They say write what you know. But what if you’re using generative AI which doesn’t really know anything? And for those less experienced with the written word, what if you don’t know what’s good?

Generative AI writing tools like ChatGPT and Claude have transformed our ability to communicate with the written word. Put simply, generative AI writing tools are trained to predict the next word or sequence of words, hallucinating what copy should come next after being fed a prompt.

To improve outcomes and quality, you can refine your prompt. Otherwise the result is predictable: garbage in, garbage out.

Avoiding Garbage In, Garbage Out

Generative AI writing tools allow users to produce a tremendous amount of content in a short period, but there’s a catch: the AI-produced content is hallucinated. It lacks nuance, creativity and in many instances it’s not persuasive or even factual. Instead, it’s the equivalent of the store-brand vanilla ice cream you can find in your local grocer’s freezer. It’s generic, average at best.

But sometimes store-brand vanilla ice cream is all you need. If your goal is to produce a few hundred meta descriptions or batches of alt text, you don’t need gourmet gelato or a veteran copywriter with 10-plus years of relevant work experience pouring unnecessary billable hours into the job.

That’s why Rocket55 has a proprietary AI writing tool that was designed to handle the low-hanging fruit of copywriting work, like producing large batches of meta descriptions and alt text. This approach protects our clients’ bottom line and ensures the job gets done as efficiently as possible. But there’s a level of human editing and curation that goes into the process, and as the writing needs become more nuanced and essential, the less AI should be involved.

To Be Impactful, Messaging Needs a Personal Touch

When it comes to messaging, anything meant to be persuasive or impactful comes from the human mind. Looking at pop culture for a moment, do you think HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” could outsell Don Draper from episodes of “Mad Men”? Of course not. But if generative AI were around in the 1960s, it’s easy to think Mr. Draper would have found a way to package and leverage it into a helpful tool.

Using generative AI writing tools for select applications isn’t just practical, it’s smart, but human editing and curation must be non-negotiable. Everything needs to be double-checked and refined. The cost of failure is too high. Bad, bland or incorrect messaging can damage your brand, erode trust and, at best, you won’t engage users with it because your messaging will lack personality and a point of view.

The Path Forward

Remember when your childhood math teacher forced you to learn how to solve problems by hand before you were allowed to use a calculator? Your teacher wasn’t trying to be a jerk, they wanted to be sure you had the foundational skills before you started taking shortcuts. Using generative AI writing tools should be no different.

To know if what you get back from your prompt is any good, you’ve got to start with a solid foundation — otherwise your organization is relying on a shortcut that’s capable of nothing better than average output. When building a brand, or looking to sell a service or product, you don’t get to the top by mass-producing generic customer-facing copy with ChatGPT, Claude or another AI writing tool. That doesn’t mean one of these tools can’t be part of your process, but there needs to be human editing and curation to achieve a result that will excel and set your messaging apart from what your competitors are saying.

The Right Messaging, the Right Way

If you are ready to say no to AI slop but yes to a more nuanced approach that blends the best of traditional copywriting with emerging AI technologies, you want to talk with Rocket55.

Our copywriters are subject-matter experts who average more than 12 years of relevant experience. They are skilled with generative AI tools, including when they will help or hinder the mission, and they work relentlessly to craft precise messaging that’s authentic and will resonate with your intended audience. Reach out to learn more.