Can writing be automated? I put it to the test!

I’ve got to admit, I was a little apprehensive when I pressed the ‘order’ button on the artificial intelligence writing website I’d landed on. 

What if the result was actually really, really good? 

What if it’s so good, in fact, that you can’t tell the difference between something I would construct after research, interviews and a lot of care and attention, and something some AI software could spit out in a matter of minutes? 

The ‘experiment’, as it was, was done for professional purposes, rather than morbid curiosity. It was part of the content plan for the next issue of a publication I edit. We’d created the content plan around the concept of ‘human’, and looked at it from a number of perspectives – including the future, and which jobs technology could well replace over the coming years. (I also interviewed a futurist, who spoke about houses not having permanent walls in the future, but moveable boundaries that would automatically configure based on the occupants’ needs… but that’s another story for another time!) 

Anyway, a few minutes after placing the order, I received the draft article.

And breathed a huge sigh of relief. 

The reality of AI blog and article writing…

It was readable, yes. It had pulled information in around the core topic that I’d specified (about the future of a particular industry). But it didn’t really make much sense. It didn’t have structure, it didn’t flow. It didn’t tell a story. 

But – and this is a big but – AI content writing will get better. There will likely be better AI writing sites than I used.

Overall though, it will improve – as everything digital does and has. It will be refined, it will learn and it will develop. 

It will become more widely used. 

However, it will always be generic rather than personal. It will be functional rather than meaningful. 

Over the coming years, the internet is going to be flooded with AI created content. It’s going to be everywhere.

But that presents a significant opportunity for good businesses to stand out. 

Business content that brings out the uniqueness of what you do

The content that your business needs to create should be even more personal to you than ever before. 

Don’t just create content about an industry topic – create content on how that topic is affecting your customers. 

Create content on what you personally think about something. Or what you do to achieve something. Or the knowledge you’ve accumulated over the years and how it can help others.

People want to work with people they like. People they (feel as if they) know. People whose expertise they appreciate and respect. Whose knowledge they want to tap into.

Ultimately, a business is a business – but people buy from people. 

People want to work with people they like. People they (feel as if they) know. People whose expertise they appreciate and respect. Whose knowledge they want to tap into.

And that’s the secret sauce for every business who wants to create content.

Your people.

You. 

Teasing stories out of your experts

I hear the same lines trotted out ‘no one wants to hear what I’ve got to say.’ ‘I don’t know what to write about.’ ‘I’ve got nothing interesting to say.’ 

But you have. I promise. Sometimes you just need someone to tease it out, ask the right questions, make it easy and make it happen. 

Because for many businesses, content is one of the first things to get pushed to one side. It slips so far down the priority list because it’s rarely urgent. 

It is, however, vitally important. 

And if you make your people – and their knowledge – the stars of the show, you can stand out a mile.