Human vs AI Copywriting: The Balanced Perspective
Having turned up at the local W H Brown for a chat about mortgages, I was recently asked how I make my pennies.
After sharing that I’m a professional copywriter, the inevitable follow-up question came …
So, has AI impacted your work?
Of course, I’ve found myself answering this time and time again with the rise of the large language models (LLMs).
And, as I explained, it’s quite hard to say.
Because, despite having a fairly consistent flow of work, I’m guessing some opportunities would have come my way if not for ChatGPT, Perplexity, and the like.
But that’s not to say I’m completely against AI, or can’t see its value.
As there’s no denying the astonishing speed or clarity of AI text generation.
Valuable AI Uses
Having listened to the AI gurus/doom-mongers chatting on Stephen Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO, I’ve resisted the temptation to bury my head in the sand.
Instead, I’ve taken the time to explore, finding AI of use in:
Creating web page/article outlines
Supporting research
Giving feedback and helping in the editing process
And I’ve discovered that the best results come through time and care in the writing of detailed prompts.
Still, I believe that there’ll never be a digital replacement for human creativity.
Drawbacks & Limitations
Sure, AI opens up the impressive potential to produce a full web page or blog in less time than it takes to make a brew.
But there are still major issues when it comes to AI text generation.
First up, there’s the risk of hallucinations, with made-up facts and assumptions being presented as convincing truths.
Are you really prepared to place your faith in an AI system that has the tendency to act like it's popping pills?
And despite Google stating that the “appropriate use of AI or automation is not against our guidelines”, there’s still a risk in trying to game the system.
Complete websites have been deindexed based on the finding of generic, low-quality AI content.
Perhaps most importantly, AI is very limited in its capacity for originality, only able to draw on the information in its (admittedly growing) database.
Unlike the human writer, AI has no lived experience.
It’s not out in the world, seeing, hearing, or feeling as people do every single day.
Nor does it care.
The Write Approach
All that said, there’s a balance to be struck between using AI as a tool and realising the value of the professional copywriter.
As Perplexity puts it, “A human copywriter brings strategy, lived experience, and nuanced persuasion; an AI copywriter brings speed, scale, and consistency.
In practice, the best results usually come from combining both, not choosing one over the other.”
With many years of writing experience, sensitivity, and ability to connect on a human level, I promise you content that stands out for the right reasons.
And I’m happy to blend the best of both, with the AI content editing service ideal for business owners wanting to produce top-notch content at scale.
Get in touch to find out more!