Will an AI Article Writer Replace a Copywriter?

Already used in industries like finance and retail, artificial intelligence has proven to be a transformative solution for businesses of all kinds. Within the copywriting realm, AI text generators allow users to create content with the click of a button. Content generation tools can create SEO-friendly content, headlines, product descriptions, articles, and more, depending on the AI engine used. As the technology continues to rapidly improve, members of the industry are left with one clear question - will an AI article writer replace a human one?

In this article, we will explain what AI writing is, as well as its benefits and drawbacks, to conclude how artificial intelligence will impact human copywriters.

Contents:

• What is AI writing?
• How does AI benefit content writers?
• What are the drawbacks of AI content writers?
• Will AI replace human copywriters?

What is AI writing?

AI writing is the creation of content through artificially intelligent software. AI content writers utilize deep learning to generate natural content, including headlines, articles, and more. Trained with millions, if not billions, of documents and written materials, content generators are able to generate unique content that is SEO friendly - including phrases, paragraphs, and long-form copy.

Operating like neurons firing in a brain, these deep learning models learn by example to effectively mimic the way humans read and write. Breakthrough solutions, like Article Forge, are going so far as to leverage mechanisms to adhere to a set of facts and rules; in doing so, the AI article writer can produce more factually accurate copy on a more consistent basis. 

How does AI benefit content content managers?

AI can directly improve the productivity and output of content creators. While no two tools are the same, there are many common benefits across AI writers. These benefits include:

Increased productivity and output

Put in the simplest way, AI creates content faster than any human copywriter. As a result, content managers can expect to produce significantly more content over a given period. Unlike physical writers, artificially intelligent tools can provide content in a matter of minutes. Expediting the traditional back-and-forth between writers and content managers, AI allows users to speed up their turnaround times.

In addition to productivity, businesses can grow their SEO authority and gain more traffic with AI-created content. For example, users can target longtail topics and hyperlocal terms to improve SEO authority and give readers a more personalized and tailored experience. With proper planning, artificially intelligent content creators can even be used to efficiently scale content creation — all without having to hire more copywriters. Improving output and SEO authority, AI copywriters can maximize a brand’s outreach and drive traffic towards their webpage.

More content produced at a speedier rate means more time and money are available for other tasks. AI writing not only increases productivity for content creation but allows for more time to improve other aspects of your operation.

Saved money, increased profits

To be blunt, content writers are almost always more costly than AI writing tools. With a vast array of abilities and features, AI content creators offer a cost-reducing solution to hiring internal or external copywriters. Depending on how an AI article writer is used within a business, a writing team could be downsized or even dissolved, leading to lower costs.

Further, AI writers help create content at a faster rate. In doing so, content managers are further able to scale their operations more efficiently. By producing higher quantities of quality content, teams can expect an increase in engagement and overall profits.

Content managers can use these savings to improve their bottom lines or reallocate the assets to grow other parts of their business. For example, managers can target unique longtail niches and create hyperlocal copy that wouldn’t be produced profitably with a physical writing team.

SEO Optimized Content

As many marketing gurus know already, Google already uses deep learning models to grade the relevance and quality of content across the internet. Obviously, the best way to understand how to write optimized content is with the help of similar deep learning models. Because of their use of deep learning models, advanced AI writers are capable of outperforming human writers on Google.

More advanced content writers, such as Article Forge, go a step further and automate content research. Users simply need to enter a keyword and the artificially intelligent solution will generate content based upon the highest-ranking results.

What are the drawbacks to AI article writers?

While every AI writing engine is different, there are clear drawbacks that the majority have. These include:

Factual Accuracy

While incredible at putting sentences together, AI content tools are not able to determine whether a statement is factually accurate or false. Incapable of doing their own research, AI engines are restricted to the knowledge they have already learned. As a result, the copy is generated without any guarantee of factual credibility.

Similar to how humans are incapable of knowing everything about everything, AI also has its own limits. Because most deep learning models lack a research component, generated content can be readable, but entirely factually inaccurate. In response, these engines frame themselves as ‘writing assistants’, requiring users to edit their own work.

The first in the industry, Article Forge is looking to solve this drawback. By leveraging deep learning models and developing a research component, the AI writing tool is able to create more factually accurate content on a consistent basis. As Article Forge continues to grow, it looks to produce high-quality, factually accurate articles without the need for human intervention at all.

An inability to understand a brand’s strategy or essence

Even though they are able to fact-check themselves, artificial intelligence engines will never be able to fully understand your business’s brand or mission. No amount of documents or paper can teach your company’s culture and values to artificial intelligence. As a result, created content may not fully encapsulate a brand’s essence. 

Continuing, AI is unable to truly understand a brand’s strategy. As a result, the tone and focus of the copy may be inconsistent with the targeted audience and topic. For example, an AI tool may write blog posts with topics targeted towards an audience of salespeople, but with a feeling that resonates more with managers. By not knowing the brand guidelines and targeted personas, AI writers create less effective content. An inability to understand a brand’s strategy may also cause AI to unintentionally break brand guidelines.

Similarly, AI struggles with creating high-impact articles that require true knowledge — particularly the insights of a business. Like how a freelance writer is unaware of the intimate parts of your operation, an AI writer simply does not know the extensive history of a company or its industry. At its current ability, AI is best used for more general knowledge.

As AI continues to grow, project managers can expect developers to tackle this drawback and develop new solutions.

Bias

Much like how humans can find themselves in echo chambers that cultivate biases and limited perspectives, AI engines can find themselves in similar areas. Trained by reading articles and taught to write based upon them, deep learning models can unintentionally develop underlying biases based upon the content it consumes. While most cases are often subtle, GPT-3 earned national criticism for its Islamophobic tendencies.

Currently, rapid advancements are being made in this field. Until the problem is minimized, however, project managers should carefully review their AI’s content.

Difficult to control

Perhaps already obvious given their other issues, AI writing tools can be hard to understand and control from a developer’s perspective. For developers, AI algorithms are essentially black boxes — spaces with areas no one entirely understands. Unlike humans, developers cannot ask deep learning models why they made the decisions they did, making it difficult to make adjustments. Without the ability to provide and receive feedback, it is nearly impossible to force language models to write with specificity in terms of subject, tone, and diction.

To curb this drawback, advancements are being made using separate AI systems, which are responsible for proofreading generated content and providing feedback to the models. Currently, Article Forge is working to allow users to redline text and provide immediate feedback to the AI. Regardless of the approach, the goal is to teach the AI writer in real-time.

Will AI article writers replace copywriters?

AI writers are continuing to improve at a breakneck pace - what was impossible just a year ago is now commonplace. As engines continue getting more intelligent, it’s easy to predict AI content generators will become more commonly used; After all, with every update top solutions, are getting better at producing accurate, engaging content with the click of a button. 

But does that mean human copywriters are about to be replaced?

Not necessarily. While some businesses will surely prove doomsayers' predictions and eliminate their entire writers, it’s unlikely that content creation will be entirely automated any time soon. Because of the common drawbacks across most AI writers, managers are unlikely to completely abandon their workforce at this point in time. Human editors are still needed to ensure that content is accurate, understandable, and consistent with a company’s brand and image.

In the immediate future, we are more likely to see AI writers become a common tool for copywriters than actually replacing them. Instead of having to create everything for the ground up, writers could use AI content generators to draft content of varying lengths; copywriters would instead edit and adapt the generated content, saving significant time and effort. Realistically, we could even see teams move to content teams with AI writers and human editors.

In the long-term future, however, the possibilities are limitless. With technology changing rapidly, what was once impossible just two years ago has become commonplace. While it’s unclear if robots will replace humans, it’s obvious that AI will continue to disrupt traditional copywriting and content creation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is AI writing?

AI writing is the creation of content through artificially intelligent software. Typically, these engines use predictive modeling, machine learning, and natural language generators to automatically write copies of varying lengths. The best AI content generator can produce natural-sounding, engaging content in seconds. This content is also search engine friendly.

Whether for headlines, data-driven narratives, press releases, blog posts, or long-form pieces, AI writing has become a useful tool in the content creation process.

What are the benefits of using AI writing software

There is no singular list of benefits for using AI writing software, as each engine and product differs. Commonly, however, the benefits of AI content generators include:

• Increased productivity and outputs
• Saved money, increased profits
• SEO-friendly content

Is AI writing free?

AI writing generators range in price, but there are currently free solutions on the market. Normally, these versions have limited capabilities but can be upgraded with a paid purchase and subscription - which are typically available as monthly or yearly plans. A free trial is also typically available.