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The rise of AI has changed the game for many business owners, especially in the world of marketing and content creation. And while this is great for many, the rise of AI has also seen a strain on the world of content writing.
As a business owner, you might need the odd blog post writing, some social media, or even some content planning and strategy. About a year ago you’d have gone online and found a content writer, perhaps on Linkedin, Fiverr or Upwork. But increasingly, professionals in need of content are turning to content writing tools such as ChatGPT or the myriad other options.
But is it better to use a human content writer, or should you just go for the AI content writing options?
We’re going to look at the many pros and cons of both options.
Content Writing: What is it good for?
Written content is one of the main elements of the online world. Blogs, websites, video scripts, social media, product descriptions, ebooks, landing pages… All of these need content. And this usually means written content.
Traditionally this would have meant hiring a writer, or…. Doing it yourself.
But of course, now, you can ask Chat GPT or even Bard (Google’s own AI tool) to do it for you. But should you?
The benefits of using human content writers
So, as a human content writer, you’re going to see a bit of bias. But I also hire content writers, so I can offer my opinion on both sides of the spectrum here too.
A human content writer obviously adds a human element to the copy. They know how to write for the audience, use humour and even avoid repetition.
Human content often has a very clear human voice. At least it should do. Some content can be dry, overly verbose and boring, or packed full of typos and spelling errors. (Much like this magazine).
But despite imperfections the content is often relatable and readable. It’s also, often, factually accurate. Or at least it should be.
Human writers (should) research their subject and give a clear summary based on their understanding.
But actually, this can also bring me to my next points.
The drawbacks of hiring human content writers
Human content writers can be pretty lazy, especially if you’re hiring a cheap one. They can often plagiarise content, and may quote sources that have also misquoted other sources. Many times in my content managing career, I’ve had to clear up poorly researched human content and clarify points that were left unfinished as the writer ‘assumed’ the reader would get it.
On top of this, human writers can also write pretty crappy content. They might have a word count they’re supposed to write to, and they’ll simply churn out whatever crap they get paid to write until they hit the word count.
Human content writers can also be late, use terrible grammar and even not deliver at all.
I’ve experienced all of these, such as asking a guy to write on a subject he swore he was experienced in. However, upon delivery, he’d totally misunderstood and had written a piece that was practically unusable.
Yes, there are a lot of issues to hiring human content writers.
The benefits of using AI writing tools
Now, when it comes to AI writing tools vs human writers, one thing is clear. Normally when you provide a well written content brief, the AI writing tool will put together a first draft that is usually well written, backed up by research (which might be made it up in some instances, but we’ll come to that) and usually well structured.
Of course this can depend on the brief. But as a general rule, if you ask Chat GPT to write an article on a specific subject to a specific word count and with a set amount of keyword search terms, it will do a fairly decent job.
AI content writing tools can also collate a lot of points into an article, which could take a writer hours or days. They can also collect research and reference hard to find papers or other sources.
On top of this, the content is often written in seconds or minutes. Rewrites take a few minutes extra, and with a bit of proofreading and editing, you can have a usable article in under an hour.
Contrast this with a human writer, who can take days, and you can see a major benefit.
In addition to this, tools such as Copy.ai can save your prompts, brand or company details, brand voice and other key details to save you a lot of time.
And, with AI content writing tools, there is no ego, no issues with asking for re-writes and even asking for off-topic content.
In short, you can save a lot of the frustration of dealing with a human writer.
However…
The drawbacks of using AI writing tools
While AI content writers are quick and deliver a good first draft, they come with a number of drawbacks. First of all, AI content often reads like it is AI written, even if it is well prompted.
Most AI content will need to be proofread and rewritten to be ready for a human audience.
On top of this, sometimes the research or references are way out. Chat GPT and other AI tools often make up references, and will refer to research papers that don’t exist or are taken out of context.
I also find that AI tools can be inconsistent in their quality. For example, with Chat GPT or Copy.ai, you ask for an article one day, and it’s delivered practically ready to go. The next day, using similar prompts, you struggle to get it to do what you want.
And while an AI content tool can churn out content, it might not offer the best quality content. Content written be experienced and knowledgeable humans is still the best option, so if you’re writing on an professional subject, it can be hard to beat human input.
Saying this, AI content can still provide a useful baseline for human editors to work with.
Which are the best AI content writing tools?
If you’re looking for a content writer, then you might have used Chat GPT. But of course there are numerous tools you can use.
These include:
- Rytr: A good quality content writing tool, I personally find that this one is decent. But…
- Copy AI: One of the better paid AI writing tools on the market with lots of additional features. Read this Copy AI review for more info.
- Jasper.ai: One of the original AI writing tools, offering some great functionality.
- Bard: Google’s own AI content tool. Not really good for content writing but great for research
TL;DR?
AI Content is an excellent tool for many. And while it can greatly reduce the time spent on content writing, it still falls a little short in some areas. These are mostly consistency, high quality or thought leadership content and sometimes research.
But… AI content writing tools sure are better than low quality human writers.
