Forbes.com has recently announced the use of “Narrative Science” robots to create business news stories for their website automatically. Using complex software algorithms the robots generate articles, reducing the need for human business journalists and making several writers redundant. The content is also sufficiently advanced to pass the ‘Turing Test’ – a trial used to tell whether communication has been generated by a human or a computer.
This leap forward is a fantastic cost-cutting measure for Forbes, allowing them to produce timely, efficient articles for their readers without retaining a large editorial staff. However, content produced by robots may make great reading for news stories, but how does it perform for sales and marketing copy?
Marketers will tell you that the surest way to make a sale is to create an emotional bond with customers. Think of how Apple appeal to people’s sense of desire when selling products and you will see it has little to do with facts and statistics and more to do with raw emotion. So it is possible that a robot which is devoid of emotion itself can produce copy that connects on a level other than the intellectual?
Although marketers can provide metrics, statistics and other data, artificial intelligence has yet to reach a point where it can process such information to accurately mimic emotional content. Journalists and writers have every reason to be concerned by the advances in “Narrative Science”, but it will be some time before copywriting becomes the preserve of machines too.
If you would like further advice or assistance in creating compelling copy created by a real live, emotional human being, why not contact us today?
