If you believe the hype, AI will take over every marketing task, from content marketing writing to graphic design. Writers like me will be left languishing at our keyboards, much like the assembly line workers of the 1950s. Marketing directors will tell their AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) to write a white paper about the benefits of WidgetWare’s new SaaS product. They’ll come away with something every one of their prospects will eagerly download.
Except they won’t.
Like all technology, AI has its limitations. While it can generate short-form copy like social media posts, check for grammar and usage, and suggest keywords, it can’t replace a human writer for long-form content. Blog posts, white papers, case studies, and e-books require a content marketing writer to develop. Otherwise, companies could run into all sorts of issues: copyright violations, false content, devalued content, and monotonous content. Here’s why AI isn’t getting rid of content marketing writers anytime soon.
AI Could Result in Copyright Violations
One complaint popping up a LOT is that AI art systems steal intellectual property. As convenient as it is to ask a computer to generate an image for you, it becomes a whole lot less convenient when lawyers get involved. The same is true for copy: there’s no guarantee that an AI tool won’t infringe on someone else’s copyright. It could easily pull whole passages from someone else’s work.
AI Might Deliver False Content
ChatGPT and other AI tools dig through web results to generate content. But the internet isn’t always the most factually accurate source of information. Everything a company has ever put out on the internet can be mined for AI-generated content. That includes old press releases, spec sheets, and blog posts that may be hidden but still languishing in cyberspace.
The result of AI grabbing information from these old content sources is a new piece of content that isn’t correct. It might be missing new product features or, even worse, citing statistics that have since been disproven. In data migration, I always hear the phrase, “Garbage in, garbage out” from SMEs. This applies to AI, too.
Search Engines Could Penalize Content
Plagiarized content will definitely get flagged by search engines. But so will content that Google doesn’t consider “helpful” and “written by people, for people.” AI content often reads like it’s written by a machine, mainly because it writes for SEO purposes instead of humans. The results are more keyword-focused, not reader-focused. So not only will Google shove AI-generated writing to the bottom of search results, but humans who do read it will be put off by the text.
Content Could Be Boring
Content that’s not written by humans for humans could be, for lack of a better word, boring. It’s not creative, personalized, or engaging. Instead, the blog post, e-book, or another piece of collateral becomes a collection of questionably accurate facts. AI doesn’t understand why someone would want to read the content, where it fits into the buyer journey, or what would emotionally resonate with them.
No New Content Ideas
Since AI only uses existing content, the tools can’t develop new ideas. All they can do is rehash what’s already on the internet. They won’t seize on new trends or write pieces anticipating the next big topic in the industry.
But all this doesn’t mean AI won’t affect content marketing. It can be great as a writing assistant for content marketing writers, from researching topics to proofreading what they’ve already written. However, AI won’t replace a human taking the time to understand a persona, map a buyer’s journey, or write an in-depth, long-form e-book.
To learn more about hiring this human to write your e-books, white papers, case studies, blog posts, and more, fill out my contact form today.