Every article you see these days seems to praise the new advancements in the world of artificial intelligence. Funnily enough, a lot of these articles seem to be written by AI themselves.
Just to be clear, what exactly is AI-generated content? According to HubSpot, “AI-generated content is machine-made text—such as blogs, articles, descriptions, and other marketing collateral—based on human search queries.” AI tools, such as ChatGPT, pull preexisting information from search engines and create unique content based on people’s search queries using different keywords, phrases or topics. These tools are being used to pump out more and more content at a quicker pace.
Today it seems like all of my agency’s clients that need blog content are requesting AI-generated content. They are thinking that because it is AI, it should be less expensive, right? After all, it’s a computer rather than a human doing the work. This more and more is becoming the prevailing attitude about AI.
So, how can you tell whether that engaging blog post or informative article was crafted by an AI? Using AI detectors can help, but they have their flaws. My own son was recently accused of using AI to generate his 12th-grade English essay. He didn’t. False positives are a common problem when using AI content detectors.
Let’s break down how you can determine whether content was generated by AI.
Lack Of Personal Touch
Authenticity is the name of the game in content creation. AI-created content can’t provide the personal touch, raw emotions and real-life anecdotes that most readers recognize. It doesn’t have a personality or anything else that makes us human. When you’re reading something and it feels as warm and personal as an instruction manual, it’s a good indicator that AI might be behind it. Readers want content that speaks to them on a human level.
Unusual Language
Let’s be real, nobody likes to read content that sounds like a robot wrote it. When you stumble upon content that’s overly formal, weirdly structured or just plain odd, that’s a red flag. You may not recognize it right away, but it’ll feel off, like something is missing. Eventually, you’ll likely come to the conclusion that it wasn’t written by one of us. Humans are all about conversational and relatable content. If it feels like you’re decoding an alien language, AI is usually the culprit.
Repetitive Content
Repetition is a bore. Readers demand fresh, engaging and diverse content. When you notice the same points being hammered home over and over but in slightly different ways, it’s like hearing the same song on repeat—and that’s not a playlist anyone really wants to tune into. It doesn’t help that as more and more AI-generated content ends up on the internet, AI begins to pull from its own content, creating an incredibly stale and repetitive experience.
Lack Of Real-World Experience
Readers want content from folks who’ve been there and done that. AI doesn’t have life experiences. It can’t share stories from wild backpacking trips or the struggles of landing that first dream job. It can only pull from what others have done off the internet. However, without context, that content might end up being irrelevant and could resort back to the boring and uninspired copy as it was before. If what you’re reading feels like it’s straight out of a textbook, devoid of real-world grit, AI might be in the writer’s seat.
Data-Driven But Not Contextual
Numbers without context are like pizza without cheese—plain and unappetizing. Readers want to see data in a real-world context, not just boring numbers pulled from a spreadsheet. If the content bombards you with stats but doesn’t explain why they matter in your everyday life or explain where they came from, it’s like getting handed a puzzle with missing pieces.
Superhuman Consistency
Variety is the spice of life, right? Well, when you notice the tone and quality of content stay consistently perfect from start to finish, it’s a bit like a suspiciously perfect Instagram feed. Writers have their own style and flair. Real people have their unique quirks and variations in writing; AI doesn’t. So when things sound almost unnaturally consistent, you might just be reading the work of algorithms.
Content Needs A Human Touch
AI is a tool, no doubt. And that’s how it should be used. It’s fine to use AI to generate ideas or even a first draft. But let’s be honest, when it comes to creating content that resonates with the majority of readers, you need that human touch. You need content written by real people who’ve lived and breathed the experiences they’re sharing. You need unique content written by writers with their own quirks, mannerisms and opinions. So don’t be fooled by the machines. Choose content that’s real and relatable. As an agency, our policy is not to publish any content that has not been edited by a human. The machines can’t imitate a real human—at least not yet.
