AI and the writing community are at war, they say. We are afraid that artificial intelligence may take over jobs in content development and creative writing sectors, winning businesses over with speed and efficiency gains.
In fact, a Randstad poll found that 27% of UK workers are concerned that their jobs may be lost within five years due to AI.
And yet, here’s what industry experts think: the key is to work together, complementing each other instead of competing.
Many organizations now utilize AI tools to generate website content or develop materials for marketing campaigns. While these tools deliver excellent gains in turnaround time metrics, they raise doubts about sacrificing originality or the human touch.
We share ideas to maintain a distinct brand voice, sincere and authentic, as your team works with AI and human expertise in tandem.
Essential Training on Using AI Optimally
The rise in the number of AI tools, many of which are free and easy to use, has made this technology ubiquitous. We see such content everywhere, in both text and multimedia forms. Its stilted, mechanical tone describes products, services, and whatnot.
The Guardian reports that over 20% of the videos new YouTube users see are low-quality AI-generated ones. Around one-third is brainrot content, whose intention is to make money.
A fascinating research study by Cornell University scholars found that LLMs also suffer from brain rot when they face continuous exposure to poor-quality content. Even when researchers employed instruction tuning, i.e., feeding high-quality and human-written data to AI models, the results persisted.
The problem of AI creating substandard material could be deeper than in the tool itself. It could be in how we use them. Not going beyond standard prompts or relying on ‘humanizing’ tools to blatantly convert AI-created content is unlikely to feel engaging.
Instead, organizations should consider training their staff on:
- How to select prompts for a subject: For example, how a healthcare product contributes to overall wellness is a more rounded prompt than the standard benefits of the ingredients.
- Maintaining privacy and brand confidentiality while using AI tools
- Using AI to develop outlines and ferret out new points of view for a subject
Partnering With Full-Suite Solution Providers
Another strategy to apply AI and related technologies to branded content is to work with providers who understand your business.
Full-suite providers in this field may offer website development, content creation, and SEO integration. According to Hocoos, AI-led website design, development, and content creation should reflect your brand personality and business needs. Another advantage of this approach is that you don’t have to distribute your attention and money among multiple providers.
- Scout for professional teams who can assist you with diverse business needs, from web development to content creation and measurement of promotional campaigns.
- Maintain an active communication channel with these providers to keep them informed of evolving business needs from a strategic and operational perspective. These changes will also require alignment with content to prevent the brand from coming across as static.
Building Meaningful Content Standards
Several businesses, fearful of penalties for AI-generated content, have boycotted the technology altogether. They use stringent AI detectors to flag ‘AI writing’ and instruct their employees to avoid ‘giveaway’ words and sentence construction.
These attitudes accomplish two things: 1) Proving that your company is tech-averse, and 2) Alienating capable professionals who feel burdened and undervalued.
Instead, a Goldilocks solution is to develop intuitive content standards that align with a changing world and adopt a synergistic approach.
Google clarifies that it does not penalize businesses for using AI to develop content. It only requires that content adhere to E-E-A-T guidelines, i.e., experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
Google also asserts that trust is paramount, with the others supporting it. Accordingly, any branded content you create should demonstrate trust, helping users feel confident and empowered.
Instead of relying on inaccurate AI detectors that often generate false positives and don’t contribute to trust, here are other standards you can embrace:
- Implement a policy that clarifies how content developers should partner with AI tools. Ideally, they should use such tools for research and outlines instead of generating entire chunks of writing.
- Add a clear disclosure for AI-generated content. It should also specify why AI was used and how it helped make the content more effective.
- Prefer to use human expertise for content that can benefit from creative insight and unique perspectives.
The current pace of AI growth signals a future where the technology will pervade across sectors, bringing both convenience and skepticism. For content professionals, working with the technology rather than in strict opposition to it can be more rewarding for sustainable career growth. Committing to training and skill development, partnering with dynamic professionals, and implementing new standards for modern-day content can help businesses navigate this thrilling but challenging phase.