The copywriter vs AI: why AI won’t cut the mustard

AI is like politicians…it causes a divide. Some love it, some hate it. Some are non plussed, middle of the road, take it or leave it.

I am a journalist and copywriter and personally, in terms of my work, I am not a huge fan.

As someone said to me just yesterday: “We’re going to be fighting for our jobs soon.”

Everywhere I turn, I see AI-written copy. Brands are turning to AI more and more and quite frankly, I don’t blame them. It’s cheaper and quicker.

But is it better than a trained, experienced, human writer?

Absolutely not.

AI isn’t going anywhere though and I truly believe we have to work with it, not against it.

Here are my thoughts on why AI will never take the place of human creativity and how to use it, but not abuse it, when it comes to copywriting….

• Your brand’s tone of voice won’t shine through

The importance of TOV is a subject for another day but just briefly, I do not think you will ever get the exact TOV you’re after by using AI to write your copy.

Now, there are caveats. Hiring an editor to edit the AI-written work can help you ensure that the TOV shines through. This is especially useful when you have a bulk of blogs to get written with minimal time to do it. I have done this before for a client and it worked really well. But, it took me, a human, to edit the copy and make it fit the brand.

• AI can sound very same-y

I think most journalists/writers/copywriters will agree, you can sniff AI a mile-off. Not only are there some real stand out words that AI seems to love using, there’s also other little ‘isms’ that just make it scream ‘AI!’

As I have mentioned before, my inbox is rife with AI-written press releases and ‘expert written’ copy, and they all read the same. Where’s the fun in that?

Even my hamster has more emotion than AI

• AI lacks personality

AI is a robot. Humans are not robots. If you want your copy to have fun, pizzazz, character…a skilled human needs to write it.

Use AI for inspiration, but don’t let it write out your copy.

• AI has zero emotion

If you really want to grasp your reader, if you want your potential customer to feel something, if you want your copy to empathise…then ditch AI and hire a human. Because AI is a machine; it doesn’t have the emotional intelligence of a real, breathing, human.

• AI can be super American

Fiber, Color, Labor, Recognize...the list goes on. There are stacks of words that are spelt differently in America and AI tends to not amend spelling to suit English writing. There are also several grammatical differences. So, you'll need a human editor anyway to sort everything out.

Need some help with your copywriting? Whether you want an editor or a writer, drop me a message and let’s chat.