In Fintech, AI-Generated Content is King. But Every King Needs a Queen*. Or: How to Get Hired as an Editor in 2023
*Swap out “queen” for “king” or any gender nonconforming nobility of choice. You do you.
As Localisation Lead, when it comes to AI, I’ve often had the thankless job of playing the sober buddy in a parking lot full of amped-up, tailgating quarterbacks butt-slapping each other. (If you’re thinking this sounds like the beginning of a bad ’80s porno, you’re not wrong. But this isn’t that. Relax.)
While the idea of replacing their writers, editors, and localisation teams with AI-generated, consumer-facing content may be intoxicating to some stakeholders responsible for ensuring their companies live to see another Hawaiian-themed pizza party, the reality is this: bots work fast, culture works faster.
Cultural shifts — from the minute (hey, check out this new TikTok dance!) to the megalithic (think war, think laws, think economic systems) — happen in real time, all the time.
If, say, Sharon Stone is the upcoming global cover star for Vogue, but just unwittingly smack-talked China by name-dropping the Dalai Lama a few days prior, then you better ixnay on that anplay in China faster than you can say “whoopsie daisy!” if you don’t want to lose 1.4 billion readers overnight. (D’oh, I’m aware of the fact that not every man, woman, and child in China reads Vogue but I’m making a point here, bucko.)
Or, imagine you chippily suggest to your entire customer mailing list that they better hold on to their butts, and speed-buy ‘All white everything on sale!!!’ for their upcoming Memorial Day shindig or — oh, hell, I don’t know — Diddy’s White Party, without realising that you just reminded a good chunk of them that their favourite family pet just kicked it… chances are you just turbo-boosted to the top of their shit list so damn fast, you won’t even have time to publicly Blame ‘N Shame the intern.
Culture is unpredictable.
Culture moves stealthily.
Culture is in a constant state of metamorphosis.
Simply put, AI cannot (yet) accurately capture crucial cultural references, regardless of the target language. The training wheels simply haven’t come off yet. So, while ChatGPT and other tools can be hugely beneficial when it comes to both speed and scalability, if we want to speak to consumers in a way that makes them feel heard and understood, we will continue to need humans who are plugged into their respective cultural microcosms. They will be those rare unicorns magically turning conveyor-belt copy into something consumers will actually click on and spend time their valuable time, well, consuming. These unicorns are your secret weapons.
That’s money well spent, no matter how you slice it.
And for those of us mourning days of yesteryear, when writers were writers (tweed, barrel-aged whisky, and all), and ChatGPT was relegated to the dusty corners of the nerd herd: it’s not all doom and gloom. Flip the coin, and it’s actually joyous news for underpaid staff writers (and transcreators) everywhere who are tired of churning out clickbait after clickbait. Motivated, passionate workforce: boom! Less of your company’s money spent on (briefly) boosting motivation via pizza parties: boom!
For those wonderful writers amongst us (I see you, baby) who are wondering what they can do to future-proof themselves: The number one skill to hone in on now — in addition to continuing being a bomb writer, of course — as the world around us continues to shift in unprecedented ways, is to become a cultural hotshot.
Unlike the panic mongers would have you believe, it isn’t about shutting off our brains, and letting AI take the wheel. (Hello, Carrie Underwood earworm.) It’s about using it to your advantage, and becoming indispensable in the process.
Well damn, I’d hire you.
