AI Content

Using AI for Content Creation

At the rate tools such as ChatGPT are growing, more brands than ever are using AI for content creation. The rise of AI has been rapid. So rapidly that even Elon Musk is getting concerned about how fast the technology is evolving. Considering he is one of the ultra-rich trying to breach the space frontier, that’s quite a big thing. It’s not just Musk that’s feeling a bit overwhelmed, either. Worries over privacy, AI hallucinations, misinformation, Google penalties, and other potential grey areas have all contributed to the confusion around AI. With this in mind, where is AI going and what part will it play in content creation?

Despite the concerns surrounding AI in general, it is important to note that AI is not a bad thing. It has a lot of potential when used as a tool. From providing structure to blog articles to helping with content planning and simplifying research, it can save a lot of time and effort when planning content. With that said, relying on AI tools to do all the work without any help from humans is not ideal. The newness of AI, coupled with the risk of factual errors, the challenges to create prompts that produce decent results, and the huge lack of nuance and tone make it difficult to beat human content. Does this mean ditching your ChatGPT altogether? Absolutely not. What it does mean is finding the balance between human and AI-generated copy.

How to Use AI for Content Creation

Here are some of the things you need to consider when using AI for content creation.

Check your prompts

Prompts need to be extremely clear. Imagine you’re giving instructions to a child or trying to give driving directions to someone who doesn’t know the area. The more information you give, the better the results you will get. Be aware that things like tone and brand voice are not easy to perfect, even with the best prompts. You may have to tweak prompts multiple times to get things right. Even then, it’s hard to predict results. If you’re not sure how to write prompts, consider getting help from a content writer who has experience in AI content.

Understand tone & voice

A major hurdle with AI copy is the ability to bring across tone and brand voice. This is because no machine will ever replace the human ability to inject nuance into written content. AI tools create text by collecting related information and linking them together. They do not understand context or flow. They may be able to create text that reads perfectly if the copy is simple. But they do not bring across the subtle tones that make your content suited to your brand voice. A great example is the inability to differentiate between tones such as friendly and casual. The other day, I was creating a prompt for a client that has an approachable voice that is still professional. Every single time I included friendly or casual as a prompt, I ended up with exclamation points after every other sentence. I’m not a big fan of hyped-up copy, so this was pretty annoying. Teaching bots to capture brand voice is difficult, too. This is because every brand has a unique voice. You know how great it is when you can throw a quirky line or phrase into your copy that captures what you want to say? That’s something that bots don’t know how to do too well. AI simply doesn’t have the ability to inject genuine emotion into text. Only humans know how to do that.

Be aware of privacy risks

Yes, I know. That sounds a little dramatic. Remember earlier when I mentioned Elon Musk getting worried about the impact of rapidly changing technology? He’s not alone. Italy, France and other countries in the EU are taking a very serious look at the privacy implications of AI. After employees at Samsung leaked sensitive data when using ChatGPT for work, corporates are getting alarmed, too. This is something every single business needs to know when using AI in content creation. Issues like privacy compliance laws, data storage and usage are all valid concerns that could result in regulation down the line.

Watch out for factual issues

I mentioned AI hallucinations earlier. These sound like something out of a sci-fi movie. But then again, so does AI in general. When I pictured the inevitable robot invasion, this really wasn’t what I was expecting. Anyway, AI hallucinations are a fascinating but scary phenomenon caused by bots throwing out misinformation. In a few cases, AI has produced fake Guardian articles that looked exactly like the real thing, opening up the risk of misinformation, conspiracies and confusion. When Google launched its AI tool, Bard, in February 2023, it managed to make a very embarrassing, very public mistake. When asked on Twitter about new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope, it threw out 3 answers, including one that the telescope took the first pictures of a planet outside our own solar system. Twitter users (including astronomers) were quick to respond that this was not at all correct. In fact, the first image of such a planet was taken in 2004, with pictures shown on the NASA website. ChatGPT has had its share of hallucinations – one of which had a far more serious impact. A mayor in Australia became the first person to sue OpenAI for defamation after the AI tool wrongly accused him of crimes such as bribery and corruption. As far as content goes, this means that there is a huge need for human fact-checking. The last thing you want is errors in your copy that are missed because no human has gone over facts.

Look out for SEO penalties

What does Google think of brands using AI for content creation? Well, it’s complicated. Generally speaking, the official stance is that as long as content is human-centric, in line with Google’s Human First update, AI and human-written content can both rank if written well. But John Mueller from Google still has doubts. On Twitter, he pointed out that AI copy isn’t always factual and that Google can still penalise if AI-generated text is flagged as duplicate copy. Considering the way that AI spins out copy for larger projects can be a little same-same, this is something to note.

So what next?

Ultimately, the decision on whether to use AI tools for content comes down to your budget and your goals. If you need to churn out generic copy quickly, there’s no harm in using these tools. If you need well-written content, relying on AI completely is a big risk. The best way to make sure that you don’t run into issues when using these tools is to get help from a copywriter who has experience not only in AI content refinement but also AI prompt engineering. This gives you the best of both worlds, allowing you to improve your content, save time and make sure that your content is 100% factual, unique and made to suit your brand.

To find out more about using AI in content creation, give me a shout and let’s see how we can turn that boring, generic robotic text into something that is just right for your brand.

Rox

Since 2006, I have been helping clients get the most from their online content. I've worked in agency and in-house environments before going solo in 2010. As a freelance copywriter, my goal is to bring content to life. For nearly 20 years, I've written for every industry under the sun. My main focus today is ecommerce content. While I work with brands across all sizes, I love working with fellow solopreneurs the most.