The Jevons Paradox and GenAI

A Commentary on the Downfalls of Increased Productivity

I’m a data scientist. One might assume that means I am 100% in favor of all things related to generative AI. It’s a reasonable assumption since I write the code to support and implement these technologies for my day job.

But I’ve been thinking a lot about how this affects my freelance marketing work. I’d like to discuss that today. Consider this my open commentary on generative AI and how it relates to the Jevons Paradox, which I’ll explain later.

GenAI Today

First, let’s focus on the current state of AI as it relates to marketing. With the rise of OpenAI and ChatGPT, content marketers, in particular, have nearly unlimited resources to use in their work.

LLMs serve as a way to generate ideas and produce content at scale, especially in copywriting. Even though I believe we should use data and technology to improve our work, I can’t help but question where we draw the line between improving efficiency and creating more work.

Enter the Jevons Paradox. 

Typically people will talk about the Jevons Paradox as it relates to economics and and the clean energy revolution. In a nutshell, William Stanley Jevons argued that as we increase the efficiency of technology, we actually increase the usage of resources we are trying to sustain due to reductions in cost and increased access.

For example, fuel-efficient cars have increased over the years, but at the same time, fuel consumption has increased because people are driving more because gas is cheaper.

What does this have to do with GenAI?

As open-source large language models (LLMs) and other generative AI models become easily accessible, we rely on the technology for more tasks. Whether this is using ChatGPT to craft articles, Gemini for coding help, or Llama2 for building quick customer service chatbots - the opportunities for GenAI are seemingly endless.

An immediate reaction is relief because we can offload tedious tasks and prevent burnout in the workplace. However, there comes a point when relying too heavily upon these tools creates more work, not less.

Consider marketing and copywriting. Content marketers are leaning on GenAI to generate content at scale. Let’s say a writer could finish three articles per day without GenAI, but by leveraging this technology, they can write thirty. Now, the new expectation is that every writer should be able to complete thirty articles in a day, but is that realistic? Is more always better?

GenAI works…until it doesn’t. 

There comes a point when the content is oversaturated. There comes a time when your content marketers get more stressed and spend more time fine-tuning the GenAI tools than doing their regular work. What’s the result? Burnout—exactly what we hoped to avoid by leveraging the technology. But now, instead of being stressed about work they enjoy, you have creatives under a lot of pressure to rely on technology, which isn’t exactly in their wheelhouse. 

What does a creative love to do?

Create.

I consider myself both a creative and an analyst. I value technology, data, and even GenAI, but I also can’t imagine letting these tools completely replace my creativity. I argue that leaning on GenAI for everything will result in losing more than we’re gaining. 

We’re gaining productivity. But we’re losing:

Individuality.

Passion.

Personal satisfaction.

Pride in our own work.

The list goes on. This isn’t to say that GenAI is all bad because it’s not. As I said earlier, it works until it doesn’t. What I mean by that it is effective for certain tasks but not all tasks. It is useful in moderation, just like anything else in life.

What should we do with GenAI in marketing?

In the end, GenAI is a valuable tool, but it has limitations. 

We should use technology to enhance our work and build on our ideas. Sure, leverage a chatbot for your website to help with customer service. Spin a few articles if you’re short on time and need extra content.

But we shouldn’t force creative thinkers to rely 100% on AI to do their jobs. Strike a balance between passion and efficiency. Don’t let the Jevons Paradox stop us from using GenAI, but let’s take precautions to ensure it doesn’t backfire.