AI Writing Is Surging. Is the Human Writer Still Needed?

AI generated (the irony)

One of the biggest questions on many business owners’ (and copywriters!)minds is, Can AI writing really replace human writers?

Well, AI can generate copy, but is it always the best choice?

I mean, we’ve all seen how powerful AI tools like ChatGPT can be, right? It can write blog posts, product descriptions and social media captions in the blink of an eye.

So why not let it handle all of your content needs?

Well, there is more to writing than simply putting words on a page. And ultimately, it’s not AI that you want to read your content anyway. It’s people. Actual human beings. 

Great copy does more than simply provide information. It can tell a compelling story, reflect your brand’s voice and bring readers and customers back for more.

AI can produce mountains of content, but the human touch is irreplaceable when you want to speak to other humans.

If you’re here to decide whether to invest in a human writer or use an AI Writing tool then read on.

But first, there is a question that we need to get out of the way.

Can Copywriting Be Done By AI?

Yes. AI can create many different types of copy as long as you provide it with a solid prompt. 

AI-generated copy uses advanced algorithms to generate text based on patterns. It learns these patterns from massive data sets of human writing.

It can actually handle a number of different content types well. Some examples are:

• Product Descriptions

• Blog Outlines and Topic Ideas (ahem!)

• Basic Social Media Posts

• SEO Content

  
  

These types of copy are generally quite straightforward and don’t require nuance or a point of view. AI does excel here, it has to be said.

But there are limitations.

AI models generate their content by predicting language patterns. However, this means they can miss the deeper understanding that a human writer can bring. 

Where AI can flourish with the tasks mentioned above, it does struggle with some of the below:

• Brand Voice and Tone

• Creativity and Emotional Resonance

• Cultural Awareness and Context

  
  

This is where a human writer can bring value that your business needs. 

If you want your business to connect with your customers, tell a story that keeps them engaged and builds your brand image, then it’s still worth hiring a human copywriter.

Not convinced? Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons.

The Pros And Cons Of AI Writing

Pros of AI Copywriting

Cost Effective

Ok, I admit it. AI tools are cheaper than a human writer. Case closed, right?

You can save money by using an AI writer. They’re a fraction of the cost of a human.

If your business needs large volumes of straightforward content on a tight budget, then this may be the better option.  

Speed and Convenience

AI is also much faster. It can generate thousands of words per minute. 

You can type in a prompt to ChatGPT for example and have near instant results.

I could try, but I’m unlikely to be able to match that output for a client.

Useful for Quick Drafts or Ideation

If you need some quick ideas or writing drafts then AI shines here too. 

This is where cost effectiveness and speed meet. In fact, this aspect of AI is very useful in giving human writers a starting point to then refine.

AI can give you trending topics, ideas and content outlines based on your specific prompt. It’s a great tool for marketing brainstorming.

It doesn’t get bored or tired either. So you can be as repetitive as you want when asking it to generate or re-generate responses.

Cons of AI Copywriting

Lack of Creativity and Emotional Intelligence

Now, I’m not suggesting I’m a creative or emotionally intelligent person. Far from it.

But, if such things live on a scale, then I and other human writers have AI beat here.

AI relies on patterns in existing data so its capacity for producing brand new ideas is limited.

Not only that, but it does struggle in connecting with readers too, especially in sales copy. This is likely due to the fact that it isn’t a human and therefore doesn’t ‘think like a human.’ 

You still need a person to recognise tone, intent and subtle emotional cues as part of a brand story.

Limited Understanding of Nuanced Brand Voice

Every brand has a unique voice, or you want your brand to have a unique voice at least.

It’s what makes your business identifiable and its own thing in the marketplace.

AI can imitate tones from the existing data sets it has been trained on, but it doesn’t truly understand them. This can lead to content that can feel generic or inconsistent with your brand.

Likewise, you may have noticed that AI copy often falls flat in its delivery. This is because it misses the nuances that a human writer can detect and  intuitively incorporate into your copy.

Challenges with Generating Persuasive or Engaging Copy

Creating persuasive copy is a bit of an art and it certainly requires putting yourself in the shoes of the customer.

This is something a human copywriter can do quite well when compared to AI. 

A human copywriter, like myself, can understand audience psychology (to a degree) along with their needs and desires. 

Why? Because I’m human too and can relate to those needs and desires.

AI struggles with this and consequently, its copy reflects this shortcoming.

Don’t get me wrong, it can produce text and basic calls to action. But it does struggle with genuinely persuasive arguments.

Reliance on Existing Data - AI Can’t Think for Itself

As you now know, AI is trained on existing data and uses this for its response generation.

While powerful, this doesn’t mean that it understands the content it is asked to generate. Nor does it have an opinion or point of view on such things.

For truly engaging content, a point of view or human opinion is often the transcendent step in taking a piece of content from good to great.

AI can’t offer fresh insights or deep analysis like a human can. Especially when you require an expert opinion for your copy.

Risk of Inaccuracies and Content Quality Issues

‘Who watches the watchmen?’ springs to mind here. AI can sometimes generate inaccurate or misleading information.

If you’re producing a lot of content, then you’re going to have to have some quality control. This could be a full time job in and of itself.

You don’t want to be putting inaccurate information or errors out with your copy as this could impact your brand credibility.

Not only that, but a lot of AI produced content can read quite robotically due to the algorithms potentially not understanding the context of what you asked.

So you can end up with large volumes of quickly generated copy for your business, but no one will read it because it’s inherently disengaging.

Why Human Writers Still Matter

Some of us still use paper!

Understanding and Shaping Brand Voice

A human copywriter can speak with you as a business owner and truly get to understanding your brand and its goals.

Armed with this understanding, a human copywriter can adapt their style and tone to align with your brand specifically and help in establishing its identity.

Not only that, but a human copywriter can shift their tone or style if required to appeal to different audience segments across the different platforms your business uses.

Creativity and Emotional Intelligence

Humans think in stories and it still requires a human to craft a good story that will evoke specific emotions.

Even if AI is able to produce a good narrative flow based on its training data, it will still miss the mark when it comes to empathy.

A human copywriter can address your customer’s real life challenges and problems by tapping into their real emotions with relatable copy. 

A human copywriter can write text that another human can read and think “I know they know what I am feeling.”

Strategic Thinking and Problem Solving

By providing your business objectives to a human copywriter, you’ll give them what they need to craft copy that can increase engagement, sales and brand authority. 

They’re able to understand your goals, think strategically and use their experience to create copy that does what you want it to do.

A human copywriter is also much more flexible than AI. A human doesn’t rely on pre-existing data patterns. They can pivot and experiment based on real time feedback from actual customers.

Approaches can then be adjusted to improve performance and ensure their copy is meeting your objectives.

Handling Complexity and Nuance

Sometimes, copy needs to go beyond surface level insights.

A human copywriter can dive much deeper into a topic than AI can. They can incorporate research, examples and subtlety that AI can’t replicate.

Misinterpretations, inconsistencies and mistakes can be avoided much more easily with a human copywriter too. 

You won’t need to be double checking everything they produce once trust has been established.

Quality Control and Originality

A human copywriter can help to avoid cliches and repetitive phrases in your business's copy.

They can provide the content delivery as well as the quality control component of their deliverables.

Any good human copywriter won’t be handing over unfinished or unpolished work.

Most importantly, a human copywriter can bring an opinion or point of view to a piece.

This often lets the reader intuitively know that the person communicating to them ‘gets it’ and is explaining something that they understand or have experienced first hand.

When To Use AI Vs. When To Hire A Copywriter

Ideal Scenarios for Using AI-Generated Copy

Basic Repetitive Content Needs

Good examples of this are e-Commerce sites with hundreds of items. AI can generate a quick, keyword-focused description for each item.

Another good example is SEO meta data. AI can produce titles, meta descriptions and alt text for images.

It can require a little fiddling with your prompts, but you can generally get pretty strong suggestions from AI when looking for these.

Quick Content Drafts

If you have a blog article in mind that you’d like to give to your copywriter or write yourself then AI is great at creating initial drafts.

AI can very quickly give you article templates, sales page outlines or email chain suggestions.

These are all time efficient ways to outline a piece of content.

Idea Generation and Inspiration

AI can be really useful for brainstorming ideas too. You can speak to an AI tool like ChatGPT as if it’s a digital assistant and get pretty good feedback when looking for article topics etc.

You can then refine or have a human copywriter refine these suggestions into something that fits your business’s brand identity.

Low-Stakes Content

AI can be great at producing anything that doesn’t require a high level of personalization or brand alignment. A good example might be internal memos or simple newsletters.

When to Hire a Human Writer

Strategic Branding and Voice Development

If you want your brand to have its own identity. An identity that is unique and identifiable. Then you’ll want to work with a human copywriter to develop this together.

AI can assist and get the creative juices flowing, but you’ll ultimately want a person to bounce ideas off, provide you with a consistent brand voice and maintain that across your different content deliverables.

Persuasive and Conversion-Focused Copy

In order to be truly persuasive to your customers, you’re going to need a human copywriter.

You’ll need copy that has an understanding of human psychology behind it in order for the words to encourage someone to take action.

Desires, wants, needs. A human is best to produce content where these things need to be stoked.

Storytelling and Emotional Engagement

Like writing persuasive copy, a human is always going to be better at crafting a story or narrative for your brand long term.

A human copywriter will be best for bringing empathy, creativity and emotional intelligence to the content you put in front of your customers.

Complex and Technical Subjects

If your business is complicated or very technical, then you’ll want a human copywriter who can thoroughly research and explain the topics you require with precision, up to date information and clarity.

Content Needing Ethical Sensitivity or Cultural Awareness

Some issues can be quite sensitive and require a more gentle approach.

A human copywriter is best here as they can navigate these sensitive topics more deftly than an AI can and help you to deliver more respectful content.

Long-Form Content that Requires Depth and Originality

Blog posts, white papers, case studies and e-books are good examples of this.

Quite often, these deliverables require all of the above. Persuasion, story-telling, complexity, nuance and sensitivity.

It goes without saying, if you need these things in the copy then you’ll need a human to write them.

When AI and Human Writers Work Best Together

Enhancing Productivity and Creativity

AI can generate ideas very quickly with the right prompts. 

I do this myself when outlining potential blog posts. An AI can be a valuable tool in smaller, admin heavy tasks like suggesting keywords, creating article templates or checking completed articles for errors.

Utilizing an AI tool effectively gives you or your copywriter more brain capacity for creative thinking which is much more valuable in the long run.

Improving Efficiency with Editing and Proofing

I briefly mentioned this above, but AI tools are great for checking over completed copy like sales pages or blog posts.

It can check grammar and spelling very quickly and also make some suggestions around structure. 

I do think human insight is often sharper here, but combining human insight with AI assistance is the best of both worlds.

Scaling Content Without Compromising Quality

If your business needs large volumes of content then an AI/Human Copywriter partnership can be effective.

A copywriter who can use AI tools effectively will be much faster than those who can’t. 

Why The Human Writer Still Matters In Copywriting

We’re in an exciting and slightly scary era for humans.

AI is transforming how we produce all sorts of content. It’s natural to wonder if its abilities will be enough to fully take over the role of copywriter.

As it currently stands, AI offers incredible speed and efficiency. But you still need a human for strategic insight, emotional intelligence and creativity. 

If I were to try and put it as succinctly as possible, I would say: you need a human to write copy that other humans will want to read. 

AI is a great supporting tool and I’m confident that it’s going to keep getting better at a faster and faster rate. We humans are definitely going to have to up our game to keep up with its advances.

That said, I do believe humans offer something unique and valuable to each other that AI won’t be able to replicate anytime soon.

That’s the understanding of what it means to be human and to feel the emotions that we can all relate to. 

This is often the crux in producing great copy that converts and sells or entertains and informs. 

So, have I convinced you? More to the point, have I convinced you that I’m the human copywriter you need for your business?

Well, look no further!

Human Copy This Way

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