How is AI affecting content creation?

There can’t be many industries that aren’t impacted by the rise of AI. One that’s close to our hearts is content creation. Whether long-form storytelling or short-form transactional content, we specialise in creating well-crafted digital copy that meets the needs of our clients and their different audiences.

Like other content creators, we are experimenting with AI and getting mixed results. While it might be great to generate a structured piece of content in seconds, is that copy really on-brand, and is it really written in plain English, even though that’s what we’ve requested?

So we got to thinking about some of the pros and cons of using AI for content creation, for example, does it really support creativity, is the content it produces authentic and of good quality?

Time is money

Perhaps the biggest selling point for AI is the fact that it can create a piece of content in seconds. You can go from a blank page to a first draft in the blink of an eye. This rapid turnaround is very appealing for many organisations, particularly if this is scaled up. Very quickly, they can create not just one article, but populate a whole schedule with articles, case studies and social posts, all written in double-quick time.

Of course, what comes with this time-saving tool is the potential threat to job security. From an efficiency perspective, why might an organisation spend time and money on human content creators when it can use a much cheaper and faster option?

However, there is a notion that creators could take a more editorial role, almost like AI supervisors. They would use the tool to create a quick first draft, but then spend time ensuring that content had the correct tone of voice, was fact-checked etc.

Content quality

The quality of AI-produced content is much contested. For evangelists, AI can provide you with new ideas, language or tone-of-voice. At the touch of a button it can analyse punctuation and grammar, ensuring that content is as good as it can be. Similarly, AI can fact-check copy, not only saving time, but also ensuring that content is accurate and up-to-date.

This enthusiasm is tempered by accusations that AI-generated content is poor quality, often lacking in originality. What we are left with is bland, monotonous content that is unoriginal, formulaic and uninspiring. The very thing that has been purposefully excluded from the process is what actually makes content engaging, interesting and special: humans.

There may be a temptation to use AI to optimise content for SEO purposes. This is a fine line to tread though. Whilst it can produce copy that contains relevant keywords, there is a danger that this can tip over into spammy, SEO padded content that provides a poor experience for audiences.

Whilst Google doesn’t explicitly ban AI-generated content, it does favour well-written content that answers users’ questions and provides them with a good experience. Going gung-ho on keyword heavy content to boost ranking may actually have the opposite effect.

Let’s get creative

For many, AI is a great spark for creativity. It can help generate new ideas and approaches for a piece of writing. Rather than labour over a blank page, AI will analyse content trends to generate a range of new angles and directions for your writing. It can produce that copy instantaneously, which you can edit, curing that age-old demon, writer’s block. In some ways it’s experimentation without the risk.

On the other hand, it could be argued that content creators can rely far too heavily on AI. This then diminishes their own skills, creativity and critical thinking. By outsourcing the creative process to technology, we are in danger of actually becoming less creative, reduced to simply reproducing whatever AI gives us, whether it’s good or not.

It’s all about the people

AI has the potential to focus on audiences with laser-like efficiency. It can analyse their needs, behaviours and preferences to produce content that’s tailormade for them. This will undoubtedly improve your content’s relevancy and boost engagement. Similarly, it can create content that is relevant for specific social media platforms. So if you want copy for X, Facebook and TikTok, then no problem, AI can create platform specific posts for you, hashtags and all.

So whilst AI can be great at helping you focus on people, the thing that is missing from its content is people. AI-generated content often lacks the heart and soul and emotional depth of content written by a human being. What it tends to produce is copy that is like a framework of facts, an outline that misses the emotional intelligence that humans bring when they are telling a story.

The AI takeaway

AI is here to stay, there’s no getting away from that, and it can be super helpful. If you need to get a structure down for a piece of copy, or you are stuck for ideas, then using a platform like ChatGPT, Jasper.ai  or Grammarly can really help you move your writing on.

However, it should never be used as a substitute for a good old-fashioned human. We can bring unique perspectives and tell stories in ways that AI platforms just can’t yet do. If you rely solely on churning out AI generated copy, you will quickly find that audiences will quickly become bored and lose interest.

So, for us, AI is like fire. If it’s used in moderation and properly managed, then it’s a great aid to content creation. However, if it’s used too much and gets out of hand, then it will have a negative impact. What works much better is a blended approach, where AI can support and inspire, but not relied upon for everything.

A case in point is this article. We used Google’s AI Overviews to help us research the key topics, however, the writing is all human. This enabled us to get a sense of the key points in argument really quickly and easily. However we used these as a seed for our own writing, which we hope showcases our own creativity and authenticity.

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash