AI-generated content is gaining popularity, but many people wonder how to use it and whether it really sounds authentic.
AI is rapidly growing in technology areas such as supply chain, food industry, chatbots, and content and image generation use cases. AI-generated images made the news when critics claimed that AI art systems were stealing people’s intellectual property with large models such as OpenAI’s Dall-E.
OpenAI introduced a similar AI program for content known as ChatGPT. This bot serves a more general purpose, providing open prompts for users to ask questions, give commands, or request observations. The bot answers both broad and specific questions. The system produced answers that professors and other educators said were broad enough to earn good grades. However, upon further investigation, some sources such as Stack Overflow for programmers and developers stated that the information was inaccurate and temporarily banned answers using the system. There are no limits to the answers ChatGPT can provide, so users could even search for how to make explosives or shoplift.
Businesses are turning to AI tools to assist with content creation and copywriting. The same question is being asked about whether AI will replace content writers. While AI-generated content isn’t suitable for all copywriting, there are some great ways to use these tools.
What is AI-generated content?
AI-generated content includes machine-generated copy of blogs, marketing materials, articles, product descriptions, and more. Humans input information such as keywords, phrases, and topics, and AI content creators generate content.
AI-generated content can help speed up the writing process, and companies are starting to take notice. Marketers may consider using AI-generated content to automate the content marketing process, but this can be time-consuming and expensive.
How does AI-generated content work?
To create content, users enter the desired text format along with topics and keywords. The AI tool then searches the internet and combines the copies according to the requested format. Some tools rewrite a company’s existing content and add information based on web search and editing tools. These tools can take this existing content and rework it for other forms of communication, such as turning blog articles into social media posts or email drafts.
Some content generators are available for free, while others charge for more detailed content.
What are the advantages of AI-generated content?
AI-generated content is valuable in several ways. Here are some advantages.
Efficiency and scalability
AI can create content much faster than humans. This is probably the biggest advantage. Create articles in minutes with AI tools. It would take a human writer much longer to do all the research and write it.
When you multiply rapid response times with the number of articles, AI tools can generate a large amount of content.
AI can also help with language localization for different geographic regions and create social media to personalize this content for different sites.
cost effectiveness
Hiring a quality content writer typically costs several hundred dollars per project, depending on article length, number of articles, and technical knowledge required. And if it leads to high-quality, well-researched content, this could prove to be a good investment.
Some AI writing tools are free, while others have a monthly subscription fee. Typically, the price is around $100 for tens of thousands of words.
With these considerations, AI-generated content may be better suited for simple content than for articles that require expertise or authority.
Improve SEO
AI content generators scroll through thousands of online documents and absorb information. When browsing through all these documents, the generator selects keywords that will improve your search engine optimization (SEO). AI tools can suggest keywords to content creators. Using these keyword ideas throughout your article will help your content appear higher in search engine rankings if it follows the remaining guidelines of being authoritative and written by an individual.
Solve writer’s block
Writer’s block is a common hurdle for many people. Writers can sometimes struggle to create reliable content on subjects they know little about.
To overcome this hurdle, AI tools can create detailed summaries and key points to help writers decide what to include in their articles. These suggestions from AI tools can help users overcome writer’s block and spark the ideas they need to get started.
What are the disadvantages of AI-generated content?
There are several considerations when using AI-generated content. Some content is best written by human writers. Here are some disadvantages of AI-generated content.
Quality concerns and potential plagiarism
AI relies on content data and algorithms. While AI tools can cover the black and white areas of a topic, the gray areas are more subjective and can lose the intended tone.
Since the AI comes from the same source, search engines may also flag your content because it is similar to published material. AI tools stitch together content from different sites and paraphrase it. Without adding the appropriate flows, this process violates Google’s “Content Merging and Merging” guidelines. Content needs to be reliable and informative, but it’s difficult to piece together information from different sites without proper human review.
Algorithms devalue content
In August 2022, Google released a helpful content update to penalize content that is created with the purpose of ranking high in search engine results.
In March 2024, Google once again rolled out an update that improved some of its content ranking systems. This update is intended to help users determine if a web page is useless, has a poor user experience, or appears to prioritize keywords over being useful to readers.
lack of creativity and individuality
Creative content makes articles more appealing. People tend to share articles they feel connected to, but AI doesn’t have the emotional intelligence to create a story. The focus is generally on adding facts to the summary.
AI relies on existing web content and data to develop wording. The technology does not understand the intent of the user’s queries and still lacks common sense of human behavior.
Human editing still required
People still need to read AI-generated content. AI may save time, but humans still need to check the quality of articles.
AI tools combine information from multiple websites into one. There may be confusions that need to be corrected, such as in the product description of textures or colors. This is generally due to the inability of AI tools to understand the meaning of adjectives.
no new ideas are born
AI tools use existing data for content and cannot generate new ideas. AI tools make it difficult to come up with new content that covers the latest trending ideas and topics.
How to use AI-generated content
AI-generated content is best used as a writing assistant rather than in a way that relies strictly on technology. Here are some ways you can use AI tools to help your content.
the study. For writers who have trouble organizing topics or coming up with ideas, AI-generated content can help you get started. Some tools provide ideas about what to include in broader topics to help narrow down the research process. Proofread current material. To ensure that drafted articles are optimized, writers can run them through AI tools for each grade. This tool can also highlight keywords and phrases you should use. AI tools can further help you check grammar and correct spelling mistakes. Write short content. AI tools can create large amounts of content in a short amount of time, making them a great way to reduce boredom caused by repetitive tasks. Some communications require a more emotional aspect, while some short descriptions do not. Product descriptions, meta tags, ad copy, and social media posts are examples of short texts that are suitable for content generators. Translate languages. To create documents that appeal to all audiences, AI generators can help translate your content into different languages. Create a template. AI tools can help create email and other templates. Some AI tools provide different types of ready-made templates for users to enter customized information.
Examples of AI-generated content
There are many AI content generators available. Below is an example of how content generation works using a program called CopyAI.
Select a font from the left. Answer the topic. Add key points. Choose a tone.
Screenshot of the CopyAI content generator with information at the time of article creation.
Several text options will appear. Here is the content generated by AI from the input information. This was the first option intended to mimic the information in this article.
AI is an amazing technology that has the potential to change our world and the way we live in it. But like any new technology, AI-generated content has its pros and cons, both of which businesses need to be aware of before deciding whether to use it.
First the pros:
1) AI-generated content allows businesses to create more content with fewer resources, saving time and money.
2) Businesses can create highly personalized content for each customer, increasing customer satisfaction.
3) AI-generated content ensures that all information is correct, so if something goes wrong with your business operations (for example, if you send an email with incorrect information), you will be charged a high fee. This will help prevent potential lawsuits and negative publicity.
Now let’s talk about some of the cons.
1) AI-generated content can sound unnatural (as if written by a robot), which can make customers feel uncomfortable and distrustful of your business . No matter how much effort you put into making sure everything is correct, it’s no good if the end result ends up sounding like a robot.
2) If someone finds out you were reading AI-generated content.
Much of the information in this TechTarget article is outlined in the AI-generated content above. However, even if you choose a friendly tone, AI content isn’t particularly comprehensive or conversational. This TechTarget article explains it in more detail and provides an example. AI-generated content seems more like a summary and requires additional information to resemble a human-written article.
How to detect AI-generated content
There are bigger concerns about AI-generated content. That means students are using these tools to cheat. Several professors and teachers said the AI-generated content on ChatGPT created more persuasive essays.
To help distinguish between human and AI text, OpenAI announced a new AI text classifier on January 31, 2023. However, the company retired the text classifier in July 2023 due to low accuracy. There are other online tools that can help detect AI-generated content. This is done by classifying the likelihood that the content was written by a human or an AI. These resources include Originality.ai, Writing.com, and Copyleaks.
OpenAI is also working on creating watermarks as direct identifiers for long AI-generated texts.
In addition to running the text through an online AI content detector, there are several other signs that the content was generated by AI. For example:
There are fewer typos. Human writing often contains typos and slang. AI-generated content is less likely to have grammatical errors, misspellings, and other typos. Overuse of “the”. AI-generated content is based on predictive language that determines what word should come next, so it typically uses words like “the,” “it,” or “is” instead of unusual terms. words are used. No source cited. AI-generated text often presents facts but does not cite sources. short sentences. The sentence length of AI content is typically short as it attempts to mimic human writing, but it often appears choppy. Repetition of words or phrases. If certain words or phrases are used frequently, this could be a sign of AI-generated content as the AI is trying to fill the space with related keywords. Lack of analysis. AI can collect data, but it cannot analyze it. If an article feels like it’s full of facts without any insight, it might be generated by an AI.
Editor’s note: This article was updated in July 2024 to improve the reader experience.
Amanda Hetler is a senior editor and writer at WhatIs, where she writes technology commentary and works with freelancers.
