When my now 17-year-old son was in sixth grade, he started making prank-style videos on his phone and uploading them to YouTube. He learned on YouTube’s built-in editor how to shoot and edit video, add music and text, and upload for a global audience when he was 11. In contrast, I learned how to do this at my college internship at an advertising agency when I was 23. Today’s younger generations are using TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube to create top tier content that used to cost a fortune in equipment, production costs, and distribution. There are many editing apps that give creators endless options to help their content stand out from the crowd. The built-in editors are good for beginners, but creators have much more flexibility with an external editor (Breitman, 2024).

As a marketing copywriter, I have teamed up with countless graphic designers and art directors to bring my concepts to life. I provide the ideas and the words, and they provide the design based on their knowledge of design tools and apps. With new technologies that allow anyone to create professional-looking design, many graphic designers are taking to the internet to voice their frustration over the loss of what was once their domain. Tools like Canva make DIY graphic design easy. Whether using a template or starting from scratch, anyone can create anything from websites and landing pages to resumes and professional presentations.

I saved ChatGPT for last because it’s a thorn in my side and maybe there’s a part of me that still does not want to admit that, at some point, the role of the professional copywriter is going to be studied one day by students in a history class. They probably won’t really grasp how humans generated words from their brains without the help of a machine. I’m not anti-ChatGPT or the similar AI technologies that use keywords or phrases to create everything from web page content to letters of resignation. I have embraced their existence and have used the technology to generate thought starters or as a thesaurus. However, every day, every hour, every minute, these technologies are getting smarter and their output is increasingly accurate. That said, AI content does have its challenges, such as not having the ability to reason or lead with emotion. There is also research indicating that AI’s returns are often skewed and biased due to learning from limited resources (Pratim Ray, P., 2023). So, there’s still a long way to go until companies utilize AI exclusively to create copy and content that requires more than spitting out facts or basic information.