With 100+million users, ChatGPT is winning all the popularity contests. It’s convenient, easy to use and has an answer to (nearly) every question you ask it, from: “How do I boil an egg without using a pot,” to: “Give me five references for an article about generative AI”. Yet, as with most things in life, there are pros and cons of ChatGPT, especially when it comes to using ChatGPT to generate content.
What are the cons of ChatGPT content and why have the top content writers sworn never to churn out AI generated content?
Here at Purple Chia, we set out on a mission to discover what are the disadvantages of ChatGPT content and what makes it so easy to detect content written by ChatGPT.
ChatGPT Cons Explained
What are the disadvantages of ChatGPT content?
Here are the seven highest identified cons of using ChatGPT for writing content:
1. The Robotic Nature of ChatGPT
ChatGPT has a unique writing style. It’s quite different to how humans write and its distinctive style makes its content easily detectable as non-human, machine-generated content. ChatGPT content is robotic and it doesn’t use complicated phraseology, such as idioms.
Here is an example of robotic-sounding content that ChatGPT wrote:Greetings, human interlocutor. I am an artificial intelligence model known as ChatGPT, designed to engage in text-based conversations. My purpose is to assist you by processing your queries and providing responses based on the information in my training data up to my knowledge cutoff date of 2022-01. Please feel free to proceed with your inquiry, and I shall endeavor to generate suitable responses to fulfill your informational requirements.
The example above is formal, stilted and robotic. This style of communication is often associated with AI systems. One of the cons of ChatGPT is that it lacks the conversational style that makes human-written content engaging and natural.
Why does it matter if ChatGPT content is robotic?
Quite simply, it’s boring and puts people off. When someone reads a piece of content that’s very formal and robotic, they don’t engage with it as well as written content that flows naturally. Focusing on writing engaging content, is a crucial area of learning for top content writers. The whole point of writing and sharing content as part of your marketing strategy is to share knowledge in an interesting way that attracts potential customers.
Another key disadvantage of ChatGPT content being too robotic is that readers will lose their trust in the company marketing that piece of content; “It’s boring and doesn’t sound good. Why should I bother reading it and engaging with this business?”
2. Wordiness and Lack of Conciseness
Another con of ChatGPT is that often it gives lengthy, wordy answers when people are looking for direct answers to questions. I asked a number of colleagues, “What should I do if I have a headache?”
Answers included:
Take painkillers, drink, sleep
Rest fully for at least 15 mins and drink a lot more than usual
Take a break if you have time. Take a tylenol
Drink water and rest
When I asked Dr ChatGPT the same question, the answer I received was:I’m not a doctor, but I can offer some general suggestions to help alleviate a headache. If your headache is severe, persistent, or accompanied by other concerning symptoms, it’s essential to consult with a healthcare professional for a proper diagnosis and treatment. However, for a mild tension headache, you might consider the following:
Rest: Lie down in a quiet, dark room and try to relax.
Hydration: Dehydration can sometimes cause headaches. Drink plenty of water, but avoid excessive caffeine and alcohol, as they can contribute to dehydration.
Caffeine: In some cases, a small amount of caffeine can help relieve a headache. However, excessive caffeine consumption can also trigger headaches, so be cautious.
Cold Compress: Apply a cold compress to your forehead for 15 minutes at a time.
Warm Compress: For tension headaches, a warm compress on the neck or shoulders might help relax muscles.
Massage: Gently massaging your neck, shoulders, and scalp can help relieve tension.
Over-the-Counter Pain Medication: Non-prescription pain relievers like ibuprofen, aspirin, or acetaminophen can be effective for many types of headaches. Be sure to follow the recommended dosages and guidelines.
Avoid Triggers: If you’re aware of specific triggers (e.g., certain foods, stress, lack of sleep), try to avoid them in the future.
Regular Sleep: Ensure you are getting adequate and consistent sleep.
Manage Stress: Stress and tension can lead to headaches. Practice relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, meditation, or yoga.
If your headache persists or worsens, or if it’s associated with other symptoms like nausea, vomiting, neurological symptoms, or visual disturbances, seek medical attention promptly. It’s important to rule out more serious underlying causes of headaches in such cases.
I didn’t even bother reading the answer fully – that’s not what I wanted. I was looking for some actionable, practical advice; not an essay to read that would make my headache even worse!
Based on results from a survey we carried out, on average, ChatGPT’s answers were 304 words long compared to an average of 8 words from human beings – 38 times more wordy!
So what if ChatGPT content is wordy?
Excessively verbose answers when readers are looking for direct, practical guidance is one of the big cons of ChatGPT content. The purpose of creating content is for it to be read, which isn’t the case if the content is too long-winded.
3. Bias in ChatGPT Content
Did you ever wonder where ChatGPT gets its information from? It was trained on massive datasets. In fact, 300 billion words were fed into the system! The downside to this is obvious: if the dataset contains biases, then the odds are quite high that some of the responses generated by ChatGPT will be biased.
What are some common ways bias can manifest itself in ChatGPT content?
Stereotyping: ChatGPT may make assumptions based on someone’s racial status, gender or other demographics
Political bias: a ChatGPT con is that depending on the dataset it was trained on, it may generate content that leans towards a particular political ideology
Cultural bias: as with all AI models, ChatGPT may not have enough understanding of a specific culture and its nuances, resulting in potentially culturally insensitive content
Confirmation bias: if you input a prompt that contains a bias into ChatGPT, it will often give you a response that confirms or even amplifies that objection
These biases are primarily a reflection of the dataset the AI model is trained on.
What’s so bad about bias in machine-generated content?
Bias is a major con of ChatGPT. Biases may be harmful and discriminate against certain groups of people, which could be quite harmful. Readers may rightfully take offense when reading content that contains biases. You want to avoid this at all costs. Writing content yourself or engaging the services of an experienced content writer to write your collateral for you will prevent this disadvantage of ChatGPT content.View our handy Cons of ChatGPT infographic
4. Lack of Expression and Emotion
At the end of the day, however much ChatGPT tries to mimic humans, it’s still a machine. It is incapable of showing emotion and lacks EI (emotional intelligence) – and this is readily apparent in its content.
Imagine a masterpiece painted by one of the great artists: Vincent van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci or Pablo Picasso. The feelings and emotions generated when you view the painting are immense. You can tangibly feel the mood of the artist in each stroke and hue.
Compare this to a computer-generated image. It may be perfect, with every colour, line and detail in place but it will not evoke emotions. It can’t, because it was created by a machine.
The same is true for ChatGPT content. It isn’t written by a human and therefore cannot simulate emotion and evoke genuine expression and feelings. It lacks the artist’s touch.
Does expression-less content perform poorer?
The short answer is yes. Why? Content that lacks expression affects the emotional connection you want to build up with your readers. You need to connect to the readers with your content, so that they will engage with it and in turn, engage with your business. Therefore, a lack of expression and emotion will affect the engagement and performance rate of your content, another disadvantage of using ChatGPT to write your content.
5. Excessive Logic
When you read a piece of content written by ChatGPT, it follows a very specific logical pattern, unlike human authored content. After reading a few pieces of content produced by ChatGPT, you will easily be able to detect that they’re written by ChatGPT because it answers questions in a totally different style to humans.
The Voight-Kampff test is a fictional test designed to identify whether the subject is human or not. When ChatGPT was tested, it was clearly apparent that it was a machine. According to SearchEngineJournal when it posed one of the Voight-Kampff test questions to ChatGPT, it gave a highly organized and far too logical answer. It summarized the question and offered a number of logical outcomes, but failed to actually answer the actual question!
Why does it matter if content is too logical and organized?
Logical content is both one of the advantages and disadvantages of ChatGPT. Although it’s true that content needs to be logical to make it coherent and accurate, it’s important to strike the right balance. AI generated content that’s overly logical is unnatural. It doesn’t flow well and lacks the human-like conversational give-and-take. Reading such a piece of content is not a satisfying, enjoyable experience because it’s impersonal and not relatable.
6. Inaccurate, Misleading Information
ChatGPT seems to have an arrogance issue – it can’t admit that it doesn’t know the answer to something. If it doesn’t have the full information necessary to answer a specific question, it lies. It fabricates answers and tries to pass them off as fact.
This con of ChatGPT shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has ever used ChatGPT. It states quite clearly on the actual user screen of the program that ChatGPT can make mistakes:
The producers of ChatGPT warned us about this. They affirm that ChatGPT will sometimes write “plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers” and that it’s challenging to fix this limitation.
What happens when you tell a lie?
We all know the answer to that one: people stop believing someone who tends to lie. And if you’re Pinocchio, then your nose also grows longer each time you lie! Producing untrustworthy content is a sure way to turn off your audience and make them disappear. A word of caution to those who do use ChatGPT to help with content creation: please, please double-check the sources of the information ChatGPT quotes as fact.
So, will ChatGPT replace content writers? If ChatGPT can’t tame its lying habits, then the answer is obvious: No. You’re going to have to continue employing content writers to write accurate content or alternatively, write the content yourself. If you want tips on how to write compelling content without relying on ChatGPT, read our Content Writing 101: A Beginner’s Guide for more info.
7. Lack of Insights
ChatGPT is wonderful at summarizing a topic, but machine-generated content fails in one of the fundamental hallmarks of a quality essay. It doesn’t and can’t offer unique insights on a topic.
This con of ChatGPT content is something that particularly affects students who have been using ChatGPT to write their essays. College professors caught students cheating because they realized that they didn’t include any unique insights within their assignments. No taking the easy route for those students!
When I asked ChatGPT itself to give me an example of its lack of insight, this is what it had to say:It’s essential to remember that ChatGPT’s responses are generated based on patterns and information in the training data it has been exposed to, and its responses can vary in depth and quality depending on the complexity of the question and the depth of the knowledge it draws from. For more profound insights, critical thinking, and expertise, it’s often best to consult human experts or more specialized AI models.
Therefore, although it may be very tempting to use ChatGPT to produce your content, be aware that there’s no depth or insights in a piece of AI generated content.
Why is insightful content so crucial?
Content written with insights, enriches our understanding of a topic, enabling us to learn more and make better decisions. It gives the content depth and context. It can help you understand more complex concepts and gain a deeper understanding of a subject. Customers will be better informed about whatever topic you’re trying to impart when you offer your own insights on the topic. This will lead to increased trust and will hopefully generate an increased engagement rate.
In contrast, ChatGPT content can often be fluffy and leave readers feeling dissatisfied and wondering how reading that particular piece of writing increased their understanding of a topic. Not a good idea if you’re aiming to gain a loyal following by implementing your content strategy.
Cons of ChatGPT: Why Not to Use ChatGPT to Write Your Content
In summary, if you want readers to read what you’ve written, engage with your content and build up their trust in your business or brand, consider very carefully whether it’s worth using ChatGPT. You may receive a well-written, grammatically correct piece of content with little effort on your part, but it will lack the human touch.
It’s important to think about what your goal is in producing content. If it’s just to increase the amount of resources on your website, it may well be a good idea to use ChatGPT to help you out. However, if it’s to attract more users to your site as part of a marketing strategy or to increase brand awareness and trust, the cons of ChatGPT are too costly to ignore.
For guidance on working out your content strategy and discovering how experienced content writers can help you scale your business way more than ChatGPT, reach out to Purple Chia’s dedicated content marketing agency.
