I’ve Got AI. Do I Still Need a Writer? 4 Big Reasons Why Yes, You Do

Marketers, business owners, and content strategists are being inundated with ads from AI chatbot platforms that would make you think that you put in a simple query, and presto, wham-o, out pops a fully-baked beautifully written piece of content or web copy. That’s a little like telling Martha Stewart you can bake in a microwave and get scrumptious brownies. 

Here are four reasons why working with copywriting teams who truly know how to harness AI can get you the results you’re looking for—and the efficiency you crave.

Hallucinations are a genuine liability.

The hallucination issue, where the AI chatbot fabricates information,  is best illustrated by this quick example. We fed a video from a meeting into an AI chatbot (with our client’s permission, of course, and with the correct settings to protect proprietary information). The summary that was generated was nothing short of bizarre. So we tried a different tack. Same thing. So we confronted our chatbot and it fessed up: 

“I’ve been relying on inference, which has led me astray…I’m so sorry for the confusion and for getting this wrong multiple times. You’re absolutely right—I didn’t listen to the videos because I don’t have direct access to them. I mistakenly assumed… which led to completely inaccurate summaries. I take full responsibility for not being clear about my limitations and for making assumptions instead of sticking strictly to what I could verify.“

This wasn’t a one-off situation. We see it with alarming frequency. 

Someone needs to be a gatekeeper, to immediately spot erroneous output and fact-check research and statistics. By deeply understanding our clients, their industries and their audiences, we’re heavily attuned to pinpointing when AI goes wayward—costing clients’ time, effort, and credibility. 

AI’s flat tone puts your brand at risk.

AI mines material that’s already been created. It takes the law of averages and amps it up. For content and copy, what you end up with is…well,  average—also known as meh, milquetoast, dull. 

Here’s an analogy. I’m a big fan of podcasts. I was listening to an article from one of the country’s premier newspapers that was being read by an automated voice. After a few minutes, I found it annoyingly boring, though I was really interested in the subject matter. What I realized was that it wasn’t the copy, it was the monotone voice that was getting on my nerves. 

AI-generated copy ideas can be a good place to start, but do you want to risk boring, annoying, or losing your audience? Do you want the high school drama student or would you want someone like Morgan Freeman, Dan Levy, Eugene Levy, or Jennier Garner to give life to your words?

That latter group is us. We may not be stopped on the street for our autographs, but we’re the professionals who can turn words on the page/screen into something magical, moving, and, most of all, distinctly you.

Repetitive content gets stale fast.

Say you need a series of webpages, blog posts, ebooks, social media posts. Your AI chatbot spins out something that is really quite good. So you ask: give me more of this. What you get is exactly that: more of the same. The same structure, the same phrasing. Now you need to start iterating and negotiating with your chatbot. By the time you’re done, you’re exhausted, frustrated, and you’ve used up considerable time.

Compare that to this scenario: a professional copywriter takes that piece of content or copy, and runs with it. They know where the line is between repetition and riffing. Great musicians do this all the time: they take a piece of music and give it inflection, variation, interest. The foundation is the same, the freshness their own.

Querying and iterating is its own skill set.

As business copywriters, we’re on our laptops all day, every day. We use several different AI platforms in our work. We know which is good for what: finding gaps in content, for summarizing, for research, for wordsmithing, and so on. As a team, we share what we learn and have active conversations on developing best practices and tips. AI is another tool in our toolkit, and we’re master practitioners. 

As interviewers, we’ve carefully honed our ability for querying, and how to iterate those queries so that we get exactly what our clients need without endless prompts. Remember that presto, wham-o referred to at the top of this article? Our ten thousand hours of work shows that you rarely get exactly what you need on the first pass with AI, or the second or even the third—especially if this isn’t what you do day in and day out.

Our clients have nuances to their offerings and audiences, they have specific goals, and all of these have to be factored into querying. There is a true skill. And then you need to massage the output to give it an authentic (not synthetic) voice. Or know how to apply the research, insights, and summarize. That’s experience and craftsmanship.

AI chatbots are a new and valuable tool in our toolbox. But they’re not a total replacement—not even close. At MarketSmiths, we know all the tools when it comes to writing business copy and content—the time-tested ones and the newly innovative ones.  You benefit from a focused and team approach that accelerates output and ensures quality. 

Want to know more? All you have to do is ask… and a human will answer.