Plenty of companies, particularly SMEs, are utilising AI to write content. It saves time and money and can help a website rank on search engines faster.
When answering that all important question – should I use AI to write content for my business? There are crucial factors to consider.
There are big risks involved with AI content and as a business owner it will be up to you to decide whether those risks are offset by the rewards. Let’s explore the fantastic aspects of AI and the pitfalls in more detail.
How AI Content Works
In short, AI and language models can write content by using existing content and reformulating it. If you have ever paid for a writer to ‘spin’ content in the past, this is exactly the process AI uses to generate articles for your business.
Spun content attracted a lot of negative attention and performed poorly comparative to bespoke content, and most businesses steered clear of it.
Because Artificial Intelligence is a new technology, a lot of businesses are turning to it, not realising it is operating in the same way as article spinners did – except it is a ‘robot’ doing the spinning instead of a human.
Refining Content Outputs Using Prompts
To get the best from Artifical Intelligence content, you will need to use prompts. Prompts are like signposts that direct the AI down a certain route. For example, you can prompt the AI to write about a subject in an informal tone or ask it to provide sources for information.
Prompts, when used correctly, can help turn a dry and meaningless piece of content into something more akin to how a human will write.
Using prompts is difficult though and it can take a number of tries to get content you are happy with. In fact, businesses using Artificial Intelligence are hiring writers who specialise in prompts to achieve better results.
AI Content for Business – Advantages
There are three core benefits to using Artificial Intelligence to generate your content.
Cost Effective
Writers range in cost. There are content farms that churn out 1,000s of articles a day by paying low level writers in peanuts. At the other end of the scale, there are prestigious writers who charge a premium for their service.
AI is cheapest of all with only the cost of running a computer.
For companies with tight marketing budgets, Artificial Intelligence has been a gamechanger as it allows them to produce content, they would have previously been unable to afford.
Time Saving
Depending on typing speeds and the amount of research put into an article, humans can take between half an hour to several hours creating content.
Once AI has the prompts it will spit out the content in seconds. Using prompts can be time consuming, perhaps adding 10-15 minutes per article. But compared to a human writer – Artificial Intelligence is much faster.
Fill a Website with Content Quickly
Because Artificial Intelligence can create articles in seconds, once you have your prompt game down, you can easily create hundreds of articles a week for your business.
To get this volume you would need to hire someone dedicated to producing the AI content and then uploading it to your website.
The sheer volume of content you are able to produce quickly means you can quickly create a website full of information for your audience. Helping springboard your business and hopefully generate sales.
Disadvantages of AI Content
The advantages of Artificial Intelligence content are clear for businesses – it will save you time and money, much like most automation processes you can implement across your company.
The disadvantages of AI are often overlooked or not well considered. The drawbacks to AI content are plentiful though and below I have picked key downsides for businesses.
Homogenised Content
Most businesses are brand focused and keen to convey a message with a brand-oriented tone of voice. AI is not great at understanding tone of voice because tone tends to be driven by emotion – which AI doesn’t experience.
Most AI content (even when extensive prompts are used) is similar in tone. This lack of diversity results in websites being indifferentiable from one another.
Instead of standing out from competitors using AI content, by adopting the same process you will invariably end up with similar content and tone.
Lack of Authority – Should I Use AI?
Artificial Intelligence draws any content from other sources. In this respect, AI can never create authority on a subject.
Search engines like Google are especially concerned with promoting results from genuine authoritative sources.
If you are looking to become the leading expert in your field, you should be avoiding Artificial Intelligence content at all costs.
Search Engine Uncertainty
As mentioned above, Google is focused on ensuring the search results people receive are useful and authoritative.
AI can produce useful content, although Artificial Intelligence articles tend to lack detailed insights.
AI content is not authoritative, and Google has recently taken a sledgehammer to spam websites, delisting them entirely.
If this trend continues and the likes of Google see AI content as filling up search results without providing value for their customers using the search engine, there is a possibility that websites using AI content exclusively are dropped from rankings or delisted entirely.
Google and Microsoft AI Misconception
Because Google and Microsoft both invest heavily in Artificial Intelligence technologies, it is often thought they will promote AI in their search results.
The truth is, Google make profit through advertising. If people feel the search results they get from a search engine are low quality and non-human, they will stop using the search engine.
That means Google and Microsoft have a key financial incentive to NOT have Artificial Intelligence content appearing all over search results. They want eyeballs on their adverts.
A good way to think about it is that AI is a great production tool, but it has no consumption value. Google and Microsoft make their money from consumers.
Lack of Originality – Should I Use AI?
With AI content, you will never get a bespoke, brand oriented piece of unique content.
AI relies on existing content. If you are operating in a specific niche, it could even be that Artificial Intelligence is relying on the content of your direct competitors. If your content is a knock off of your competitor’s content, search engines and customers alike are never going to take your company seriously.
Low Quality Content
Although language models are being improved, in their current form, they are pretty average writers.
Grammatically correct to a fault, AI has the technical aspect of writing down, but it cannot evoke emotions. It has no creative flair and the words on the page are always skin deep.
It would require a super AI to even begin to tap into these areas of content production, one capable of thinking for itself and acting independently of programs like ChatGPT.
Would such an AI have interest writing your business content, that remains to be seen.
AI in its current iteration writes largely dry and uninspiring content. Is that how you want to showcase your company to potential customers?
Copyright Issues – Should I Use AI?
All new technologies have a period where existing laws are not designed to regulate them. Legislation takes time to catch up. AI is no different and recently countries globally are enacting new methods of Artificial Intelligence regulation.
Prime among which are enhanced copyright protections. For the most part, existing copyright legislation in the US and UK is already robust enough.
This has resulted in the first lawsuits being filed against AI developers for copyright infringement. In the future, the legal aspects of AI are likely to be scrutinised further and you may find your business liable for using other people’s work.
Low Conversion Rates
Emotions drive conversions. More often than not the buy now button is pressed when your customer has an emotional impulse.
AI content, when compared to expert human content, fairs extremely poorly for conversions. If your business relies on sign ups, product purchases or strong CTAs, you should avoid AI.
As discussed already at length, AI does not generate content that is evocative or emotive.
Reduced On Page Time
Most Artificial Intelligence content suffers from the following factors:
- It is monotonous.
- Writing is dry and even when prompted to be informal, expressions are formulaic.
- In most cases, because AI uses perfect grammar, it also incorporates archaic words because they are technically correct.
All these factors are glaring to readers who are used to reading characterful content. When readers identify AI content, it is an instant turn off, and an instant click away from your site.
On page times, a key metric Google uses to ascertain how good your site is, suffer dramatically when using Artificial Intelligence content.
Ultimately Do What is Best for Your Brand and Business
The only way you can decide whether to use Artificial Intelligence to write your content is by indetifying how you want to present your business to the world.
For some, brand and company reputation is not as important, instead preferring to play the numbers game and get sales wherever possible. Other businesses are very astute about how they showcase their products and services, in which case when answering ‘should I use ai?’ the answer would overwhelmingly be no.
To find out how you can optimise your content, become an industry leader in your sector and generate great returns on investment, check out our content services or book a free consultation.