As marketers start prepping for the all-important second half of the year, some are turning to generative AI products like ChatGPT and Google Bard for solutions. But the FTC has its suspicions that the training programs for Open AI’s Large Language Models might involve security breaches and deceptive practices.

Marketers, being ever practical, just want to know if generative AI is a smart content creation tool.

With AI algorithms’ potential for misinformation, loose morals regarding plagiarism and inclusivity, and tendencies to hallucinate chimera like nonexistent audience demographics (yes, really), the best answer now is: it depends.

If you need to rapidly create a massive amount of content at scale and aren’t working in an ethically-rigorous field with lots of oversight (like healthcare or cybersecurity), give AI a spin. But don’t forget to edit. A lot.

Remember: AI is an excellent collaborator when it comes to ideation and planning. Stuck staring at that intimidating blank page? Ask the Bard to spit out a few email subject lines—then iterate and refine. Ask thoughtful questions, too. Generative AI is like a feedback loop: the quality of the prompt delimits the quality of the output.

It’s sort of like having a bright-eyed intern hanging around the creative department: handy, eager to please, lots of perfectly decent ideas… but maybe don’t invite them to client meetings—yet.