For the last two years, organizations, employees, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and everyone else have been asking one question over and over again: “Can AI replace human writers?” From a writer’s point of view, I would most definitely answer, “No.” But why is that? This is what I will be talking about here.
With almost a decade of experience in content writing, I find myself qualified enough to make sense out of looming discussions like AI-generated content vs. human-written content, is AI content good for SEO, does AI lack creativity, and so much more. In this blog, we will be extensively discussing all the above queries. Alongside a few more points that I feel are a necessary part of this trending conversation.
AI-Generated Content Vs. Human-Written Content: What’s the Preference in 2026?
There’s no alternative to human intelligence. If we consider the advent of AI, where did it all start? Of course, from the human brain, AI is human-generated to make our lives easier and more efficient. That’s the approach towards AI-generated content: quicker, more efficient, and easier to generate. Resultantly, organizations of all types and across various industries are using the hybrid approach. Human-written content for creativity and uniqueness, and AI-generated content for efficiency.
Honestly, I use AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc., to get inspiration when I’m in a hurry or need to meet tight deadlines. Or, when I need to repurpose one piece of content for different platforms. Suppose I wrote a 2000-word blog, and I need to promote it across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This is when I open Perplexity to:
- Repurpose content for social media platforms
- Format content according to each platform
- Shorten content
- Get hook lines from my human-written content.
Though AI-generated text is far improved now, thanks to the introduction of OpenAI’s ChatGPT based on GPT-4, a version more powerful, accurate, fluent, and comes with a larger vocabulary. These AI platforms are trained with Natural Language Processing (NLP) and deep learning. This training process proves that there is no originality in AI content writing. They are trained and fed with knowledge by us, humans.
Is AI Better Than Humans at Writing?
The whole purpose of content is to tell a story. No matter what type of target readers you have, they need to find value in your content. Once you achieve that, you have completed your goal. But, where does AI fit in this process of content creation? Human writers can have a lack of inspiration or writer’s block. Then, using AI tools to inspire you is a smart move. It can give you ideas and outlines, show what others are writing on similar topics, basically, you can get a starting point.
If you are thinking that AI can completely replace you, that’s not possible. Let me tell you why. Content that drives results today is well-curated, provides value, builds trust, and results in action. To achieve that, you must have a deep understanding of your brand, industry, and the audience. This is where AI doesn’t function well. You can’t substitute human experience and expertise with AI tools. You can get AI to write a content outline, and then use human intelligence to refine it with creativity and insights. That’s when your content will shine the brightest.
If you want to dig deeper into this context, you can refer to my Artificial Intelligence Vs. Human Intelligence blog. A short excerpt from it reads like,
“Now, coming to the ultimate question, “Can AI replace human intelligence?”
Karim Lakhani, professor of Harvard Business School, has been studying the impact of machine learning and artificial intelligence at the workplace for several years. According to his experience, AI Won’t Replace Humans, But Humans With AI Will Replace Humans Without AI.”
Does AI Lack Creativity?
Before answering this question, I need to tell you about the advent of human creativity. Have you ever thought about when we became creative?
We, humans, have come a long way. From writing on cave walls to developing artificial intelligence. All our creations are shaped by ingenuity or creativity. Cognitive experts state human creativity follows 2 paths, type 1 (like ‘aha’ moments) and type 2 (conscious) procedures.
English psychologist Graham Wallas reveals the famous ‘4 stages of creativity.’
- Preparation (Gathering information/ researching)
- Incubation (Formation of subconscious connections by avoiding the problem)
- Inspiration (Experiencing a breakthrough)
- Verification (Reviewing and drafting for refinement)
We have been following this process for millennia to reach where we are today. Compare this iconic human journey to that of AI. Now, do you think AI is creative? The simplest answer is a big and fat ‘NO.’
Related: AutoGPT: The Future of Autonomous AI Assistants
Human Creativity Vs. Artificial Intelligence Writing
After all these discussions, let’s come to the real deal, human creativity versus AI content.
| Aspect | AI Creativity | Human Creativity |
|---|---|---|
| Creativity & Innovation | No originality or creativity, all gained from training, but it can give creative ideas | Learns from experiences, uses imagination, capable of adding emotions, and cultural relevance |
| Context Awareness | Repeats human understanding, lacks cultural awareness that’s absent in its training | Can grasp culture changes and subtleties, adds cultural knowledge to writing, making it richer and more relevant |
| Problem-Solving Capacity | Can quickly go through massive datasets, generate creative solutions, but within the training limit | Solves problems using intuition, reasoning, and emotion |
| Creative Decision-Making | Decisions based on statistical possibilities, no ethical judgment | Makes decisions by combining logic, ethics, and emotion, but can have biases |
AI Content Writing Advantages and Disadvantages
Some of the biggest advantages of AI content writing are:
- Can quickly produce massive amounts of content. Good for high-scale organizations with large content strategies that require quick content creation, updation, and variations.
- AI does not require a salary, expensive training, or job benefits. This makes AI a more cost-effective solution than hiring multiple content writers. Today, most AI tools are free-to-use or have a minimal subscription fee.
- AI tools can perform on-page SEO, such as using meta tags, keywords, headings, captions, etc., to enhance visibility and SERP ranking. These tools can also collect and analyze data from social media, web analytics, and customer behavior to curate the perfect content. But, they can’t be 100% trusted; human writers need to verify data and sources provided by AI.
Some AI content writing limitations are:
- AI tools lacks comprehensive understanding of context, nuances, and subtleties of spoken language. This can confuse and lead to inaccuracies and irrelevance.
- Artificial intelligence does not have many ethical judgments and social responsibilities that we, human writers, have. This can lead to misinformation, bias, and plagiarism.
- Training data for AI is limited and can be of unknown quality. That’s why AI’s content can have a lesser scope and diversity than human-written content.
Is AI Content Good for SEO?
I have read several blogs across the internet on this exact topic. Most of the websites mention SEO on just one search engine, Google, but leave out others like Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, etc. So, I will include what AI content can do to your website’s ranking on all popular search engines.
As a matter of fact, Google or any other search engines do not care where you are getting your content. Whether it’s AI-generated or human-written. They care about what impact it has on readers, whether it adds any value and purpose, whether or not it answers queries, and whether it is informational.
Google has introduced strict content guidelines, majorly focusing on E-E-A-T, Experience, Expertise, Authoritiveness, and Trustworthiness. Once your content checks out all these boxes, it is good to go. Other search engines follow a similar principle.
This is why many organizations are posting human-edited AI content with SEO without having to worry about where the content comes from. This also has a formal term, augmented intelligence, a combination of artificial and human intelligence. Just like your parents, a match made in heaven!
Tips to Use AI Content for SEO
- Use AI tools to get keyword ideas, both short and long-tail.
- Use it for research, data, and hard-to-find information.
- You can also use it for content formatting or creating an outline.
How Not to Use AI Content for SEO?
- Do not publish content with inaccurate information.
- Content without any human emotion.
- Content that is not original.
Related: What Is AI Companion? Its Features, Applications & Popular Examples
Conclusion: Should Businesses Use AI for Content Writing?
Most definitely! AI content in businesses is going be an integral part of long-term success and customer outreach. It‘s not a question of human creativity vs artificial intelligence writing. Combining AI and human intelligence in creative content writing is the key.
As I have already mentioned briefly, it’s not just AI or human intelligence but the era of augmented intelligence. It involves the strengths of both AI and humans, leveraging the best of each one to reach the greatest height in content marketing. Many brands have created AI influencers to promote their products on viral social media platforms. If they can do it, you can too. Maybe not in such refine and expensive way, but in smaller, creative ways.
How about starting with content?
