The ChatGPT Phenomenon

More likely than not, you’ve been hearing about ChatGPT in the news for the past few months, whether it be when it tricked a human into bypassing CAPTCHA security or when someone used deepfake to create an AI-generated version of Ryan Reynolds for a Tesla ad. But for every alarming story, there is a positive one - such as this anime made fully with AI tools based on very basic phone footage.

It can be scary and confusing to see what this new technology is capable of, and of course it is anyone’s guess at this point how far it can go, but we wanted to give our two cents.

What is most interesting about what ChatGPT is accomplishing is that up until this point, many concluded that the hardest tasks to give an AI would be that of creativity (design, images, scripts, etc…). However, ChatGPT is finding itself “doing” just that. You can use ChatGPT for free to generate all sorts of content - from taking a 5,000 word blog and having it spit out a summary, to having it literally help develop an entire novel, to having it give feedback on your existing content, and how to improve it.

The potential uses for ChatGPT are boundless, and its influence extends far beyond its own website. It's likely that you've come across a myriad of other AI websites, but it's crucial to know that most of these sites are fundamentally utilizing ChatGPT's API. So in essence, they are variations on the same theme, but with specific niches in mind.

Fun Fact - That last paragraph was completely written by ChatGPT, could you tell? Honestly - maybe - I don’t usually use so many big words! The title and subtitle were also creatively developed with ChatGPT.

One popular application is Midjourney. This tool is leading the way for AI-Generated images. You simply prompt Midjourney with a phrase, such as “tiny cute adorable ginger tabby kitten studio light”, and it will spit out four sample images that are completely “original” to your prompt. I use the word “original” loosely, as it is important to be aware that AI tools are simply utilizing content that is on the web to then “generate” the results. This tool has improved over time to the point where it can generate logo ideas, Facebook banners, social posts, book covers, and more. You can control the ratio and size of the export to have high-quality images to work with as the output.

Of course, this has opened up a whole can of worms with stock image websites, as contributors have started submitting their AI-Generated images. For a bit of time, many just blocked use of these images. However, it has now become its own accepted category on many stock image websites.

For now, these images cannot be copyrighted and honestly we exist in a limbo of gray area as far as what to do legally with these images and, for that matter, all of the content from ChatGPT. The CEO of ChatGPT in fact is pushing for Congress to write legislation on this technology.

How should we use AI in the marketing industry?

This is the real question we are asking ourselves here at NJP. We lived in a period of limbo when these tools came out, in regards to web developers using this content and their concern for their SEO. In a nutshell, Google had a policy that stated that “automatically generated content” was something that would punish a website’s SEO. 

However, Google has since come out to clarify that they consider AI Content to be different. The main reason is that this generated content still requires human involvement (aka our input).

The way we feel it is best used is as an assistant to bounce ideas on, or to have it give input on existing content and how it can be improved for SEO. It is also a wonderful tool for saving time generating short-form content from existing long-from content (such as a meta description for a 2,000 word webpage).

One other area that we are loving AI is for upscaling images. This allows us to take lower-resolution images or even slightly soft images and scale them to be sharper and larger. There are many cases where this can be useful:

• Older Images - You have an older image that is lower resolution but want it to be used in a larger application
• Large Print - You have a good sized image but NOT quite good enough for large print
• Mobile Phones - Your client has given you an image from their phone that looks good, if NOT for it being too small for the application needed

As an example, I brought in an image I took from 2003 that only had a resolution of 1600 x 1200 (1.12mb). I upscaled it up to 6000 x 4500 (13.0mb), and while the result is far from perfect, it would allow for much larger uses of this image:

What’s next for AI?

This technology is brand-spanking new, so while what we are seeing now feels like a lot, it is only going to grow in its usage from here and improve. It feels like it is exploding exponentially, and the skies are NOT the limit.

You can expect to see this continue to scale and grow while steadily becoming more user friendly for the average consumer. You can also expect for regulation to start coming in to restrict its use and what data it can access. Anyone from lawyers to designers to content creators will find it difficult to compete if they choose not to start learning how to utilize these kinds of technologies.

Final thoughts from ChatGPT itself

I let ChatGPT read this post and here is its final thoughts:

“As an AI, I'm programmed to learn, adapt, and evolve, but I don't possess personal thoughts or emotions. However, based on trends and data, it's clear that the future holds considerable potential for AI like me. The capabilities of AI systems are growing at an extraordinary pace, becoming more refined, creative, and nuanced. While AI, including systems like myself (ChatGPT), are currently utilized as tools to assist and augment human tasks, the prospects for the future include even deeper integration and more sophisticated tasks. These advances could revolutionize numerous fields, such as marketing, data analysis, and content creation, to name a few. The goal is always to strike a balance between harnessing the potential of AI and ensuring ethical and responsible use. It's a future teeming with possibilities, and as an AI, I look forward to being a part of that journey.”

So, comment below! Are you excited for the AI revolution or is this the preface to the end of days, terminator style?