In this month’s episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy (recorded in a simpler time, while the world was still relatively normal), we’re talking about the technology that’s changing how we write – from the digital tools at your disposal, to the AI writing bots taking over the boring bits of your job.
David interviews Parry Malm, digital anarchist and CEO of Phrasee, a London-based software company that develops AI for marketing. He asks: “Can your AI really write better copy than I can?”
Turns out, it can. And surprisingly, that’s actually a very good thing.
You’ll learn how AI could make your writing more effective, why you won’t be able to spot AI copy – and that you don’t need to worry about technology stealing your job. (At least, not yet.)
And if you want to hear more from Parry, take a gander at his Twitter. It’s great lockdown fuel.
Can anything beat Fiona’s trusty notepad and pen?
Although some of us are steadfastly loyal to old-school writing methods, there’s a whole world of helpful digital tools that can improve your copy. Radix copywriter and content lead Katy Eddy joins David and Fiona to give us some top tips, including:
- Word macros – handy little Word add-ons that highlight your bad habits as you go (shoutout to Lorraine at Lighthouse Proofreading for introducing us to them; you’ll find more detail in her super-helpful blog post)
- Evernote – for keeping even the biggest projects organised (without thousands of scraps of paper)
- ABBYY – the mighty Rose Newell introduced us to this screenshot reader, which solves feedback-on-a-jpeg headaches
- Otter.ai – this time-synced transcription service isn’t all that accurate yet, but it’s really handy for diving back into long client calls
Just don’t talk to us about Grammarly. Suffice to say, we’re not convinced yet.
The Anonymous Five: Chief Technology Officer
Our secret guest this month is a Chief Technology Officer from a digital development company.
We asked them a bunch of stuff they couldn’t answer in public… so you can find out the real difference between a CTO and a CIO, what tech marketing made them cringe, and how their crappiest day would play out.
And *spoiler alert* when we asked: “What was the last piece of tech content that you actually paid any attention to?” they answered the Stack Overflow yearly developer survey. You’ll need to listen to find out why.
The end of an era
Sadly, this month’s podcast is the last to be co-hosted by our founder, Fiona Campbell-Howes. After seven years and 82 episodes, she’s hanging up the microphone and moving on to a new (and suitably chair-filled) chapter.
Thank you for everything, Fiona, and we’ll try not to stuff things up in your absence.
Want to skip to the highlights?
1:00 – Fiona talks about chairs
4:10 – The tools that can make your writing better
17:00 – Rise of the AI writing bots: David interviews Parry Malm
30:00 – Is Grammarly ever helpful? The team weigh in
33:50 – The Anonymous Five: Chief Technology Officer
38:28 – Fiona’s greatest hits, and final adieu
Send us your thoughts, feedback, and crazy lockdown stories
Contact us through @radixcom on Twitter or podcast@radix-communications.com (send us a voice memo from your bunker).
How to listen
- Indoors, please
- You can download the episode here (right click and select “Save As” to download)
- Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes
- Alternatively, add our RSS to your preferred podcast player
- And don’t forget you can follow us on Spotify
Credits
Big thanks to Parry Malm for sharing his AI expertise (and reassurances) with us. You can learn more about Phrasee here.
Podcast editing and music by Bang and Smash.
Please stay safe and well. We’d really like to see you back here next month.
