Artificial intelligence continues to change many of the technologies around us, as well as some areas that, only a few years ago, were considered ‘people only’. This includes writing. Who could foresee that the WordCheck program of 1980 for the Commodore VIC-20 computer would evolve into AI writing software which would compose entire articles?  

For marketers, the moral of the story is clear – AI is here to stay, so get on board as AI-powered writing assistants become increasingly capable.

The Traditional Landscape of AI Writer Software

AI creative writing assistants have their origin in the spell checkers used by PC owners in the early 1980s. They soon became part of word processing packages like WordPerfect, and were then an integrated feature of entire platforms, beginning with Apple’s Mac OS.

At approximately the same time, artificial intelligence broke new literary ground with the publication of The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed, the first book written by a computer program. However, it took until 2007 for AI to be applied to online writing as StatSheet created content related to sports statistics. Then, in 2009, the Grammarly writing assistant entered the scene.

The New World of AI Writing Assistants

Since that time, AI platforms have developed the capacity for imitating how people actually write. By filling in a few parameters, such as URL, product type, or keywords, marketers can use AI writing assistants to build practically any sort of copy. This includes ad spots, CTAs, social media posts, landing and product pages, email texts, and complete blogs.

Moreover, AI writers will create text according to the rules of the channel. For instance, Instagram captions use different formats and character restrictions compared to Google Ads. An AI writer will therefore build different copy versions for each according to these limits.  

But just writing is not enough. Different types of people like to read certain types of copy. A busy executive prefers bullet points, whereas a casual shopper will be attracted to a story format.

It is also true that successful copywriting is not a random event. Over the decades, numerous approaches have been developed to create writing styles that are more appealing to certain audiences. A classic form of this method is copywriting formulas, like PAS and AIDA, which build a piece of copy according to certain psychological principles that maximize the chance of conversion.

The leading AI writers enable the marketer to employ all of these concepts by merely clicking on a button. With the same basic settings, AI writing platforms will generate multiple forms of copy within minutes.   

The Missing Ingredient

Despite their highly productive capabilities, virtually every AI writing assistant on the market today is missing something essential. The greatest copywriters of all time somehow knew what type of messaging would be most attractive for consumers of a certain product. With most AI copy generators, this knowledge is only gained after exhaustive testing of many message variants. But busy marketers don’t have the time to test, rewrite, and retest.

That’s why Anyword has developed a proprietary technology for assessing the conversion potential of copy before the audience sees it. The Predictive Performance Score assigns a numerical grade to each piece of text created by the Anyword platform. By posting the version with the highest score, marketers will maximize the chance of conversion. Even better, Anyword can automate this process with its Continuous Optimization feature.  

What Will the Future Bring?

Over the next few years, we can expect the best AI writing assistants to become even better at their job.

As processing abilities improve, AI will be able to use more data sets on which to base their creations and use that facility to understand emotion. This will allow AI generated marketing texts to evoke feelings in the consumer, a vital step for enabling branding and purchasing.

Similarly, AI is becoming more capable at understanding the nuances of text. For instance, Anyword can now generate copy that appeals to females, or children, or people who prefer bullet points. In the future, AI writing assistants will be able to mimic the exact style of a certain writer. But of course, David Ogilvy's copywriting brilliance lives on!

AI is also having an impact on SEO marketing. The decline in organic search results  reflects the fact that search engines are being modified to present more paid results. To counter this, AI rapidly composes copy which integrates back links that leads to the marketer’s main site. These links are essential because they are a main component in search engine rankings. Whereas the use of human copywriters for this task is labor-intensive, AI writing assistants can produce a constant flow of link-loaded content, 24 hours a day.

But what happens when the algorithm changes (as it frequently does)? Considering what is at stake, it is likely that AI writing assistants will rapidly adapt to whatever occurs. Platform users will therefore be able to continue producing content without much disruption. This is as opposed to a human writing staff, which would need to integrate the new rules into their content production.   

Lastly, the capabilities of AI writers should expand enormously. At present, for instance, Anyword uses the most current language model, which is the GPT 3. The next version, GPT 4, is due for implementation in a few years, and it will be revolutionary. To get an idea of this change – GPT 3 uses 175 billion parameters, whereas GPT 4 will use 500 times that number.

Time to Get Onboard

Back in the 1980s, a VIC-20 computer cost about $900 (in 2021 terms), people programmed it by hand (that’s right, no operating system). Not that many people bought it. But nowadays, most homes have multiple computing devices. They have become indispensable.

The same will be true of AI writers. Companies which have already realized their abilities will create a market where not having this technology will be a definite competitive disadvantage. They will also be the first to enjoy new feature rollouts. Be part of the next generation of savvy marketers with Anyword’s AI-powered writing platform. Get started now with our 7-day free trial.