AI Writing: Pros, Cons, Insights, and Powerful Tools

What is AI in Writing?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is proving to be valuable in the digital world, and is only expected to grow in its capabilities, usage, and need. And whether we like it or not, most of us use or encounter AI daily, be it through facial recognition, smart home devices, voice assistants, and more. Knowing it’s a part of our everyday lives doesn’t make it surprising that the use of AI in content creation is rising, thus sparking questions for many brands, business owners, and copywriters around the globe.

Is AI effective in creating content? Do I miss out on the human element when using AI writing tools? What is ChatGPT? How can I best use AI in writing for my company or clients? Will AI replace my job?

What Influence Does AI Have on Writing?

If you’re staying in the know, you might have seen many content and marketing thought leaders saying something like, “AI won’t replace writers, but writers who use AI will replace writers who don’t.” This statement is eliciting various reactions and opinions, but one thing is certain, the use of AI in content creation is growing and creators of AI tools will continue finding ways to make them more effective.

The reality is, the brands that aren’t producing relevant, high-value content frequently are falling behind — and AI helps mitigate this issue as it allows writers to produce more content and to do it faster.

Good human writing doesn’t just happen, it requires time, thought, and practice. Writing is an involved process, and writers who generate blog content likely follow or consider the following factors: research (topic/SEO), topic selection, content outline, content creation/writing, review/edits. Today, AI writing tools can help writers streamline some steps in their writing process and make the writing better — and in some cases, these tools can even generate an entire piece. The question is, how quality and accurate of a piece can AI generate? Some writers utilize AI writing tools exclusively for content outlines, while others add inputs that generate entire blog articles. In either case, the more the writer knows, or the better the writer, the better the output. And still, we must not forget about the limitations of AI (hang tight, we're almost there).

What are the Pros and Cons of AI Writing Tools?

While AI is intelligent, it’s not perfect. It has its own unique advantages and disadvantages, and just like any other tool, the strategy team at VIA encourages brands to consider how AI affects their writing approach. Let’s explore some of the pros and cons of AI for writers, content creators, and the advertising industry overall.

Pros:

• Increases efficiency. Regardless of how it's used, it will save time. What previously took hours, can take minutes with AI-assisted writing.
• Saves money. It’s probably more expensive to hire a human than to use AI writing tools. Start ups, businesses with a tight budget, or those that lack resources to hire/support writers might consider AI tools.
• Contains various capabilities. Every AI writing tool varies, but some can generate blog topics, assist with SEO, generate location-based messaging, and more.
• Improves over time. AI is still fairly new, and it’s bound to improve with time to make writing easier, faster, and better. Right now, it’s the worst it’ll ever be.
• Provides learning opportunities. Using AI tools frees up time which allows writers to focus on other aspects of their work.

Cons:

• Lacks humanness. AI can’t replace storytelling. Most AI writing tools can’t accurately capture brand voice or write compelling copy that resonates with users the way a skilled writer can.
• Limited perspective. AI can only execute what it’s trained to do, therefore there are limitations in its outputs.
• Risks inaccurate info. In addition to grammar, syntax, and punctuation errors, AI generated content can include inaccurate information and even risk plagiarism as it scrapes the internet for existing information on topics.
• Minimal emotion or creativity. AI tools attempt to replicate humans/the real world, but they aren’t effective in generating content with human emotion, nuance, conviction, and experiences of a specific person/brand.

AI writing tools shouldn’t be seen as technology that will replace humans, but rather as a supplemental tool for writers. Ultimately, AI writing tools pose a variety of benefits and writers should leverage AI to produce better content in less time.

Popular AI Writing Tools and Technologies

If you’re new to the world of AI, or just want to learn more about the various writing tools and technologies in the market, this is a good place to start. AI is piquing the interest of not only our strategy and creative departments, but our clients and friends of VIA, and as we gain more experience using AI tools and technologies, we will update this blog.

ChatGPT - Developed by OpenAI, the same company that created DALL-E, the AI art generator, ChatGPT has gained a lot of hype in the last few months. With its language model, humans can ask questions and receive outputs, feed ChatGPT a prompt and have short and long-form copy in seconds, and more. Since ChatGPT is fairly new, it’s still developing, meaning there’s room for improvements. OpenAI’s website includes a section on ChatGPT limitations and states the following, “ChatGPT sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers.” Learn more about ChatGPT, GPT-4, OpenAI, and more.

Jasper - This generative AI platform allows people and businesses to create content in various forms, including but not limited to, social media copy and video script copy. Jasper’s website includes eight ways the tool can help its users unlock their creative potential here.

Writer - This AI platform is another popular tool used to generate content. Writer leans into its capabilities to learn a brand, including voice, style guide, and more, to generate content. Explore more about the product here.

I’ve attended two conferences/events since October 2022 that co-founder and CEO of Writer, May Habib, has been a guest speaker. I’ve been able to learn about Writer, its capabilities, and how to most effectively use the tool.

Though AI tools and technologies are generating mixed opinions, reviews, and even uses, the reality is that AI technologies will continue to grow and be used in society.

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It’s important to know how your industry will be affected by AI, and how you can use AI as an opportunity to reach your business goals, save money, and be more efficient in your approach.

Learn about our services and how our strategy and design departments can help you reach your content strategy, copywriting, and branding goals. Contact us today.