AI-Generated Content: Exploring the Pros, Cons and Future of Content Writing
Content: Exploring the Pros, Cons and Future of Content Writing
The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has brought significant advancements in content writing, revolutionising how content is created, edited and optimised. AI-powered tools offer numerous benefits that improve efficiency and enhance the quality of written content. However, as AI becomes increasingly sophisticated, questions arise about its potential to replace human copywriters entirely. In this blog post, we explore the pros and cons of using AI for content writing and delve into the ongoing debate surrounding the potential displacement of copywriters by AI technology.
The introduction you just read was generated by an AI-powered tool. A task that would of take me a few minutes took AI a few seconds and if I hadn't mentioned it was written by AI you probably would have suspected it was.
There are now several AI writing tools available. Many copywriters already incorporate these tools into their writing process to enhance their work and save time.
What is AI and how does it work?
AI is a concept that has been around since the 1950s. Back then, it was defined as machines' ability to perform tasks that would have previously required human intelligence. AI encompasses a wide range of techniques, algorithms, and approaches that enable machines to mimic cognitive functions such as perception, reasoning, problem-solving, learning and decision-making.
AI content writing software works by utilising Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to generate written content. AI collects data from various sources such as articles, books, websites, and other written content. The collected data is used as a training model to teach the AI model about language patterns, grammar and writing style. Once the AI model is trained, it can then be used to generate content. Content prompts are given to the AI, then it uses its learned knowledge to produce written output. This can be anything from a short paragraph to entire articles, depending on the task or requirement.
Weighing up the Pros and Cons of AI-Generated Content
AI might sound like the perfect solution to speed up the often time-consuming content writing process. There are various advantages to utilising AI in copywriting. We look at a few of them below.
Quickly Generate Ideas for Content
AI can be a valuable tool for generating ideas and researching for content writing. Creating relevant, engaging, and original content on a regular basis can be challenging even an experienced copywriter. Researching information for content can be time-consuming, especially if it's a topic you're not familiar with. However, with AI's help, generating content ideas can be made easier and more efficient. By providing AI with some initial guidance, it can analyse vast amounts of data from various sources, such as news articles, blogs, industry reports and online discussions, to suggest content ideas. This saves copywriters time and allows time to focus on writing better content.
Enhance your language and grammar accuracy
By using AI writing tools content writers can significantly improve the grammatical accuracy of their writing. AI can instantly scan text for spelling and grammatical errors, as well as offering contextual vocabulary suggestions. All this saves copywriters time, streamlining the editing process and significantly minimising the amount of time spent on proofreading.
Increase your efficiency
As already touched on in the above two points, using AI writing tools can dramatically speed up the process of copywriting. It takes the average copywriter over four hours to craft a good quality blog. In comparison, AI can do this within seconds. So, using AI copywriting tools to increase work productivity is a great way to maximise efficiency to free up time for other tasks.
While these are very impressive benefits, it’s important to understand that there are also some limitations to AI. While it can be incredibly helpful for generating text quickly and efficiently, it's not perfect. There are still some flaws that you should consider before relying too heavily on AI-generated content. The following are some issues to keep in mind:
Lack of creativity
AI is not at the point where it can mimic human creativity in writing. A good piece of written content should be engaging and compelling. While AI is great at pulling information together, it's not great at presenting that information in a way that makes it engaging to read. Because AI content is based on reassembling existing content, on its own it cannot create anything truly unique.
Use of plagiarised content
As mentioned above, AI generates content based on preexisting written content, and because of this, you run the risk of being accused of plagiarism. Many AI writing tools mesh pieces of content together and then re-word them. It’s particularly important to make sure your website content is carefully crafted. Google’s search policies around AI-created material have been evolving, which has created some confusion for content writers. After initially stating the AI content is against its guidelines, it later clarified this by saying they would reward “high-quality content, however it is produced.” So while AI content itself won’t negatively impact your search rankings, Google still prioritises quality and user engagement. This means it’s a good idea to ensure your website content avoids the inaccuracies and spammy tone that can show up in AI copy.
Out of date or incorrect data
When creating content with the help of AI, it's important to remember that the accuracy and relevance of the material may not always be guaranteed. AI doesn't have the ability to fact-check or independently verify the information it produces, which means that bogus information may be incorporated into the content it generates. AI can at times entirely fabricate information in a phenomenon known as AI “hallucinations.” When you use AI tools, it's always advisable to double-check and verify any information obtained through AI-generated content.
Will AI replace copywriters?
It's interesting to note that throughout history, every invention that has expanded the communication space, from the printing press to the internet, has been met with initial skepticism and moral panic. However, many of the technological advancements we once feared are commonplace in our day-to-day lives and help us be more efficient. AI appears to be on this same well-worn track, gradually becoming more widely used as a productivity tool by copywriters.
At the time of writing this, most people agree that AI isn’t sophisticated enough to fully replace human writers. Instead, it’s just a very useful tool to aid them in their work. Human emotions and nuances of language are tough to replicate. Maybe someday in the far future, a computer could replace a copywriter, but for now at least, they can rest easy knowing AI won’t put them out of a job.
But ignoring AI would be a mistake. The efficient use of AI is likely to become an essential skill for content managers – and writers who leverage the technology of AI are likely to find themselves in demand.