Chinese Company Ditches Human Creatives For ChatGPT-Style AI

In news no creative wants to hear, a Chinese media and public relations giant has ditched human copywriters and graphic designers in favor of artificial intelligence.

In an internal staff memo, seen and reported(Opens in a new window) by Bloomberg News, the company, Bluefocus Intelligent Communications Group Co., said it will use ChatGPT-like generative AI models instead of using external copywriters and creatives. 

The memo read: “To embrace the new wave of AI generated content, starting today we’ve decided to halt all spending on third-party copywriters and designers.”

On Thursday, when the news broke, shares in Bluefocus, climbed 19% before falling more than 6% Friday. The Chinese media company says(Opens in a new window) it serves clients like Samsung, Canon, and BMW.

According to Bloomberg, the $3 billion company, has reached out to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc. in a bid to license their AI technology. 

Bluefocus did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment.

A Goldman Sachs commissioned report(Opens in a new window) recently revealed that up to a quarter of work tasks in the US and Europe could be replaced by AI, and two-thirds of jobs could be at least partially automated. In more positive news, the report also claims that 63% of the US workforce could continue in their positions, and have a lighter workload as 25% to 50% of their work would be automated. 

In an upbeat take on the report’s findings, Kash Rangan, senior U.S. software analyst in Goldman Sachs Research said:  “Generative AI can streamline business workflows, automate routine tasks and give rise to a new generation of business applications.”

Meanwhile, demonstrating both the rapid development of generative AI and the concern that media executives have towards it, Universal Music Group (UMG) is on a mission to block artificial intelligence from taking lyrics and melodies from their copyrighted songs. UMG reportedly sent emails to Spotify and Apple asking that they take action to stop AI bots and developers from using its songs to mimic popular tracks and artists.