I need your opinion.
I recently had an interesting, almost humorous, experience with AI (artificial intelligence) earlier this month. It was intriguing, but I had some questions on the ethics of it. That’s where I need your opinion. Here’s what happened:
I have a client who is great at his craft and what he does for a living. He’s done some work at our home and his work is pretty amazing. I’m actually doing some trade work for him and I am in the process of creating a new website for him. It’s coming along great – except for one aspect: getting the copy (text) for his site. You see, while he’s great at the work that he does, he doesn’t know how to describe it, himself, or his business.
I have an amazing questionnaire that I have new clients fill out. It guides them and walks them through a thorough list of questions. I then use their responses to help create the content for the website. But for this client, he didn’t know what to write. He was at a loss for words. He simply said, “I know how to build things. I just don’t know how to put it all into words.”
From his logo, I know that there are three (3) pillars to his company: Integrity, honesty, and craftsmanship. Let’s start with the first pillar: Integrity. I asked my client why he chose integrity, and how did it apply to his business? He had no idea how to answer the question.
Enter Chat-GPT.
I decided to use AI and see what answers I could come up with. I typed in the following request:
“write a short paragraph first person about construction work and integrity” That’s it. The response was unbelievable:
“As a construction worker, integrity is at the forefront of everything I do. From pouring concrete to laying bricks, every step of the construction process requires a solid foundation of trust and honesty. I take pride in my work and strive to ensure that every project is executed with the highest level of integrity. When clients trust us to build their dream home or office, they expect nothing but the best, and it’s our responsibility to deliver that with integrity each and every time. As a construction worker, I know that our reputation is only as good as our last project, which is why integrity is non-negotiable.”
I was surprised at the answer. I had to share it with my wife. Here’s how that conversation went:
- Me: “I have the perfect paragraph about integrity for (client name’s) website! Do you want to hear it?”
- Wife: “Sure.” (She’s great at humoring me)
- Me: I read her the statement above
- Wife: “WOW! That’s absolutely perfect. He (client) did a GREAT job at coming up with that. That’s awesome.”
- Me: “Well, here’s the thing … he didn’t … that was from Chat-GPT.”
- Wife: Her smile gone, enthusiasm vanished … “Oh.”
In her opinion, it was no longer real or authentic. She has a good moral compass.
So what do you think? How would you proceed?
Here’s what I did. I told my client about the situation. He actually thought it was pretty cool to be honest. He said in his own words, “I couldn’t have written that better myself. That’s exactly how I feel.”
So I made a few tweaks to make it sound a little more natural and got my client’s approval. Now it’s on his website. In fact, I’ve used AI in several more instances throughout his website, all with his approval.
Did I make the right choice? Is that a good compromise of taking advantage of a great resource like Chat-GPT but having the client approve it after making some personal tweaks?
