Generative AI is Making Content King Again

Michael Spenceley is Leader, Learning & Content Standards - Innovative Medicine at Johnson & Johnson and a CMS Critic Contributor. 

If you're a content professional, you've likely spent much of your career focused on how to govern the accuracy and quality of content. As Generative AI (Gen AI) has entered our collective corporate consciousness, our content is now under a microscope. If you have outdated or inaccurate content, Gen AI will bring it into focus for all to see. On one hand, this will lead to uncomfortable conversations for those who are responsible for the accuracy of content, but this also presents a significant opportunity for content professionals. 

Here's a conversation I’ve had a few times lately: 

Business Leader: “We have all this content, if we put it in a Gen AI tool, won’t that make it easier for people to get answers, reduce call center volume and create a better experience for our employees and customers?”

Technologist: "Yeah, we can do that. We can integrate your CMS or knowledgebase with our Gen AI platform."

Business Leader: “Michael, what do you think?”

Me: "Well, I think there are more questions we need to ask. Do we have quality content to feed into the Gen AI experience? Do we have the right level of governance to ensure accuracy? Do we have clear roles and responsibilities for those who own content feeding into Gen AI? Is the ROI sufficient to invest the time and money to do this right?”  

Business leaders are now recognizing the importance of good content to enable an effective Gen AI experience for employees and customers. Getting content governance right, especially in large organizations, takes lots of people, rigorous processes, clear roles and responsibilities and accountability. 

Here are three things all content professionals should focus on as Gen AI initiatives take center stage: 

1. Keep moving, even when it's not perfect

Be agile and be okay with imperfection. If you wait to use Gen AI until you've solved all your content governance problems, you will never start. Come up with an approach that works for your organization.  

I see it as a two-pronged approach. First, what steps do you take right now to keep Gen AI moving? At this stage, you don't know what will work so keep it simple. Second, while you're doing that, plan for the long-term. To scale your approach, what tech do you need, what integrations and what processes need to be in place? 

Here’s a real example of what I’ve tried in my organization:

When we need content for a new Gen AI use case, we follow this process:

• Identify – Identify relevant content that already exists. 
• Validate – Analyze content to ensure we have the most current version and it’s the correct level of detail.
• Remediate – Work with subject matter experts to update content that is out of date and create new content to fill any gaps.
• Extract – Technical team extracts content from our source system to ingest into Gen AI. 
• Monitor & Update – Leverage existing reporting and processes to determine when content needs to be updated in the Gen AI tool.

This is a largely manual process, but it works for now and as we refine it, we're planning for how best to scale it in the future and reduce manual effort through integrations and automation. 

2. Get the right people involved 

If you're a content professional or a SME who owns content, speak up and get involved in Gen AI initiatives. You know things that are important to this process that others may not know. 

If you're not a content professional and you're on the technical side of Gen AI, don't go it alone. While you can probably get your hands on some content to start, there is a chance that there's a lot you don't know about the content. When assessing content for accuracy and relevance, there can be many nuances, especially in large global organizations. 

Additionally, content teams already have processes in place to source and update content, and they have relationships with the subject matter experts who can validate content. Rely on content professionals and SMEs to tell you which content is ready for Gen AI and what steps need to be taken to prepare content. 

Here’s a real example of what I’ve tried in my organization:

We established weekly touchpoints that include a combination of content, IT and business process owners. 

The content team drives the identify, validate, remediate, extract, and monitor process. The content team works with SMEs and content owners to validate content accuracy and remediate gaps. Our IT partners ingest content into the Gen AI tool and train the model. 

This ensures that this work is connected to our existing content governance process and isn't seen as additional work for content and process owners. We have one source of truth, one process and one governance model for content. Gen AI is just an additional channel where the content is being consumed. This could change in the future, but leveraging existing processes and infrastructure is an effective way to get things moving quickly.    

3. Seize the opportunity to get resources and support

In large organizations, content governance has often not gotten the time and attention it deserves, beyond a small group of content professionals. 

In the short time I've been working on this, I have learned that this connection between content and the success of Gen AI, is logical but isn't always obvious. It's on us, as content professionals, to speak up, get involved and make the case. 

Here’s a real example of what I’ve tried in my organization:

We engaged with leaders and content owners to help them understand how our content will make or break our journey with Gen AI and are weaving Gen AI into our strategic vision for the future of content. 

We’re defining requirements for how our content needs to be structured and stored in the future to enable a good Gen AI experience.  Specifically, how to simplify and componentize content with component-level metadata. 

We’re also defining future-state content governance and what that takes from a resource standpoint. This includes how we drive greater accountability and create clearer roles and responsibilities for our content professionals and content owners to ensure content accuracy. 

Conclusion

As with anything new, there are still more questions than answers. Here are a few questions that content professionals should be thinking about:

• I’ve been on a mission to promote the idea that less content is more. Will a minimalist approach to content work in the age of Gen AI? 
• Many people challenge the accuracy of information coming from Gen AI. What role might content professionals play to change that perception? 
• Will content structure, metadata and governance still matter as Gen AI gets more advanced?

I’m sure we’ll continue to debate these questions in the coming years. This space is evolving quickly, and I'm confident there will be advancements to make it easier in the future. Given the technology and resource constraints that all organizations are dealing with, these are some practical things to consider as you embark on your Gen AI journey. For now, it’s going to be messy, and that’s okay. Seize this opportunity to elevate your role as a content professional in your organization.   

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