A.I.? Oy, Vey!

There was a time when I had real sympathy for you, dear reader. I’d hear stories of how marketers and suppliers grappled with the enormous changes taking place in the global household and personal products industry, and think to myself, “It never stops. How do they keep up with it? How do they sleep at night?”

That was pre-1994. Then the worldwide web came into worldwide use and media began changing at a similarly rapid place. Now, I’m the one tossing and turning at 2am. Most recently, I’ve been losing sleep over the artificial intelligence program, ChatGPT. As you’ve probably heard, ChatGPT promises to revolutionize the writing process, and like other forms of technology make some jobs—like mine—obsolete. Am I over-reacting? Not when I’ve heard murmurs in the corner office like, “maybe we won’t need associate editors anymore.”

Those discussions make me want to work in a circular building.

Anyway, I took ChatGPT for a test drive. Our cover story is on the sunscreen market, so I commanded: Write about sunscreen. Here’s ChatGPT’s opening paragraph:

“Sunscreens are products that help protect the skin from the harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun. UV radiation can cause sunburn, premature aging, and an increased risk of skin cancer. Sunscreens work by absorbing or reflecting UV radiation before it can damage the skin.”

Not bad, but not enough—not yet—for industry-specific publications like Happi. Like other AI programs, ChatGPT will get better over time. I’m a member of a media association. At last month’s meeting, several speakers agreed that AI could help with mundane tasks like search engine optimization or simple press release rewrites.

“But it’ll never replace editors!”

Hmmm. Technology evolves much faster than writer’s block dissolves. AI will shake up media just like it’s impacting every other aspect of our lives. But for now, rest assured that it’s really me behind this editorial. I’ll be behind the Happi stand at In-Cosmetics this month, too. Stop by stand A93 and we’ll have a real chat about the technologies that are shaking up the personal care industry.

Tom Branna
Editorial Director
tbranna@rodmanmedia.com