You should be utilising AI as much as you can (if you can) to keep your job, but it isn't going to be winning any awards on its own this year
In this episode of The Flow State Podcast, host Stuart P Turner sits down with Lee, marketing manager at Don't Panic Events, a B2B events company running around 30 award shows a year across search, SEO, PPC, agency culture and beyond. Their conversation cuts through the AI hype to look at what ChatGPT and similar tools actually mean for marketers, copywriters and the awards industry right now.
Key takeaways
- AI anxiety is real but largely misplaced. According to Lee, the bigger risk isn't AI taking your job, it's failing to use it: "If you're not using it in your job role, if you're not kind of utilising it as much as you can, that's when you should worry that your job's unsafe."
- Don't Panic deliberately held off introducing AI categories at its awards this year, judging that most tools and entrants simply aren't mature enough yet. They would rather wait for proper market testing than reward something rushed.
- Good copywriters have nothing to fear. In a blind test at Don't Panic, a non-writer data analyst was asked to pick the AI-generated article from the human-written one and immediately spotted the human copy as more natural and nuanced.
- AI is best used for genuine efficiency wins, not just churning out more content. Practical examples discussed include tools that summarise video transcripts, auto-generate project descriptions, and help brainstorm ideas (such as a designer using ChatGPT to understand unfamiliar marketing jargon).
- The team sees the biggest opportunity for 2024 in influencer and content creator marketing, and are watching for AI-related entries to mature ahead of a possible future awards category. They also flagged a growing appetite for awards recognition in the APAC region, with a "surprise" announcement in the works.
Notable quotes
"You should be utilising AI as much as you can, if you can, to keep your job."
"It's not going to be winning any awards on its own this year, I don't think they're ready or have refined their tools... instead of pushing it to go to market too quickly before people are even ready for it."
"If you are a good copywriter and you do take the time to do that research... a robot wouldn't be able to do that. It wouldn't know that it needs to do that."
"It's always about quality over quantity, isn't it? Like you realise that with everything in life."
Summary
Lee's take is refreshingly grounded: AI tools like ChatGPT are genuinely useful for saving time on research, brainstorming and repetitive admin, but they are no substitute for the judgement, nuance and audience understanding that skilled marketers and copywriters bring to their work. Don't Panic's own experience, from blind-testing AI copy against human copy to holding back AI award categories until the space matures, reflects a considered, rather than reactionary, approach to the technology.
The conversation also reinforces a broader theme for the industry: efficiency gained through AI is only valuable if it's paired with quality and strategic thinking. Rather than fearing disruption, Lee argues professionals should focus on working smarter, using AI to free up time for the higher value, human-led work that actually wins recognition and results.
Listen to the full episode above.