For some content writers, the rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are alarming. Today’s AI can now generate output similar to those written by humans that it’s sometimes challenging to tell which is which.
Just a few months ago, a tech worker named Ammaar Reshi produced a children’s book that’s completely AI-generated.
These advancements have once again raised the question: “will AI replace content writers?”
But will it, though? People always raise this question whenever there’s a significant breakthrough in AI technology. And yet, content writers and other creative specialists are still here, producing vital marketing materials for companies.
To further help alleviate your fears, here are four reasons why AI won’t replace content writers.
What is AI?
Before anything else, let’s first discuss what AI is. Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a simulation of human thought by machines.
Companies utilize AI to provide insights into their operations and perform tedious and detail-oriented tasks such as analyzing and organizing large amounts of data. This improves a company’s efficiency and opens new business opportunities for them.
AI works by absorbing a large amount of data relevant to their programming. Then they analyze these data, find correlations and patterns, and predict future outcomes.
This allows AI to “learn” and produce almost human-like responses in text chats or generate articles and art. These AI writing generators enable companies to write articles for their marketing without much human intervention.
Can AI Beat Human Creativity?
There’s more to content writing than just being grammatically correct. You still need someone to generate new ideas and combine these words and sentences into something meaningful and creative.
No matter how advanced an AI is, it has yet to match human creativity. That is why content writers are still needed.
Unlike humans, AI can’t generate new ideas nor be as expressive in their delivery. It also can’t express nor understand emotions. In addition, AI still lacks critical thinking and the ability to analyze the data they have, unlike human writers.
Just look at some of the texts produced by AI. Sure, they sound okay, but there’s just… something lacking about what they generate. They seem emotionless and monotonous. As if they’re… well, written by a robot.
AI Can’t Think for Itself.
Another reason why AI won’t easily replace content writers is it’s not self-aware. Yet. At least, I hope not.
AI requires human input for prompts on what it should write. They won’t produce content that’s outside of their programming. They can only predict the next word to write based on the prompts given.
So if you program it to write about data entry specialists, for example, it will only produce articles about them. You want them to write about virtual assistant skills? Well, you need to reprogram your existing AI or get a separate AI for that.
Content writers don’t need to be programmed to write. Give them a topic, and they’ll find different angles to approach it with.
People Still Prefer Content Written by Real People.
As mentioned above, there’s just something… odd about texts produced by an AI. No matter how well they create it, it always seems so disjointed to the people reading it.
Humans have a natural desire to consume content from their fellow humans. Before we were utilizing AI in content writing, this seemed obvious. After all, can anything else on earth express something that humans can understand?
So when choosing between reading an article made by an AI or a human, the answer’s pretty obvious. AI may be able to fool search engine algorithms, but it can’t fool a human… most of the time.
It Will Still Take Years to Develop AI That Can Match Humans.
Despite tremendous progress in AI development, it’s nowhere near the level of a human’s critical thinking skill.
Yes, modern AI can absorb an astonishing amount of information, but they still take a long time to process these. Of course, this will keep improving in the future. But as of now, human writers are still better than AI at analyzing and writing quality content.
In addition, programming AI isn’t easy. It takes time and effort for programmers to set up an AI that can produce sensible articles, let alone ones that are particularly compelling.
Let’s compare this with content writers. Yes, they may take some time to train if they’re inexperienced. But once they are, they’ll be able to produce a wide variety of articles for their employers….or for general human consumption.
Machine Vs. Man?
Worrying about competitors for a content writing job is one thing. But should you also have to worry about machines replacing you?
Now before you start panicking, Skynet’s not out to get your job.
Although AI is more advanced than ever, it still can’t fully replace human content writers. They aren’t as creative, cannot think for themselves, and human audiences will always prefer human-made articles.
So don’t worry. Content writers aren’t going the way of the Dodo anytime soon.
If you’re looking to work as a content writer at home, Remote Staff’s the place to go. Our jobs list has many openings for content writers to apply to.
So, what are you waiting for? Sign up today… or an AI might take it! (Just joking.)
