Heyaa
Did I ever tell you about my early writing stints? Before I was a freelancer?
Well, it started with writing about my experiences. Kind of a blogger, but with short pieces. Every service I used, every product I consumed, and every place I visited went up online.
Influencers weren’t the hype in those days.
In today’s terms… I was one. My writeups usually received 2-3K views. For popular products and services, those touched even 30K. Those were my days on Mouthshut.
I wrote them for the points the platform provided. The more, the merrier. We could do nothing with the points, though. But one day, things changed.
One fine, lack-lustre evening, the platform introduced cash rewards for each approved review.
Too many people started signing up, and the quality of published content fell. Yes, it happened back then, too. Cringe content.
But it brought something better for me.
As most of my reviews were approved (and liked), I realised I could earn money from writing. Like, regular money.
That’s when I forayed into freelance opportunities.
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OK, back to my story…
I found Upwork provided good opportunities for freelancers. It was back in 2017. Six years ago, it definitely was the best.
And as luck would have it, I got my first assignment within a week.
I was to write short descriptions of Amazon products as if a user. That time, it took me a whole day of thinking just to write one. Today I do it in ten minutes on the fly.
After a month of writing for the client, I was asked to create an Amazon and eBay account. The new task was to post what I wrote… as a review. That’s when the naive me knew I was writing made-up reviews.
It was my first introduction to the world of fake reviews. I was getting paid, so I continued… for a few weeks until I didn't feel like doing it. I was getting actual blog writing projects, so I quit.
I haven’t forgotten it yet. I can no longer rely on reviews unless I read a mix of them.
And with ChatGPT, I feel it will soon spiral out of hand (it probably already has). What took an effort to make it look real might be a matter of seconds.
You know, I got my first glimpse of it last week when I put out a request on Help a B2B Writer request. I use it for my projects occasionally. It helps me find real-life insights to put into my articles. Not anymore.
Even those SMEs (Subject Matter “Experts”) are using ChatGPT now… to generate false insights and stories. I got responses from heads of marketing agencies sending “insights” which only production-line managers could have shared.
And those weren’t even insights. The emails were just generic content on the topic I needed help with.
Most responses were flat AI-generated and copied for my use. I could tell because ChatGPT generates content in that style.
I even recreated those responses with ChatGPT; not exactly, of course, but distinctly similar.
From fake reviews to false stories, we have come a long way.
Going a bit overboard is fine. I’m all game for drama. But cooking up something that puts a life, my life, on the line isn’t welcome. OK, not life… but my credibility for sure.
It makes me wonder what other issues are lurking in the online world. I wonder what else is squirming in the bag. How far will this fakeness go? Do you have any inklings?
Leaving you with that today.
Bidding adieu.
Live long and prosper.
See you next week, with another story.
Getting usable SME insights was not easy in the first place. ChatGPT seems to rung the death knell for these sites.