'I'm being paid to fix issues caused by AI'

AI is making me extra money, says Sarah Skidd, a product marketing manager who writes for tech and start-up companies.

In May Ms Skidd was approached by a content agency to urgently rework website copy that had been produced via generative AI for a hospitality client.

What was supposed to save money had, instead, caused a host of problems.

"It was the kind of copy that you typically see in AI copy – just very basic; it wasn't interesting," says Ms Skidd.

"It was supposed to sell and intrigue but instead it was very vanilla."

Ms Skidd spent about 20 hours rewriting the copy, charging $100 (£74) an hour. Rather than making small changes, she "had to redo the whole thing".

Ms Skidd, who lives in Arizona, is not worried that businesses are switching to AI, like ChatGPT, rather than using copywriters like herself.

"Maybe I'm being naive, but I think if you are very good, you won't have trouble."

For now, she's hearing of writers whose main role now is to fix copy churned-out by AI.

"Someone connected with me and said that was 90% of their work right now. So, it's not only me making money off such missteps, there's other writers out there."

Ms Skidd is certainly not anti-AI and believes it can be an excellent resource.

"My husband and son are dyslexic and writing for them is very difficult - anything to help somebody to write; it can be lifechanging."

In the last few years, generative AI has taken off and businesses are turning to systems like ChatGPT developed by OpenAI, and Google Gemini to transform business practices, and cut time and money.

More than a third (35%) of small businesses plan to expand AI use within two years, rising to 60% among those aiming for rapid sales growth, according to research by the Federation of Small Businesses.

However, some businesses are rushing in, and as Ms Skidd shows, it can often create more work and costs than originally intended.

Certainly, that's the experience of Sophie Warner, co-owner of Create Designs, a digital marketing agency in Hampshire in the UK.

In the last six to eight months, she seen a surge in requests for help from clients who have turned to AI for a quick fix, but have run into problems.

"Before clients would message us if they were having issues with their site or wanted to introduce new functionality," says Ms Warner. "Now they are going to ChatGPT first."

Ms Warner says this has led to clients adding code to their website that has been suggested by ChatGPT. This, she says, has resulted in websites crashing and clients becoming vulnerable to hackers.

She points to one client who, instead of manually updating their event page, which she says would have taken 15 minutes, instead turned to ChatGPT for easier instructions.

The error ultimately "cost them about £360 and their business was down for three days".

Ms Warner says it also happens to larger clients too.

"We are spending more time educating clients on the consequences [of using AI].

"We often have to charge an investigation fee to find out what has gone wrong, as they don't want to admit it, and the process of correcting these mistakes takes much longer than if professionals had been consulted from the beginning."

Prof Feng Li, associate dean for research and innovation at Bayes Business School, says some businesses are too optimistic about what current AI tools can do.

He points out that AI is known to hallucinate - to generate content that is irrelevant, made-up, or inconsistent.

"Human oversight is essential," he says.

"We've seen companies generate low-quality website content or implement faulty code that breaks critical systems.

"Poor implementation can lead to reputational damage and unexpected costs – and even significant liabilities, often requiring rework by professionals."

In Gujarat in northwesten India, copywriter Kashish Barot says she has been editing content written by AI for US-based clients to make it appear more human and remove sentence patterns that make it sound like AI.

Despite the often-poor quality of the content, she says clients are becoming used to the speed of AI and that is creating unrealistic expectations.

"AI really makes everyone think it's a few minutes work," says Ms Barot, who says clients are using Open AI's ChatGPT.

"However good copyediting, like writing, takes time because you need to think and not curate like AI, which also doesn't understand nuance well because it's curating the data."

The hype around AI has prompted many companies to experiment without clear goals, adequate infrastructure, or a realistic understanding of what the technology can deliver, says Prof Li.

"For example, companies must assess whether they have the right data infrastructure, governance processes, and in-house capabilities to support AI use. Relying on off-the-shelf tools without understanding their limitations can lead to poor outcomes," he says.

OpenAI says that ChatGPT can help with a wide range of tasks, "but results vary depending on the model used, the user's experience working with AI, and how the prompt is written".

It also points out that there are several versions of ChatGPT.

"Each of our models has different capabilities for completing different tasks."

Is Warner worried about the impact of AI, if – as expected – it rapidly improves?

"Yes and no," she says. "While it seems like a quick and inexpensive option, AI rarely takes into account unique brand identity, target demographics, or conversion-focused design. As a result, much of the output looks generic and can actually damage the brand's reputation or effectiveness."

She adds: "While AI can be a helpful tool, it simply cannot replace the value of human expertise and context in our industry."