different and valuable skill to prompt ChatGPT to get the best response. Prompting classes and packs are already here (and a total scam by the way, just spend a bunch of hours playing with it yourself), and soon we’ll be roping our younger relatives into writing any letter, speech, email, or birthday card we need them for. And they'll oblige, because they want to be in the will.

ChatGPT can’t replace creativity. Just as one must maintain the ability to quickly calculate percentages in one’s head in order to shop with efficiency, one will be forced to learn “old” skills to adapt to the “new” world. That’s how this lazy copywriter still knows her fractions and what a 20% deal means for her pocket. Because sometimes the laziest path actually requires the most involvement.

The next generation will keep their wits too—the lazy ones always do. And they’re the ones I’d bet on.