In this blog, Alex Eve, Senior Content Creator at Whiteoaks, discusses:
- The growing role of AI in content creation
- The continued value of human judgement and originality
- Why authentic, distinctive content is crucial for B2B brands
AI-generated content has been flooding the internet since ChatGPT’s introduction in November 2022. According to figures by Graphite, the number of AI-generated articles now equals that of human-written content.
But there is a backlash brewing against AI use. A major science publishing platform, arXiv, is taking drastic steps to cut down on ‘AI slop’ by rejecting papers with AI-generated errors. Researchers will be banned from further submissions for a year if their work contains hallucinated citations: references to completely fabricated research.
More businesses are taking note of generative AI’s tendency to simply make things up. Human-led fact-checking against cited sources is therefore likely to remain a necessity in this context. SAGE Publishing has also introduced mandatory disclosure rules, where submitters must state if AI was used in writing or content generation for further evaluation. So with AI resistance growing, where does this leave the humble content writer?
Surfacing in AI-search results
Something interesting has happened in the last year or so. The 50% of AI-generated content that makes up online articles has not increased. Original creations by humans look set to hold steady moving forward.
But why has this plateau occurred? In addition to defiance in the academic world, another reason put forward by a separate Graphite study is that AI-generated content doesn’t perform well in search and answer engines. The articles that rank in Google Search are 86% human-written and 14% AI-generated.
In a strange twist of fate, the very technology that has threatened original writing is also demanding it if businesses want to have a visible presence online. To surface in AI search results, human experience, intuition, storytelling and empathy are going to continue to play a key role. AI might create a solid outline of an article, but heavy human editing is going to make it read-worthy to bots.
Common AI tells
The quality of AI-generated text has improved over the last few years, most likely due to input from humans to help train it. But there are still tells that remain. When ChatGPT was first introduced, some of its go-to phrases were “cornerstone”, “underscoring”, “navigating the complexity” and a personal favourite among the Whiteoaks content team: “beacon of light”.
Later, contrastive negation became a preferred rhetorical structure – “it’s not just X, but Y,” a form of antithesis to highlight a stark contrast between two things. ChatGPT also likes to say that a lot of stuff “matters”.
Of course, lots of stuff does matter, and terms such as “cornerstone” and the use of contrastive negation all have their place in written content when used sparingly. But when those hallmarks appear in every piece of content across the web, we lose the unique style and tone offered by individual human writers.
Everything ends up sounding the same.
In our line of work, a generic style doesn’t wash. The clients we work with have a specific tone of voice that they want to get across, and AI can’t fully replicate those nuances. Overuse of AI can also churn out the same buzzwords across different content pieces. Many solutions are efficient and scalable, but what’s the story behind those benefits?
Resonating with audiences in the B2B world
Copy-and-pasted text from generative AI platforms will do little to give tech brands and their spokespeople a distinctive voice on industry challenges and how best to solve them. Leaders are the face of a business, and their authenticity is key to building a company’s reputation with audiences.
But building that authenticity and an effective personal brand depends on content. Human writers can steer clear of the same well-worn AI phrases, capture the perspectives of thought leaders and create original and captivating copy. An integrated PR campaign can then ensure that content is repurposed for media placements, blogs and posting on both personal and corporate social channels.
Again, AI tools can really help get past a blank page when starting a new piece of content. It’s great for idea generation. But audience-facing content must be shaped and edited by a human specialist to capture the right tone of voice and context.
AI isn’t going anywhere in content creation, but neither are human writers. Speak to our experts about the value of exceptional human-crafted content.
