So I asked our head of development Matt to write a blog article. Development is a huge part of what we do, so why not share more development stories? Within days after I asked, Matt came to me with a proposal for a theme: AI-written content. He even wrote a nice, solid summary so that I would understand the direction. I was flabbergasted. Matt always told me he didn’t write, and now suddenly there was a theme, a structure, and even a brief summary that needed little reviewing from my side. All within three days! I know, I should’ve known better. Matt didn’t write one word. It was all AI.
I was intrigued. As a content strategist, I pride myself on my ability to generate creative ideas and write appealing content. You know, in a way a robot could never do. Was I wrong? I told Matt to go through with the article, and 10 seconds later, we had a blog. Below, we share the end result, along with some notes from my side. Because as you’ll find out, using AI to create content is great, but it’s not perfect.
Let's give the floor to Mr AI robot writer.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become ubiquitous in today’s digital world. More and more businesses are using AI applications to streamline their operations, improve the quality of their products and services, and cut costs wherever possible. One area that many businesses are now exploring is the use of AI-written content as a way to drive traffic to their websites and social media pages, increase website conversion rates, and get new customers interested in their products or services. But is AI-written content right for your business? Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of this practice to help you make an informed decision about whether it’s right for your company.
Notes from the content strategist
This introduction is quite good, isn’t it? It has everything an introduction needs, as it sets the scene and tells the reader what to expect from the article. The copy is a bit dull, though, and it’s lacking that human touch that can be found in the actual introduction of this article, where I told something that actually happened in the office. Still, not bad for a robot.
What is AI-written content?
Artificial intelligence is a broad term that refers to computer programs that can teach themselves, operate autonomously, solve problems creatively, and make decisions based on real-time inputs. AI is different from, and predates, machine learning (ML), which is the ability of a computer program to learn from data, improve its performance, and make predictions based on those learnings. AI-written content (sometimes called machine-generated or autonomously-generated content) is written by a computer program rather than a human writer. It can be used in place of human-written content on your website, social media pages, blogs, and other digital channels. AI-written content is usually perfectly fine for basic websites or marketing efforts, but it may not be appropriate for high-stakes situations like investor relations materials.
Notes from the content strategist
Hm. I’m not a fan of this next paragraph. Sure, it does provide a correct definition of the term Artificial Intelligence, but it rambles on about it where I would’ve used one or two sentences to give readers a quick recap of AI. I do like the fact that ‘it’ knows that it’s not suitable for high-stakes situations. AI does seem to have some self-reflection!
ps. all the images in this blog are created by AI as well (we used DALL·E 2). We didn't find a picture of a robot in therapy by accident- we had it created just for this article.
Pros of Using AI-Written Content
AI-written content is relatively inexpensive. Using AI programs to write content can make it much cheaper for businesses to create large amounts of content for their websites and social media pages. AI programs can be trained to write about specific topics in a variety of formats (including long-form articles, short-form blog posts, lists, FAQs, and more). You can then use the resulting content in a variety of ways, such as part of your website, in paid advertising campaigns, on social media, and more.
AI-written content can be written quickly. One of the biggest advantages of AI-written content is that it can be created quickly. Many businesses today complain about how long it takes to get their human-written articles and other content published. This can be especially true if the business outsources its content creation. AI-written content can be written quickly and published to your website or social media pages in minutes.
AI-written content is more consistent than human-written content. Humans are prone to making mistakes and inconsistency, but AI-written content can be consistent across all pieces of content and even between different writers. AI-written content is easier to scale than human-written content. While human-written content can be difficult and time-consuming to scale, AI-written content can be easily multiplied and repurposed to create more content than any human writer could write. AI-written content can be easily repurposed, edited, and reused. Once you create a piece of AI-written content, you can easily repurpose it by editing it to fit a different purpose or posting it on different channels. Since AI-written content is generated using data, it’s also easier to reuse content across different channels.
Notes from the content strategist
Okay now it’s getting a bit tedious. The AI robot writer is right when it sums up all the pros of using AI to create content, however, the copy is dry and very boring too. Also, it starts almost every sentence with ‘AI written content’ which probably pisses off both Google and readers (which is why from here on, I’ll sometimes shorten the term to AWC). Third, ‘it’ doesn’t speak to the audience directly, which is needed to build a relationship with the audience, and it also doesn’t give any examples. In the paragraphs above, I would’ve definitely intervened. I won’t, though, just to show you what AI-written content looks like.
Cons of Using AI-Written Content
AWC isn’t always natural or compelling. While AWC can be perfectly fine for low-stakes situations, it’s important to note that it isn’t always as compelling as human-written content. While some AI programs are getting better at generating natural and compelling content, others still aren’t as good at it. AWC isn’t always optimised for search. While all content should be keyword-optimised, it’s important to note that AI-written content isn’t always optimised for search. Human-written content can include more strategic keywords and phrases that are appropriate for Google’s ranking algorithm.
AWC isn’t always appropriate for high-stakes situations. While it has many applications, it’s not appropriate in all situations. For example, you wouldn’t want to use generated content in a critical investor relations piece, an important employee handbook, or other high-stakes documents. AWC isn’t always easy for readers to understand. While most AI-written content is perfectly fine for basic websites or marketing efforts, it isn’t always easy for readers to understand. The quality of AWC can vary from program to program and writer to writer. AI-written content can be harder to edit than human-written content. Since human-written content is essentially created from scratch, it’s generally easier to edit than AWC, which is based on data.
Notes from the content strategist
I love how self-aware the AI robot writer comes across in this section. It mentions some very good points about the usage of AI-written content (tired of the word yet?) and also states that it’s not always natural or compelling.
Is AI-Written Content Right for Your Business?
As you can see, there are both pros and cons associated with using AI-written content. However, if you use AWC wisely and appropriately, it can be a valuable asset to your business. AI-written content can make it easier to scale content creation, generate content quickly, create consistent content, and repurpose content for different uses. And although it may not always be as compelling as human-written content, it can still drive traffic to your website, help you achieve your marketing goals, and expand your business.
Final verdict from the content strategist
I’m actually positively surprised by the quality of this AI-written piece of content. There’s a clear definition of the term and I didn’t have to research the pros and cons myself; it’s all there. Also, I found no grammar or spelling errors, and all sentences were built up nicely.
Then again, like the AI robot writer rightfully mentions, the copy is very dry and unnatural. To really turn this article into a nice-to-read piece of content, I’d have to intervene. Also, if I wanted to make this article helpful, useful and interesting, I’d need more than a definition of AI-written content plus some pros and cons. I’d need to add a vision, and at least one or two examples of real-life applications. While I don't think AI-written content is ready to become the 'go-to' for many marketers, it provides an interesting option and if nothing else, gives you a starting place for topics you might be struggling to write about! Don’t ever expect great storytelling from AI, though, that still sets humans apart from the rest.
If you're interested to know how we generated the article using AI, it was a simple process. Matt chose one of the many AI writers available (in this case, Writesonic) and simply told the machine to generate ideas around the topic “AI-written content”. That’s it!
Do you want to know more about the ingredients of great digital content? Feel free to reach out! We’d be more than happy to schedule a call and talk about your plans. 
