With all the hype around ChatGPT and Google's recent launch of Bard really bringing conversations about Artificial Intelligence to the forefront, I know many will be intrugued by how it can help your wedding business. You may have seen marketing gurus on your LinkedIn showcasing how amazing (and in some cases, how awful) AI tools such as ChatGPT can be.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming numerous industries with the weddings and events sector being no exception to the rule. From helping businesses to automate their sales process to supporting couples with the difficult planning decisions, AI has made things much more convenient for wedding couples and businesses alike.
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a form of machine learning that simulates human intelligence. Is it new? No! AI has been around for years now. Has it come on in leaps and bounds? In recent years, we have experienced more and more examples of AI being used in our everyday lives.
An example of AI in our daily lives is the TikTok Algorithm, learning about what we like to view and what we engage with to show us more of that content. Or when you connect smart devices in your home and suddenly Alexa will announce when your washing machine is finished… that's a new one for me!
What is ChatGPT?
I asked this question to ChatGPT. Here's what it said:
“ChatGPT is a language model developed by OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence research organization. It is a variant of the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) family of language models, which are trained on large datasets of text to generate natural language responses to input prompts.
Specifically, ChatGPT is designed to be a conversational AI tool, which means it can engage in dialogue with users and provide them with information or assistance based on their inputs. The model has been pre-trained on a massive corpus of text from the internet, which enables it to generate fluent and contextually appropriate responses to a wide range of queries.”
The tool is designed to deliver information from all over the internet in a way that reflects human writing and conversation. Is it always accurate? No. Is it constantly learning and improving to be a better tool? Yes. Especially as you have the functionality to report whether a response was helpful or not.
Will AI tools like ChatGPT result in less reliance on humans working within the wedding sector?
While AI tools like ChatGPT are developing at a rapid pace, it is extremely unlikely that it will result in a computer or machine being able to perform your job as a wedding industry professional or that of your teams. Effectively connecting with your couples and future leads relies on human interaction as well as emotional investment and intelligence.
As wedding professionals, you will be emotionally invested in your clients and the once-in-a-lifetime moment that you are helping to deliver. A machine would never be able to truly replicate that emotion and won't be as good at your job as you are! Nor will it know as much as you about your specialism.
ChatGPT takes information from the internet in bulk and presents it to you in a way that sounds like a person. This does mean that some of the information it gives you may be inaccurate, biased, or even offensive, based on what it has access to. For example, it may take information from a high-ranking fake news article and therefore we highly recommend you fact check any results before using them.
While there are still some weaknesses to the tool, it doesn't stop the fact that another wedding professional using it effectively may be able to come on leaps and bounds within their sales, marketing and customer service efforts and effectiveness. The team at OpenAI are regularly developing and improving the software, meaning that it will only get better and more accurate. This is shown by the recent release of GPT-4.
So, how can you as a wedding professional unlock the power and potential of artificial intelligence within your business?
How to use ChatGPT and similar tools in your wedding business
There are a number of ways you can use ChatGPT and similar tools to your advantage within your business, but I would never rely on them totally! These solutions only know what is available on the internet. ChatGPT may struggle to understand the difference between fact and opinion, it may also struggle to generate content related to more complex topics, many of which require deeper analysis by a human with emotional intelligence or is a topic that the model hasn't been trained on or wouldn't have access to information for (i.e. the specific operations of your business).
It is important to remember that the tools do not have emotional intelligence and therefore cannot replicate how a human can truly think and feel - but it can be used in creative ways to enhance your marketing and sales efforts.
Here are some ideas for how you can use AI in your wedding business:
Customer Service - AI chatbots like ChatGPT can help you to automate a customer service process. You can train these tools to help your customers while you are away from your desk.
Idea Generation - Tools like ChatGPT and Bard can help you get over “blank-page syndrome” by brainstorming ideas for blogs and helping plan articles. Here is what happened when I asked the system for some creative ideas for a blog about wedding venues.
Basic Research - As long as you ask the right questions, ChatGPT can help you research a topic. For example, you could ask: “Can you explain what ChatGPT does in simple terms?” and it will give you a clear and simple explanation.
Perhaps you need to convert a HEX code into RGB colour code for your team. ChatGPT can assist with these simple research tasks.
Improving copy - Whether it's a particular paragraph in a blog that you just can't get right or you're struggling to nail the CTA of a social post caption, ChatGPT is the perfect tool to turn to. You can insert the copy you have already written and ask the tool to improve it. My biggest tip is to tell it what you want it to do with the content, i.e. “make this caption more concise” or “make this email more formal”.
Here is an example of how the tool can help improve what you or your teams have already written…
Blog / Caption Writing and Planning - ChatGPT can write you an entire blog post or social media caption which is a great support for things that require a quick turnaround or when you aren't feeling too creative. If you do ask ChatGPT for support in writing any content that represents you or your business, I would use what it delivers as more of a starting point. This is because the information is not always accurate and simply copying and pasting content written by the bot could result in a number of issues, such as factual inaccuracies or even plagiarism.
University tool, TurnItIn, can now detect AI generated content in essays submitted by students. So, I would imagine that Google and other search engines are already doing it (or aren't far behind in developing this kind of tool) too! Use the tool to give you a strong starting point that you can edit thoroughly, fact check and improve to sound more like your brand's tone of voice.
Should I be using ChatGPT in my wedding business?
Overall, ChatGPT and similar entities are exciting new tools that are there to be used to your advantage. And, as most of it's features are (currently) free, I see no harm in giving it a try and having some fun with what it can do. You never know, you may unlock a way it can make a specific action more streamlined or effective!
While there are a number of ways you can use ChatGPT and similar tools to your advantage within your business, I would never rely on them totally! These solutions only know what is available on the internet. For this reason, ChatGPT may struggle to understand the difference between fact and opinion. Additionally, it may also struggle to generate content related to more complex topics, many of which require deeper analysis by a human with emotional intelligence or where it does not have access to the information you need (i.e. the specific operations of a business).
It is important to remember that the tools do not have emotional intelligence and therefore cannot replicate how a human can truly think and feel - but it can be used in creative ways to enhance your marketing and sales efforts.
A poem by ChatGPT...
When Alison and I were travelling to The Wedding Conference last week, we had a play with ChatGPT in the car. I asked the tool to write me a poem about the best places to advertise your wedding venue. Here's what it came up with:
Of course, we know ChatGPT was probably learning from our other searches and maybe even listening into our conversation, but nevertheless, it was lovely to be named as the place to advertise a wedding venue!