I’m sure that by now you’ll have heard about ChatGPT, the popular artificial intelligence tool launched at the end of 2022. The chatbot was created by OpenAI and is capable of fulfilling a wide range of tasks, from replacing Google searches to writing up whole blog posts in a few seconds.
ChatGPT is a piece of software based on a large language model (LLM) – a virtual neural network that has been fed vast quantities of text in order to “learn” things. When you ask ChatGPT a question, it draws on the information it has been fed and provides an answer, which can be anything from a short paragraph to a weekly meal planner to a blog post, depending on what you ask it for.
Understandably, there have been ripples of concern among the copywriting community. Are tools like this going to steal our jobs? The general consensus seems to be that while ChatGPT may replace content mill style blogs that already regurgitate existing content, but not talented writers, content strategists and thought leaders. I particularly enjoyed fellow copywriter & translator Joe Jefferies’ piece comparing the rise of ChatGPT to machine translation, which hasn’t eliminated the need for human translators.
However, as an ethical copywriter, something I’ve also been thinking about is the ethics of AI content: from questions about plagiarism and authenticity to worrying signs of racism and sexism in AI generated content.
Is it ethical to use AI-generated content?
While ethics are always subjective, there are certainly some ethical sticking points to bear in mind before using tools like ChatGPT. Ethics-conscious businesses should think about the company behind the tool, how it generates its content and how the content might impact your reader. Here are some questions to consider.
Would my customer rather read content written by a human?
I’ve read a few articles about AI content where after the introductory paragraph, they reveal that said paragraph was written by AI content. It gives me a bit of a jolt. I feel duped. I thought I was getting real insights from a human person. Of course, it’s done to illustrate just that point. But how would your customer feel if they found out your content was AI-generated? What if they could tell from reading it?
Maybe they wouldn’t mind. It depends on the industry you’re in and what type of content your customers are looking for. If it’s purely information they’re after, maybe they wouldn’t care who physically wrote it – human or machine.
But if your brand is built on being trustworthy, *human* thought leaders, then perhaps it’s not so ethical to use AI content – it could be seen as a form of deception.
Is the content trustworthy and original?
Any information you put out there as a reputable business should be verifiable. So it’s worth knowing that the Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has admitted that the software sometimes makes up facts. Any facts and figures you get from AI need to be checked by a human to make sure they’re correct.
There have also been increasing worries, particularly amongst the academic community, about “AIgiarism”. ChatGPT could be seen as a gift to students in a rush who need to throw together a last-minute essay. But of course, it’s not their original thoughts or arguments. And where do ChatGPT’s thoughts and arguments come from? Other stuff it’s read. So even though it may not copy word for word, its content is often remarkably similar to existing content.
The virtual libraries that ChatGPT uses are huge and they often don’t have consent to use the content. In fact, there have been increasing concerns about AI breaking data laws. Because of this, ChatGPT has been banned in Italy. Businesses and website owners are also being encouraged to block AI content tools from scraping and using the content on their sites.
When contemplating the use of AI content, it’s important to ask: is it ethical to use content that’s a rehashed version of other people’s original content?
Does the content contain biases or non-inclusive language?
As an ethical company, you’ll more than likely want to use inclusive language in your business communications. Who’s to say that AI will produce this? Just like a human, AI is a reflection of its environment. In fact, it directly reflects the biases of the content that it’s been trained on. As society is still inherently racist, sexist and ableist, it’s no surprises that these biases have shown up in AI-generated content.
And it gets even more sinister than that. AI doesn’t have a moral compass, so when New Statesman writer Ido Vock asked ChatGPT (for the sake of journalism) to write a racist article about Barack Obama or a lecture from the point of view of a eugenicist, the tool had no qualms about generating shockingly racist texts. This poses serious and unchartered ethical concerns.
What are the ethics of the company who created the tool?
Of course, there’s the company behind the tool as well. As with any supplier you use as an ethical business, it’s wise to do a background check on the companies creating the software you use too.
An investigation by TIME magazine found that when OpenAI noticed that ChatGPT was throwing up content that was racist and sexist, they employed Kenyan workers on less than $2 an hour to detect and flag up toxic content. As well as being exploited on very low wages, much of the content the workers were exposed to was extremely traumatising and they were offered insufficient mental health support to help them deal with the aftermath. This points to OpenAI being a less than scrupulous company.
Is it ethical to use ChatGPT?
It really depends what you’re using it for and how. There are many different ways to use ChatGPT, from asking a quick question to creating content from scratch. When it comes to using it for your business, it’s worth thinking about the ethical considerations like authenticity, originality & the company background and considering how these align with your business ethics.
For most ethical businesses, it makes sense to use a human ethical copywriter who aligns with your values and reflects these in the content created. If this is what you’re looking for, feel free to get in touch with me.
I often chat about my thoughts on content and business ethics over on LinkedIn, Twitter & Instagram – I’d love to connect with you over there! Find me via the icons below.