At the age of 7, I saw Bicentennial Man for the first time. Walking out of that movie theater, I determined that robots were the coolest (even with the threat of Y2K looming on the horizon).
Fast forward 22 years and all I hear are stories, experiences, conspiracy theories, and expert opinions pointing toward robots and artificial intelligence (AI) taking over the planet. More specifically, taking over my job.
The first time I heard someone say that AI could do my job as a copywriter better than I could, I was in a crowded meeting room at a marketing conference. I remember my chest tightening and my hand following suit, ready to fling the Coke can I was desperately sipping from.
I remember thinking, “How dare that guy say that?! Doesn’t he know I live and breathe for writing content?!”
I live and breathe.
Looking back, I realized that thought was 100% accurate. And it’s the #1 reason a robot will never take my job.
AI Can’t Replace Our Humanity
You see there’s one thing AI doesn’t have that I do: Humanity. When I admire cacti too close, I bleed. I take Tylenol for headaches. I laugh at corny jokes. And I care deeply about the things that make me believe life is worth living.
AI is not a replacement for humanity. It never will be.
Guess what… these are the things the human at the other end of the marketing messages - I create experiences too. These are the things that motivate a human to send an email, call a number, donate, spend, give, connect. These are the things that bring a tear to your eye, a chuckle to your throat, and a burning need to act to your gut.
AI will never replace this humanity and our ability to communicate beyond the spoken or written word. It will never replicate our empathy, compassion, or pursuit of justice. A brain can only do so much without the heart (whew…I need a break after that one).
AI Won’t Take My Job, But It Will Improve It
No, AI won’t take my job. Someone still has to put a voice to the content after all. But, AI will definitely help me and other marketing peeps out when it comes to creating a copy.
AI Delivers Crazy-Detailed Data
As marketers, we already use data to help us choose which direction we want to take with our content. After all, when you have the insights to help you create more personalized content, why not use it?
AI will take this use of data to the next level. For example, AI can help us take advantage of predictive analytics, which can do wonders for content. For example, AI will help us predict where readers are in the buyer’s journey, so we can tailor content accordingly. As a result, we can offer the highly personalized content readers crave.
AI can also see patterns that we would most likely ignore or overlook. Perhaps a certain type of blog post gets read more often at a specific time each month. AI can communicate those trends to us, so we can provide the highly targeted content our audience is looking for at all times.
AI Removes the Need for Manual Search Optimization
We all know the tedious work that comes with optimizing a single blog post for search. But, we do it anyway because even the highest quality content is no good if it’s not found by its intended audience.
The good news is, there are AI tools that currently exist to help pinpoint ways an existing piece of content can better rank for specific keywords. Other tools exist that perform competitive analysis on similar content, so you can write pieces that fill holes in what’s already out there. As a result, your content may rank higher based on quality.
And better rank = more eyes on your high-quality content = more people served. Win, win, win.
AI Delivers Content Topics Readers Care About
One of the worst things that can happen to a content writer is running out of ideas. For me, this is where AI truly delivers value in my daily life.
What’s funny is AI for content keywords and topic generation isn’t something new. In fact, many tools have existed for quite some time that assist with this.
For example, Answer the Public is a social listening tool that provides popular questions asked via Google about a specific keyword. And Hubspot’s Content Strategy tool provides users with quality content ideas based on performance, relevance, and more.
While a single content brainstorming session can take hours, these tools take seconds. Again, saving you time, effort, and frustration.
AI Empowers Us to Spend Our Time Doing What Matters Most
Regardless of what AI can do, it will never be an excuse for us to ignore the need for personal, authentic, and empathic writing. It is a fantastic excuse for us to spend even more time perfecting our humanity and writing high-quality and valuable content.
I guess robots are still kinda cool after all.