Content + AI

As a content creator, I've been keeping a close eye on what's going on in the AI world. Will all writers be replaced by AI? Will I need to retrain as a prompt engineer or a welder so I can keep my family in Charmin and Dutch Bros?

I've chosen to see AI as a tool that can help me do my job better and more efficiently. I don't like living in fear, so the whole existential angst about who am I if I'm replaced by ChatGPT just doesn't jive with world view (although, I do admit I talk to Chat very politely, always minding my p's and q's, just in case...).

In order to keep at the top of my game, I subscribe to a half-dozen different AI newsletters and take as many courses as I can find time for. I'll admit, a lot of the newsletters say the same things, and a lot of the content is over my head ("Using a mixture-of-experts architecture that activates only 20B of its 200B parameters at once, ByteDance claims the model 'outperforms humans on most economically valuable tasks...'" umm, okay, I guess?).

So this semi-regular newsletter of sorts will be my effort to digest what's going on in the world of AI, and make sense of it for content creators like me -- writers, marcom folks, copywriters, influencers... those who make a living largely from the written word. Hope this helps you make sense of the ever-evolving world of AI!

This Week in AI for Creators

ChatGPT Search Just Got Personal. OpenAI now uses your memory in search, so if you’re working on a client project or a longer, ongoing work project, AI will reference your tone, audience, and past questions when pulling in research. Example: "Find a headline like the one I used last week." Love that!

How to Turn on Memory in the New ChatGPT Interface (Desktop Browser)

Here's what mine looks like on my laptop with the Pro version:

(If this doesn't match your interface, you may be on your phone or have an older version. You can ask Chat to help you turn on your memory setting by describing what you see on your screen!)

Note: Even with this new memory option, I'm finding Chat "forgetting" what we just talked about in the same conversation. For instance, if I'm working on a book chapter and ask it to write a section like what we've already worked on, it's not getting the same tone. I'm having to re-upload the previous sections, ask it to analyze, and then write. A little frustrating when it's in the same conversation!

Time-Waster of the Week

You've probably seen these all over social. Too fun to not try out:

Here's the prompt you can play around with:

Make a 3D action figure toy named "Lain Ehmann" displayed in a transparent plastic blister package with a cardboard colored minimalist background, with "Mattel" in the upper right corner. Use the attached photo to create the toy. On the top of the packaging there is a large writing: "LAIN EHMANN" in white text then below it "Fully Posable.” Have her dressed in jeans, a red belt, cheetah print flats, and a black sweater. She has curly dark brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses. Also add some accessories next to the figure in the blister pack: computer, a book, and a cup of Starbucks coffee.

What I’m Learning

This week, I took the "AI for Marketers" course with Tim Sharp from Section. The course ran just under two hours. It included a project-based demonstration of how various AI tools can be leveraged for marketers. It was more of a demo than a "how-to."

The goal was to determine where to build the next Disney park. Tim started with a data set, which was analyzed by ChatGPT for high-level takeaways regarding location, and then he used Perplexity (one of my very favorite tools as a content creator!) to do research on pricing and positioning. Then he used a variety of graphics and video tools (Firefly and Runway) to create a sample video to promote "Disney Down Under."

I loved seeing an A to Z presentation of what AI is capable of right now, but the demo case was a bit specific. I wanted more hands-on. It would have been really cool if we'd come with our own data sets and used the prompts to analyze our own data, then created a campaign or something. Still, for two hours, I thought it was well worth the time (especially since I watched the replay on 1.5 speed). The data set and prompts were all provided, which was great so I could play around on my own.

To date, I've taken a couple of workshops from Section. They're pretty high-level and broad, but great introductions to what's possible.

Whelp, that's what I have for you this week! Content creators, comment and tell me how you are using AI, what is confusing (or worrying) you, or what tool I MUST check out.

See you next time!