My family was never intellectually positioned enough, or wealthy enough, to subscribe to a newspaper for regular delivery to the home. So, visiting my mate Andrew’s house was a joy because his dad subscribed to the Daily Mercury. I loved the idea of this bundle of paper being dropped on your doorstep every day with stories, classifieds, and information. Here in 2023 we now know that newspapers were disrupted, which is sad, but also the disrupters have brought innovation and efficiency. Ever since we’ve had ideas on how to do things there has always been a new idea on the way, a fresh way of solving the problem always coming down the river stream.

So over the past few years, you’ve probably gotten pretty used to ranking well on Google, making good social media content, and all those things we’ve gotten used to in order to run a sustainable and awesome celebrancy practice. Those ways of doing things are being disrupted.

There are four points that you should take away from this article.

  1. The power of the first-mover
  2. Social media is both broadening and shrinking. Broadening into wider broadcast-style models like we used to know as TV and radio, and shrinking into smaller group chats like Wavelength or even iMessage/WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal groups.
  3. Generative AI is a new tool for you to use to do your work.
  4. AI chat is going to replace the traditional search engine.

I asked ChatGPT what Australian wedding celebrants should know about AI and large language models and it replied with:

AI refers to the ability of machines to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as language understanding, decision-making, and problem-solving. ChatGPT, on the other hand, is an AI language model developed by OpenAI, which can understand and generate human-like text in response to prompts.

AI chat refers to the use of AI technology to automate and enhance customer service interactions through chatbots. AI chatbots can help businesses provide instant and personalized responses to customer inquiries, improve customer engagement, and reduce the workload on customer service teams.

However, it’s important to note that AI chatbots cannot replace the human touch and personal connection that wedding celebrants provide. While AI technology can enhance the wedding celebrant business in many ways, it’s essential to maintain a balance between technology and human interaction.

I then went on to the New Bing and asked it the same:

AI is artificial intelligence, which is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines. ChatGPT is a conversational AI system that can generate natural and engaging responses based on user input. AI chat is a general term for any chat service that uses AI to communicate with users.

As a wedding celebrant in Australia, you may want to know how these technologies can affect your business. Here are some possible ways:

  • You can use Bing to find useful information and resources for your profession, such as legal requirements, best practices, tips and trends, wedding venues and suppliers, etc.
  • You can use AI chat to interact with your potential and existing clients, such as answering their questions, booking appointments, sending reminders, collecting feedback, etc.
  • You can use ChatGPT to create personalised and creative wedding scripts and vows for your clients, based on their preferences and stories.
  • You can also use ChatGPT to generate marketing content for your website and social media platforms, such as blog posts, testimonials, reviews, etc.

These technologies can help you improve your efficiency, productivity, creativity and customer satisfaction. However, they also have some limitations and challenges, such as:

  • You need to have reliable internet access and devices to use these technologies.
  • You need to be aware of the ethical and legal implications of using these technologies, such as data privacy, consent, transparency, accountability, etc.
  • You need to be able to evaluate the quality and accuracy of the information and content generated by these technologies and make necessary adjustments or corrections if needed.
  • You need to maintain a balance between human and machine interaction and ensure that you still provide a personal touch and genuine connection with your clients.

Finally, Google’s new AI chat system, Bard, said:

Bard, Generative AI, Large Language Models, AI chat, and similar technologies are going to have a significant impact on the wedding celebrant business. Here are some things that celebrants should know:

  • Bard and other generative AI technologies can be used to create personalized wedding vows, speeches, and other content. This can save celebrants a significant amount of time and effort, and it can also help them to create more unique and memorable experiences for their clients.
  • Large language models can be used to translate wedding vows and other content into different languages. This can be helpful for celebrants who work with clients from different cultures, and it can also help to make wedding ceremonies more inclusive.
  • AI chat can be used to answer frequently asked questions about weddings, such as how to get married, what the different types of weddings are, and what the costs are. This can help celebrants to save time and effort, and it can also help them to reach a wider audience of potential clients.
  • Overall, Bard, Generative AI, Large Language Models, AI chat, and similar technologies are likely to have a positive impact on the wedding celebrant business. They can help celebrants to save time and effort, to create more unique and memorable experiences for their clients, and to reach a wider audience of potential clients.

However, there are also some potential challenges that celebrants should be aware of. For example, these technologies could lead to a decrease in the demand for traditional wedding celebrants. Additionally, there is the potential for these technologies to be used to create fake or misleading content, which could damage the reputation of the wedding celebrant business.

And if artificial intelligence explaining itself to you doesn’t help, the New York Times has a week long series on at the moment on becoming an expert in AI. If you got this far and a) really car, and b) are still confused, it’s a valuable read.

Talking about the New York Times and artificial intelligence, you might have noticed your author’s name and the website’s name in a recent article on AI and wedding vows. My “worry” in that interview isn’t about the impending AI invasion, but towards the fact that marriage ceremonies, the vows exchanged within, and the speeches shared later, are very very human exercises and the people who are getting ChatGPT to write these pieces are worried about not doing them well, when in my humble opinion the best way to do them is with humanity, honesty, vulnerability and error. But that’s a different blog post for a different day.

The power of the first-mover

Wikipedia describes this business strategy well:

The competitive advantage gained by the initial (“first-moving”) significant occupant of a market segment. First-mover advantage enables a company or firm to establish strong brand recognition, customer loyalty, and early purchase of resources before other competitors enter the market segment. First movers in a specific industry are almost always followed by competitors that attempt to capitalise on the first movers’ success. These followers are also aiming to gain market share; however, most of the time the first-movers will already have an established market share, with a loyal customer base that allows them to maintain their market share.

Being early to a new wave is advantageous. Being cautious is as well, but I’ve never succeeded in business by being cautious.

Generative AI is a new tool for you to use to do your work

Most of the talk about AI in the last six months has been about generative AI, the act of generating something that was not, using AI.

Two good recent and popular examples of generative AI are when the pope went viral.

A photo of Pope Francis went viral recently dressed like a boss, the problem was that the image was completely made with Midjourney‘s generative AI. The moment never occurred and it was completely fabricated, aka created, using Midjourney.

And you’ve probably heard about ChatGPT writing articles, blog posts, replies, and letters.

In this example, I’ve asked ChatGPT to help me write a letter to convince you to call five wedding celebrants and encourage them to become paid members of the institute so they can read this article.

So how can you use these tools in your business today?

The only limits are your imagination and the current realm of human knowledge and creativity.

That’s the blessing and the problem with generative AI, it’s only able to create what it already knows. So if you and I both ask it to write an article on the top 10 wedding venues in our area, there’s no real value in that, because firstly a couple searching for that will just ask the chat themselves, but also there’s no new content in that article. There’s nothing created, which is the inherent value we bring to our clients and the community.

So don’t use generative AI to finish the work, but to start it. Ask for topic ideas, ask for it to write summaries that you can expand on with your own writing, or how to write letters or messages you might not have the idea to write right now.

Let generative AI start your creativity and inspire you to new heights.

Or use it to write a funny pun about the groom’s last name.

Further reading in this Celebrant Institute article on whether AI can write an original wedding ceremony (yes, yes it can) and a wedding reading written by AI, Love is an Adventure.

AI chat is going to replace the traditional search engine

You’re probably used to trying to fit your business and your celebrancy practice into the mould which is Google search, Bing search, DuckDuckGo, and Yahoo. Creating content and designing your website so that you end up on the holy grail of the first page of Google, and if you’re lucky, in first position.

In the coming year, at least that’s my prediction, that search box and the front page of the search engine will be replaced with a chatbot. Bing has New Bing, Google has Bard, Apple has whatever it’s going to launch in June, probably a rebrand of Siri.

That experience will look a little bit like this:

How should you respond to this? What changes should you make? We don’t know a lot today, it’s a brand new world, so I can only tell you how I’m responding.

I’m looking at what sources each chatbot is using, some reveal their sources, some you have to ask in the chat mode, and if there’s a way I can influence those sources through existing search engine optimisation techniques or website directory listings, then I’m doing that. Most celebrants aren’t taking advantage of all the directories and SEO opportunities made available to us. For example, our own celebrant directory, celebrant.xyz, is available for all members but even those that have taken a listing, haven’t taken advantage of all the SEO benefits yet.

Your work is to figure out how the chatbots know what they know, then either influence that or be listed and featured in the places they are sourcing their information from.

Look for signals in the different chatbots, or just plain out ask them.

I for one would be making sure my Yelp, Google Business, Bing Places, Google Search Console, Apple Business Connect, and Bing Webmaster Tools listings were all up today with the correct website addresses, descriptions, branding, logos etc.

Social media is both broadening and shrinking

Unrelated, yet also kind of related, to the introduction of AI into our digital world, the social media world is changing as well, I’m witnessing this in two directions. Related because AI, large language models and machine learning is driving this in both directions, a direction where we’re ok with it, and a direction where we’d like some humanity.

Broadening

New trends like TikTok and Reels and other algorithmically created feeds are a broadening of the social media platform. You’re not as likely to see the people you follow, and indeed the concept of following or adding people may well end or dissolve. But instead there’s a broad and wide sense of the media available. It reminds me of the first time I overused cable television in the USA. So many channels! so much content, so many stories, so much stuff.

Success here is in creating content that will engage people and signal to algorithms that it’s good content and people might like it. Things that can be shared for lolz, or commented on, or shared out of anger or other feelings will go well.

Shrinking

The other side of things is a shrinking of the social media platforms. The easiest place to see this is the rise of the group chat. I’m guessing most of us are in at least one group chat, expect that number to rise. People are growing weary of the influence and the power of big tech platforms like Facebook, Meta, Instagram, Twitter etc, and moving to smaller groups of conversation. Personal conversations, niche conversations, and private conversations.

A platform that has been rising over the last six months that caters really well to this space is Wavelength. It’s a very simple and beautifully clear app that hosts group chats. You can read more about it in John Gruber’s review, but I can see our couples moving more into group chats. Local wedding Facebook groups will disappear – which is such a pity lol – but they’ll move into Wavelength group chats, or Telegram channels, or even Instagram Channels.

That’s a lot there to take in, come back to this article a few times over, take a deep breath, set out a list of things you need to update, change, write, or do, and take the lead with the first mover advantage. All the other wedding suppliers in your market aren’t reading this article.

One thing AI can’t do (today at least) is come up with a brand new, completely fresh idea. Your brain, personality, heart, and your passions are your core strength. Leverage them, sell them, market them, know them.