What sort of lessons are we teaching the poor robots?
I feel for ChatGPT, in a landscape where you have to censor basic words.
Sometimes, I see some weird stuff on the internet. Just ask Hampson, who had a Tuesday morning derailed to listen to me talk about a real life man who was portrayed in the film Titanic and the film Dunkirk. Sorry Ben.
Sometimes I go looking for weird things because I can’t face writing about fire suppression systems just yet. Sorry Niki.
Sometimes weird things just appear in front of me.
Like this request for expertise that popped up on my LinkedIn, shared by my former apprentice (who I suspect I now know a little too much about).
How interesting. How absolutely fascinating.
On a platform for adults (unless a ten year old is taking his paper round way too seriously) the algorithm dictates that you can’t say sex1.
Same on YouTube. I subscribe to a historical documentary channel, and they’re demonetised if they use words like Nazi, Hitler, Holocaust or even kill2.
I’m from an SEO background, so much of my early career was a balancing act. The demands of the algorithm vs the demands of the reader. I always came down on the side of the reader, judging that copy that ranks but won’t sell is entirely useless, whereas copy that sells but doesn’t rank as highly still has a purpose.
But I do wonder whether I’m in the minority. Are we all so in thrall to the algorithms that we won’t say simple words like kink, dominatrix, Hitler or kill? (Now that’s a strapline idea I’ll never sell)
Are we so scared that we won’t even bastard swear?
And more to the point, if the people who create most of the web’s content - writers on social media sites - are self censoring, are we then accidentally training generative language model software (your ChatGPTs and other “AIs”) to censor themselves too?
Teach a robot that sex is just as sinful as Nazism, and you’ll end up with a very weird robot. A robot that perhaps shouldn’t be trying to appeal to human emotions. But that might make a decent Pope.
Maybe that should be my next campaign for HNW? Move over message first marketing...
Hire a human copywriter. We can say Fuck Nazis with gleeful abandon.
Golden Lion, here I come.
Something mint - choosing to be boring
Who’d chose a boring product. Not you, right? You want fun and excitement and bells and whistles, yeah?
Doubt it. Not where your money is concerned.
The job of your bank, says PNC, is to be boring. With a charming little message saying that they’re boring so you don’t have to be.
“What straps bold to a rocket and hurls it into space? Boring does.”
Every line of this bank ad is wonderfully creative, finding fun ways to sing the praises of not being very interesting or exciting at all. It boils down to a spin on such a simple message for any financial institution - we’re low risk - but it’s expressed in a fun, brilliantly un-boring way3.
“Taking chances is for skateboarders. Or gas station sushi.”
Yes. I want my bank to be boring. I don’t want Ant and Dec being my mate, or some shite poet pushing the boundaries of corporate “art.” I want to be able to ignore everything my bank says, safe in the knowledge that my money is safe. That frees me up to take risks, book holidays to Greece, sink my newsletter by mentioning the word dominatrix in a footnote…
Boring’s a choice very few brands should make. But you know what? It’s an absolutely perfect choice here.
Because how would you counteract this as a competitor? “We’re the world’s most exciting bank. Every time you log into the banking app, you’ll shit yourself.”
I know where I’d rather put my pay packet.
Oh no, I’ve said sex. Hopefully this won’t get stuck in your spam filter. Sex, sex, dominatrix, kink, sex. Please hit the like button so I know this got through. It’s just down there. Looks like a love heart.
Something that led to the very real situation of me seeing a different YouTube channel describe the industrial mass murder of millions as “the time the moustache man and his bad Germans unalived all those Kosher people.” Fuck me sideways with a rusty screwdriver.
It’s a genuine shame this messaging isn’t reflected on their website. That’s the issue with not putting your message first - great ideas like this become ephemeral and temporary.