
AI Will Never Replace Copywriters. Here’s Why.
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I love artificial intelligence (AI). And I love that AI is becoming so sophisticated that you can now use it to do the very thing I’ve built my business around.
I’m not being sarcastic. AI is one of the best things to come along for copywriters and content creators like myself in a long time.
Like every new technology, AI content generation comes with an equal number of benefits and disadvantages. Marketers who expect to use AI to cut their content marketing costs are going to see the downside of AI straightaway.
Not writers, though. We’re the ones who stand to benefit the most.
Will AI Take Over the World?
For years I’ve been trying to convince my kids to consider going into the trades. As long as there are humans on this earth, there will always be a need for electricians, plumbers, and carpenters.
I used to think mine was also an industry that was safe from automation. Then again, I didn’t expect the newspaper industry to go the way it did when I decided to study journalism back in the mid-90s.
But I digress.
Over the last few years, there’s been a slew AI content generators released. They all promise to make marketers’ jobs easier. Enter one simple command and instantly you receive a 1,000-word blog post that will save you hours of work (and money).
On the surface, it sure does look like a threat to anyone who makes a living from copywriting. Until I put some thought into it, I feared Jasper.ai, ChatGPT, and others might leave me scrambling.
Until I tried it myself.
I saw the beauty of this tool right away. I have no doubt it’s going to revolutionize the way sales copy is written.
But I also know it’s never going to replace copywriters.
Testing AI for Copywriting
Like you, I find starting a blog post–or any piece of content, really–to be the hardest part.
Even with a topic, a great idea for a headline, and a fistful of keywords, those first few sentences are the worst.
Could AI help me?
I figured there was no harm in looking into it. And Jasper.ai gives you 10,000 words for free to try it out. That sounded pretty good to me.
Although the content it returned was decent, there’s no way it was good enough to pass off as my own. You shouldn’t do it either. Here’s why:
AI-generated sales copy can’t connect with human emotions and motivations. Even if you were to command it to create “emotional” content, it can’t. AI can simulate a lot of things. Emotion isn’t one of them.
AI-generated copy isn’t persuasive or engaging enough to convert. It’s actually pretty dry. Using it might save you some time, but copywriting using AI is a launching point at best. It’ll get you going, but you still need some copywriting skills to crank it up.
AI-generated content may be factual, but it’s not necessarily correct. AI algorithms are trained on large amounts of data. But if the command you enter isn’t understood the way you intended, you could end up getting the wrong information back. Or worse, it could produce copy that’s misleading or biased.
AI article writing
Here’s another problem with AI-generated content: It can’t understand the nuances of language and cultural differences.
In other words, it can’t understand your audience.
If you’re targeting married Black women in their 40s with teenage children, you have to understand how married Black women in their 40s with teenagers think and speak. What matters to them? How do they feel? What words do they use?
When it comes to article writing, AI can certainly help you with the structure. But understanding your target audience? That’s all on you.
Here’s how AI content generators like Jasper.ai can help, though:
- They can produce any type of content you need – Some, like Taplio, are intended for specific platforms. But most AI content generators help you write everything, from blog posts and Facebook ads to Instagram posts and press releases.
- They can build an outline to get you going – Sometimes all you need to break through writer’s block is to be steered in the right direction. If you feed it the right commands, AI can help by delivering an outline for you to follow.
- They can give a different perspective – You might have a great idea for a post and enter a command that returns a new angle you hadn’t thought of before.
- They produce cleaner copy – Because AI generators are trained using text databases, the chances of having spelling errors are pretty low. Not great with grammar? AI-generated content has you covered.
Should You Use AI for Copywriting?
Despite its shortcomings–like its inability to write with personality–I don’t see the harm in using AI for copywriting. But I wouldn’t trust it to deliver compelling and persuasive sales copy on its own.
An AI content generator is a tool that helps with copywriting; it’s not a replacement for a copywriter. Nothing compares to the human mind when it comes to originality and creativity.
If you’ve tried Jasper.ai, ChatGPT, or another AI content generator, what did you think of it? Were you happy with the content it created? Share your experience in the comment section.
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