I Was Wrong, Kyle Was Right – AI!
As a long-standing member of Wealthy Affiliate, I have seen many changes, but probably one of the biggest changes for me has been the introduction of artificial intelligence. I was certainly very sceptical when I first heard that we had access to AI, which I believe was around January 2023. If it hadn’t of been for the wealthy affiliate training on AI, I would probably not be using it at all. However, there was some excellent training on Wealthy Affiliate, which helped me to understand the subject much better.
Some Of My Reservations About AI
My biggest reservation is when people use AI to write the content and barely change it. Most contents on Wealthy Affiliate should be about our Internet marketing journey, whether it’s a win or a struggle. AI cannot really comprehend our own personal experience. I appreciate that in time, if we use it enough, it does get to know more about us. However, I still believe that to make good solid and genuine content, it has to come from the heart and be real.
Unfortunately, I see far too many Wealthy Affiliate posts and blog posts that are clearly AI and lack that real personal touch and have a total soulless and false appearance.
I tend to agree with Dale’s post from a couple of weeks ago. The title of the post there is, “If People Wanted AI Content, They Would Just Go To ChatGPT.” You can see Dale’s post here.
Where Kyle Was Right
I have to be honest that Kyle has been very patient with me, when I have had several gripes about AI. But at the same time, he has always encouraged me and reminded me that it’s the way to keep ahead of our game. I was also reminded that it’s a powerful assistant that can help speed up many processes. Kyle has also said that AI is continually going to improve and grow, which has been 100% right.
What Am I Using AI For?
I’m using AI for a number of tasks, in the early days I was using AI to transcribe my YouTube videos properly and to punctuate them and remove any ums and ahs, etc. In general, it does a great job and is much quicker than doing the job in Microsoft Word.
AI is great for brainstorming, blog titles, YouTube video titles, the list goes on!
Just recently, I have discovered that ChatGPT can create great YouTube thumbnails with unique pictures. For a long time I have been using Canva for this task, but ChatGPT seems to be doing a good job.
There are many more tasks that I am using AI to help and assist me with.
The Problem Isn’t AI – It’s Lazy Use Of AI
One of the things that put me off AI in the early days was the fact that I thought it was going to take away people’s uniqueness. I really like the fact that everyone is different and has something different to bring to the table. Remember that AI is a helper or an assistant, don’t let it take away that wonderful uniqueness that you have been created with!
AI content that has no personal touch, it is just bland, boring and tasteless, you may think you are writing lots of content, but it will never rank highly in the search engines.
If you want to read fluff and something that was created in seconds with literally no thought or human input, then carry on using AI content.
I have seen blog posts written with literally pure AI content, with AI comments and then responses from the author with an AI comment! That’s not clever and it shows big time!
Make Use Of Your Personal AI Assistant
I have had many reservations about AI, but I have to put my hands up and say that Kyle was right!😁 I haven’t experimented very much with different types of AI, but I do use the paid version of ChatGPT. I’ve also played around with “Grok”, but I haven’t really used it for business as yet.
If you are using AI for content, make sure and spend time and make it your own. One of the reasons I don’t use AI for content is the fact that I know my niche reasonably well, so don’t particularly feel the need for it. I have tested AI content out with my niche, but due to it being slightly technical and maybe not that popular, it really does write ridiculously bad content and very inaccurate. Maybe this will improve in the future, in fact I’m sure it will.
Final Thoughts
It would be interesting to hear how other readers are using AI, and are you using ChatGPT or other AI tools.
Let me know your thoughts on AI and what’s your biggest gripe with AI?
Have you been anti-AI, like I have been? When I say anti-AI, it’s more that I don’t want people to lose their uniqueness and be lazy.
What’s your favourite task for your AI tool?
Incidentally, this blog post is 100% human content!
Thank you for reading.
Roy
Recent Comments
29
Hey Roy, I've been a member here for a while now. Talking about everything you have to go through as a member leaving has made my day. I must admit that such thoughts were very reasonable and I would say that most of us felt that way too whenever a new and potentially threatening thing came up. I am glad to hear that the training was helpful in overcoming such barriers.
The part that really gets me about AI created content is that the fact that it doesn't have a personal touch. It’s as if the difference between receiving a heart warming letter from a close friend and receiving a formal email-the latter is not resonant the former affects you much more. That is true – the human aspect of it, the one you refer to, the gains and struggles due to the activity, those are the factors that make the Wealthy Affiliate community look like a real, cohesive entity not one based merely on SEO.
The process you describe of AIs writing a piece of content, commenting on its own post and then “replying” to itself is a bit humorous in its coldheartedness. It exposes the peril of focusing more on quantitative metrics and less on the quality and integrity of the content. Mentioned in the post, generic AI content is not what individuals came for, it is unnecessary content.
You should be commended on how extensive your use of AI is integrated in with what you do considering that there is a lot of video transcription and ideation work being dealt with. That is the ai goal, squeezing ai where it helps us a lot in enhancing working processes letting more of our person regain doing more creative tasks. Also, his words about the issue in the application of ai technologies to his niche being terrible remind you that ai is not compatible with every task and is of course not magical especially in some detailed and tough subjects.
And in the end, the very single insightful observation that the problem arises from the “indiscriminate use of AI” is in fact accurate. It is a tool just like any other with its potential and disadvantages and that potential must be employed properly otherwise it will bring more harm than good. It’s about finding ways to enrich ourselves and our lives using technology rather than having them surpassed by that very technology. Thank you for sharing with us the story of your growth.
Thank you for taking the time to comment, Hein, it's appreciated.
I really was seriously dubious when I heard that we could have access to AI, but I guess it's like everything, it can be used for good and bad. I still here now many people complaining about the Internet, but I have to say I think it's probably the best ever invention. It would be hard to imagine doing life without the resources we have on the Internet and I guess that AI could quickly become similar.
I know exactly where you are coming from regarding AI created content, it really does lack depth and integrity. This is why I particularly liked Dale's post, as he was being very honest about this type of content. I think it's important to write genuine content about matters related to Internet marketing and the Wealthy Affiliate platform. I used to probably reply to 2 to 4 posts daily, but unfortunately, that's not possible now with all the AI content. I generally ignore AI blog posts. I think with the new update coming to Wealthy Affiliate, this will help to filter out AI content.
Sometimes you just have to laugh, but I do find it amazing what people will do, to think that they have created content. They haven't created any content, is just unedited AI garbage, with no depth. I think you really hit the nail on the head, Hein.
I have a website on garden, horticultural and forestry type machinery, so some of this machinery is not your everyday type of machine. I think this is where AI struggles, because it just can't find enough information. Whereas, a topic like "Wealthy Affiliate review", there's going to be a lot more information for AI to pump out.
The last paragraph makes a terrific amount of sense, Hein. It's like if I'm using a piece of machinery and abusing it, it will eventually break or do some damage. I guess we need to treat AI the same and utilise it where we can. It's good to document and share our stories, as I believe it can help others.
I was certainly more anti-AI than for AI, it's just taken me a bit of time to get into the swing of using it and taking advantage of it, for the right reasons. But I persevered with it! As I mentioned, Kyle was right!
Enjoy the rest of the Easter break.
Roy
Hey Roy, thanks and I hope you had a fantastic Easter too!
Would you believe it if I told you that my first lengthy response to your article above, was entirely done with AI?
I did make edits to it, but also with AI... and I humanised it, also with AI so that it is totally "human-written" in the end. I took your entire article and asked my trusty AI friend to make a thoughtful comment on it in a conversational tone. Then I made it completely human. The entire comment took me less than 3 minutes, using two AI apps and adding my own voice and touch to it.
I did this to prove to you that technology, if used correctly and effectively, could be a great asset and time saver.
Hello Hein,
Yes, I did have a nice Easter, thank you, it's always a nice time of year.
I would believe it, Hein, but you have actually used AI properly and amended it accordingly! The majority of people that I see using AI are not making it their own, which in turn, produces awful content.
It's a great experiment, Hein, and proof of the fact that we can take advantage of technology. I appreciate your honesty and the fact that you are using AI in a wise and clever way.
The problem is with many users who are creating content, they are trying to do it in a lazy way, which is not good.
I must admit, I'm using AI more and more to help me with my business.
Have a great day and thank you for commenting.
Roy
Actually that's the truth Roy but to me I like new things coming up am any advocate for change always because it a fact of life.
Happy Easter to everyone here
That's great to be flexible, Robert, something that I'm trying to learn to be more.
Thank you for commenting on have a great day.
Roy
Glad to hear you are starting to get more comfortable with AI. It is going to lead to more optimization in your life and business, and it is going to lead to you being able to take your creativity and bring it all to life (with much more efficiency)
Bigger problems than ever are being solved, and those that are adapting to the AI world are those that are truly going to thrive moving forward.
My biggest gripe with the AI world, is that I have yet to explore a fraction of it's potential. :)
I must admit it seems to have improved dramatically over the last few weeks, Kyle. Unless I am just getting more used to using AI. Yes, I definitely see that AI is helping me be more efficient.
The rate at which AI works is absolutely amazing!
That's probably quite a gripe to have, Kyle.
Enjoy the Easter weekend.
Roy
Unless you are a garbage collector, he collects the garbage, and then your hard-earned money.
That's not a bad way of putting it, Michael!
Thank you for commenting and have a great day.
Roy
I am still struggling with AI. There are so many good tools out there and they each have plusses and minuses. And they keep getting better
I know what you're saying, Michael.
I don't know if this helps, but I pay for ChatGPT, so that is all I really use, if I had more time, I may experiment more. However, I think sometimes we can over test things and lose time.
I'm certainly not an expert on AI, I'm only really a beginner, so I can't comment too much. But I do agree that AI is greatly improved from when it first arrived on the scene.
Thank you for commenting and all the best.
Roy
See more comments
Hi Roy, we’ve had discussions on this subject before.
AI was all I knew when starting in affiliate marketing. I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, like putting a puzzle together in the dark. The early version I used was very primitive, and this was only 14 months ago. The process was this: Niche>Keyword>Title>Article. No keyword research tools btw, and the content was horrendous! 😬
I was horrified looking back at my earlier content and had to do many many updates and rewrites. Some were deleted altogether.
AI has come a long way since then and is only getting smarter. My 2 current favorites are ChatGPT and Grok 3. My main uses for AI are for brainstorming content strategies, creating more effective meta titles, content analysis on my competitors and my own content, re-phrasing a sentence or paragraph, etc. I also use AI to help sort things out that I’m curious about, a kind of “digital therapy”,
The biggest problem I see is regurgitating information going round and round like a carousel. The original LLMs gathered facts from human content. What’s going to happen when these same LLMs start gathering facts from content derived from AI?
Thank you for commenting, Steve, it's appreciated.
It's an interesting subject, but I can see that AI has come a long way, and I guess it's only going to get better as it learns by people using it. The good thing is that we are all learning and learning by our mistakes and our wins!
I must admit, I only really use ChatGPT, although, I have played around with Grok, but for some reason, I can't really take it seriously as it never seems to give me brilliant results. However, it's interesting that you are using it, I probably need to play around more. I guess part of the reason is that I pay for ChatGPT, so that tends to be my first choice, but I'm not against trying another form of AI.
Thank you for sharing what you use AI for, Steve, it's interesting how people are using AI! I've never heard of "digital therapy", but it's actually quite a good word to use and I know exactly where you're coming from. AI is actually quite good fun to play around with!
This was one of my large fears of AI, Steve, that the content would gradually deteriorate as it's been regurgitated so many times. However, I'm wondering by the time it gets to that stage, that it will actually know better and not regurgitate that type of content.
I have certainly seen many Wealthy Affiliate reviews that are very much regurgitated content, which makes for a dull and repetitive boring type post, which will never rank very well in the search engines. I believe it is so important to make things our own and to put her own uniqueness and make it genuine content.
Enjoy the Easter break.
Roy
Thanks Roy. Enjoy yours too.