The Blatant A in AI Writing Tools 

Who's buying your products? Humans.

Who should be selling your products? Humans.

Think the writing world has been revolutionised with the landing of Chat GPT and its counterparts? Think again.

  • Are you aware of the limitations and implications of relying on a bot to produce your copy?
  • Have you really considered the benefits of a human writer over AI?
  • Are there any advantages to AI writing tools?

A competitor who uses a human writer to produce their copy, has the upper hand in business. Why? Read on...

Whether you outsource copy or are a fellow wordsmith, there's a flurry of intrigue and excitement surrounding the rise of AI writing software.

For non-writers, Chat GPT and its counterparts, seem to induce some hand rubbing, guffawing "we don't need copywriters anymore" smarminess. Just command your criteria and the little bot will
regurgitate a neat little blog for you. Ha! Money saved – we go in-house from now on!

For any talented writer that has scratched the surface, you'll have seen these AI writing tools are exactly that – artificial, with a strong A.

Give me a moment to climb on the hill I'm willing to die on; never will an AI writing tool win a literary prize over a human-crafted story.

To put things plainly, if AI story generation is not good enough for literary writing platforms, then it's not good enough for your business.

Who's buying your products? Humans. Who should be selling your products? Humans.

Any copywriter worth their salt understands the power of storytelling. Whether eyebrows deep in a novel or watching a 30-second ad with subliminal messaging, you're nurtured down the rabbit hole and into an alternative world with the intention of leaving you either a slightly, or significantly, different version of your former self.

Here's why I continue to sleep soundly at night, knowing the robots are glitching and busily bumping themselves into the same corner, rather than working at Johnny 5 proportions.

ChatGPT? We don't know her 

And she doesn’t know us. The most famous bot's current knowledge base is limited up to September 2021, meaning it doesn't know anything past this date. Sure, its training data will be updated, but forget about relying on it to know anything about current affairs.

Does that mean it's useful for evergreen content? Not exactly. Evergreen doesn't mean bland, generic copy. It means content that still resonates with your reader, rather than feeding them unseasoned gruel. Why make it plain when you can add a little…spice.

Sir, you can't just make stuff up 

Yes, you read that correctly. The citation of references, articles, and stats that simply do not exist will quickly introduce you to the concept of 'AI hallucination'. It's a sure-fire way to ensure your credibility (and ranking) plummets by pulling facts out of your ass. But hey, it worked for the Brexit bus at the time and look where that got us…

That don't impress me much

On promtping one AI tool to produce a blog on the perfume industry in an 'engaging' tone of voice, the results were anything but. The sheer drivel that followed was as enticing as a parliamentary debate. This isn't high school English with an extensive word count, assigned to someone who'd rather be in PE. Care for a side of syrup to go with your waffle?

If you respect your audience, then for the love of pancakes, don't bore them! In this case the grass really is greener when it comes to the competition and their slick communcation style. Say goodbye to your clicks, and possibly your profit, if you can't be bothered to craft out a decent message.

Speaking of decent messages, AI tools regurgitate and repeat the same words often. One in particular seems to be enamoured with the word 'exceedingly', like a 10-year-old that's discovered a fancier version of 'very'. I don't know about you, but after two repetitions, I start pronouncing it like a monocle has suddenly attached itself to my eye with a brandy glass in hand "exceeeedingly". Even Mr. Kipling himself would consider a new tagline at this point.

Mother tongue 

As a non-native English speaker, AI writing tools may have their appeal in the reach of a new audience and potential market, however, how are you to know the full effect of tone and conviction of a foreign language? Sure, it may be grammatically sound, but can you convince or convert me other than telling me a grey story of the history and benefits of said product? Which takes me to my final, and most important, point.

I Robot 

Writing isn't just words, it's human words. It's the arrangement. It's the nuances. The tricks and the tongue-in-cheek. It's the…flavour.

I could write,

"The four elements in Thai food make this cuisine a world favourite",

or I could write,

"It's so good it'll make you want to slap an ass".

Which are you more likely to remember? Which is more likely to give you clicks by tapping into, and tickling a human audience? And who was the clever cookie that gave you the Johnny 5 reference with its pop-culture knowledge? AI could never.

AI lacks empathy, persuasiveness, and psychology, and the ability to marry and manipulate words with sheer puppeteer mastery. Like a composer arranges musical notes into a symphony, writers craft stories with alchemy precision for a chain reaction sequence; read it, feel it in your soul,
and plant the seed of enlightenment.

AI writing tool benefits 

For the sake of balance and fairness, it's worth mentioning the potential benefit (honestly, I can only think of one right now): AI as a content generator.

Say you have a topic and require subheadings; a tool can come up with offshoots of various points which may help in fleshing out an idea. If that flesh was prosciutto…

Ok, I tried.

The brain is mightier than the bot 

There's little to be worried about if you're a writer with a gram of sass and personality.

Just like calculators and Excel didn't replace accountants, but allowed them to do more, an AI writing tool will never replace writers – good writers to be precise. Human writers, with human experiences, empathy, and humour.

Sure, it'll come in handy for content generation, but you can't feed a lifetime of experience and learnings into a machine and have it weave a story for other humans to read and resonate.

If you want a perfect example of storytelling that AI could never write, go and read Birthing a Business. It's exceedingly good.