Anyone who isn’t living in a bubble knows about the growing popularity of AI tools and their prevalence in the digital marketing space. One of the areas in which its influence is probably most apparent is content writing. From using AI tools to generate content ideas and develop compelling copy to procuring complete blogs and website content, it can all be done with just the click of a mouse.
Since the inception of AI tools like ChatGPT, companies have become more dependent on cutting-edge technology for producing content and streamlining day-to-day processes. This reliance on AI writing has reached the point where hiring adept freelance writers is considered an unnecessary expense. Additionally, many don’t see the value in spending time and effort crafting quality content that supports their content strategy, at least not when AI can do most of the legwork.
All forms of technology have limitations, and AI is no different. While AI can help complete more tedious tasks in the content creation process more efficiently, like brainstorming ideas or creating an outline, one thing is certain: it can’t capture the same calibre of authenticity, creativity, emotional intelligence and nuance found in human-generated content.
In this blog, we will discuss why human-generated content is still valuable despite living in this AI era. We will explain what human content is, why AI writing comes with risks, the importance of human content in your content strategy, and how to strike a balance between using AI and human content.
If you’re on the fence about whether you should prioritize AI writing or human content, let us change your mind. Keep reading ahead!
What Is Human Content?
As the term suggests, “human content” refers to content created by an individual without the assistance of AI tools—but it’s also so much more than just that.
Human-generated content requires exploring uncharted territory by tapping into one’s creativity and cohesively weaving unique thoughts that engage readers. These original ideas are infused with human emotion and personal stories, adding a level of depth and complexity that makes the content more nuanced and authentic. As a result, human content conveys meaningful, relatable messaging that resonates with the target audience and builds a strong foundation for trust.
Even though the journey of creating human content is a long-winded one, it’s definitely by far the most rewarding. In the end, you have a solid piece of quality, well-written and researched content that Google recognizes, provides value to users and boosts your brand as a trusted authority figure.
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Why Relying on AI Writing Comes with Risks
As discussed earlier, the main appeal of AI writing tools is that they can churn out huge amounts of content over a short period of time, saving businesses time and energy that can be spent elsewhere. However, that doesn’t guarantee it delivers high-quality content on a consistent basis or will position your brand as a thought leader and bring more visitors to your site.
Relying on AI writing tools to do the heavy lifting for your content marketing strategy comes with a number of risks. It’s highly pivotal that businesses are aware of the following:
AI Ethics
There are several ethical concerns when it comes to AI writing. AI tools are notorious for recycling existing content, leading to plagiarism. This, in turn, has led to the rise of plagiarism detectors, like ZeroGPT and CopyLeaks, which can flag whether the content has been AI-generated or not.
Furthermore, the information that AI tools are pulling from might not be completely accurate or may uphold certain personal biases. Unlike the human mind, AI writing tools don’t have the cognitive ability to use critical thinking skills to decipher whether the information being extracted is reliable.
Since the proliferation of AI writing tools, there has been a lot of discussion in AI ethics about how they can replace human jobs. But the fact of the matter is that AI won’t be able to perform many steps of the content creation process as proficiently as humans, and that includes fact-checking references.
Legal and Copyright Challenges
As touched on in the earlier point, AI tools have been known to duplicate content without providing credit to their respective authors, and this has serious repercussions.
Over the past few years, many major publications, authors, and prominent figures have gone as far as to take legal action against some of the biggest generative AI companies. In 2024, The New York Times issued a cease and desist against Perplexity.ai, as the company used its published articles for generative AI purposes, violating copyright law. But this wasn’t the first time that had happened.
Back in 2023, the same U.S. media publication also sued OpenAI and Microsoft for using its articles to train AI chatbots without asking for permission. OpenAI and Microsoft responded, saying their actions fell under “fair use”. This highlights a growing concern in AI ethics: AI companies blatantly break copyright laws without taking any accountability.
Lack of Creativity and Original Thought
One key characteristic that sets AI writing apart from human content is its inability to generate original ideas. AI tools leverage existing patterns and data to respond to prompts. For this reason, AI can’t think outside the box in the same way humans can, nor can it provide creative or innovative ideas.
Moreover, AI writing tools have a propensity for producing formulaic content. Users can try to fine-tune their prompts a number of times, but after a certain point, the output starts to sound too repetitive or generic. In other words, it lacks that special human touch, which makes human-generated content so valuable.
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Inability to Understand Context and Nuance
It can’t be denied that AI lacks deep contextual awareness. It doesn’t grasp cultural, historical, or industry-specific nuances like humans do. It also struggles to adapt its tone to a specific audience, leading to awkward phrasings or misinterpretations. This can potentially offend readers, especially when the content discusses sensitive topics.
Digital marketing extraordinaire Neil Patel summed this up perfectly in his blog: “For one, AI is not always capable of understanding the context of content. It can write a 2,000-word article on any number of complex topics, but it cannot often put it into the context of larger concepts. This means that AI-generated content can miss out on nuance and important contextual insights”.
SEO and Search Engine Risks
If you’re in the loop about Google’s recent core updates, you would know that it prioritizes SEO-optimized content that answers users’ search queries. On the other hand, search engines devalue low-quality AI-generated content that doesn’t offer value to readers. This shows that the risk people run with using AI-generated content is in it being flagged as low-value or spammy.
Moreover, one framework that Google, along with many other platforms, actually prioritizes is E-E-A-T (expertise, experience, authority, and trust). This framework guides you in creating high-quality content that improves your brand’s presence and authenticity, keeps readers engaged, and offers a user-friendly experience.
Considering all the other points discussed above, AI content definitely lacks the ability to create content while taking Google’s E-E-A-T principles into account. It’s very likely to have low EEAT signals, which is a clear marker for spammy content.
The Importance of Human Content in Your Content Strategy
Now that we’ve gone over the risks of using AI content, let’s dive into the reasons why human content should be the driving force behind your content marketing strategy!
Builds a Brand’s Unique Voice and Identity
Human content stands apart from AI-generated content in many ways, one of them being that it allows businesses to create a unique brand voice and identity. This means it enables you to shape your brand’s personality and storytelling approach to cater to your branding guidelines. After all, AI won’t be able to understand your brand better than you do!
As mentioned earlier, AI content tends to duplicate content. With many companies relying on AI tools, an absurd amount of content online now sounds nearly identical. The language of the content either reads as very robotic and stiff or lacks that extra punch that will leave a memorable impact on consumers.
When you choose human content for your brand, you can ensure that your content has a distinct voice and identity that stands out from competitors and reels in your target audience.
Enhances Audience Engagement Through Emotional Connection
If you want to develop a loyal customer base and improve audience engagement, authenticity is key. Human content can help you achieve that, as it can harness the power of emotional intelligence to craft messages that move people on a profound level. This can be done by sharing poignant stories or real-life experiences that your audience can relate to, which is one of the many things that AI tools can’t do.
Whether you’re looking to tell a personal story about your “why” and what led you to build your business or are interested in displaying testimonials from previous clients, sharing them is integral to showcasing authenticity. When customers can see themselves in your brand, not only will it evoke feelings of trust and loyalty, but it will also create a strong emotional connection that will remain unforgettable.
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Value of Experience-Driven and Thought Leadership Content
Human-generated content plays a significant role in demonstrating industry expertise for businesses. This can be in the form of case studies or professional insights, showing potential leads that you’re a reliable authority figure in your industry. AI lacks depth in this regard as it struggles to provide actionable, experienced-based advice you can trust.
It’s also worth adding that implementing this into your content marketing strategy taps into the first principle of Google’s E-E-A-T—“Experience”. Creating authentic, human content highlighting your vast experience will demonstrate that you have topical authority and further enhance your credibility. When people can see that you know what you’re talking about, they’re more likely to stick around for more!
Ensures Higher-Quality SEO Performance and Content Authority
By now, you know that search engines prioritize content following E-E-A-T. SEO-optimized content that meets all these principles drives engagement because it’s authentic, well-written, and answers users’ search queries, setting it apart from generic AI writing.
The more people engage with your content, the higher the chance of it being shared. Quality content has been known to be more shareable, as it strikes an emotional chord with users, propelling them to hit the share button. However, as more people are exposed to your content, they will be inclined to do more than just give it a shout-out to their network.
When content is written by industry professionals, websites are likely to want to build backlinks. The reason behind it is quite simple: they trust content created by experts over AI tools. Backlinks are an excellent tactic for improving your SEO content’s performance since they can improve your organic rankings and search visibility, allowing you to establish a greater online presence.
Striking the Right Balance Between AI and Human Content
Up until now, we have discussed what human content is as well as the dangers of relying on AI writing and the reasons why human-generated content is so valuable for your content strategy. While we’re not saying that AI is all bad, as it can definitely do wonders in streamlining workflows, it’s still not without its flaws. Towards the end of the day, human intervention will always be needed to ensure the content aligns with your brand values and supports your content marketing strategy.
With all that being considered, let’s go over some practical tips for integrating AI into your daily operations, while still prioritizing human-generated content:
- Use AI for Idea Generation: AI tools, like ChatGPT and Jasper.ai, have proven to be very resourceful for brainstorming trending topics and generating outlines. By utilizing AI tools during the initial planning phase of content creation, human writers and editors can still be used to craft and refine the written content, catering it to your branding guidelines.
- Automate Repetitive Tasks: AI can handle monotonous tasks that keep you from getting your high-priority work done. Whether it’s completing repetitive admin tasks or making lists of content ideas, for example, AI tools can do wonders in helping maximize your time and productivity.
- Leverage AI for Data Gathering: While AI isn’t the most reliable for fact-checking, it can still assist you in your research process by compiling references supporting your ideas. Make sure to comb through them yourself to determine whether the information comes from a credible source.
- Enhance Writing with AI-Driven Grammar Suggestions: AI tools that check for grammatical and spelling errors, like Grammarly, can be useful during the revision process of content creation. During the final editing phase, we recommend reviewing the content yourself or getting an editor to ensure that the tone, accuracy, and overall readability are up to standard.
- Use AI to Improve SEO: AI tools have been a great help in quickly completing a number of SEO tasks, including conducting keyword research, and creating meta titles and descriptions. Even though they can help speed up certain processes, remember to still review everything yourself to adjust for readability and optimization.
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Conclusion: The Future of Human Content in the AI Era
Even though AI content has taken the digital marketing landscape by storm, human content isn’t going anywhere—at least not for a while.
As a brand, creating original content that prioritizes authenticity and draws from your personal experiences can allow you to reap a number of benefits. Unlike AI-generated content, human content can create an emotional connection with your target audience and nurture a loyal following. It can also create a unique voice that emulates your brand values and drives engagement, while putting you in Google’s good books and establishing you as a trustworthy authority figure.
Even though using AI tools has its own perks, it can’t be denied that they bring their own shortcomings when it comes to content creation. From issues with AI ethics and plagiarism to facing search engine risks and being flagged as spammy content. For these reasons, it’s important to maintain human oversight to ensure the overall quality of the content as well as brand consistency.
If you want your brand to stay ahead and captivate your audience, make sure to invest in human-written content–trust us, you won’t regret it!
Are you ready to invest in compelling content that will take your content marketing strategy to the next level? At TechWyse Internet Marketing, we value the importance of creating original, human content that resonates with our clients’ brand values.
Our fully trained team specializes in superior SEO and Content Marketing services that will boost content authority and search rankings like never before. We also offer many other top-notch digital marketing services, including Paid Media, Web Design, Social Media Management, and Video Development.
Don’t wait and get started today! To book an appointment, call 866-208-3095 or contact us here.
