That’s impressive. But it’s never been an issue finding writers. The difficulty is finding good ones.

“It’s like when your child does a drawing,” an SEO Director playfully described ChatGPT’s output to me recently, while discussing its pros and cons. “You’re proud of them, but you’re not going to frame it and put it up on your bathroom wall.”

As content guardians, we can’t risk brand reputation (and our own) on immaturity. We look for writers who:

Know their subject area, audiences and nuances within them. Who get the differences between local markets, and stages of a customer’s journey.

Understand how to write for different digital channels – the language, structure and tone considerations for each.  

In editorial, can research topics thoroughly and bring original thought. In technical copywriting, can make dry subjects clear and engaging. 

Are the type of human who can deal with difficult topics sensitively and engage through expertise and vulnerability. 

One of the reasons clients struggle to bring content operations completely in house is that it’s unlikely one person will be able to tick all of these boxes. 

To create a fully-formed content programme, you need a network of writers, editors, subject specialists and real people, willing to share their stories. Trying to create this in a permanent internal team can become a false economy that sees senior stakeholders become disillusioned with the return on content investment.

Granted, ChatGPT can be used as a starting point for source material. But first you need to know what you’re looking for, as it can only draw from what’s already out there.

You need people for original ideas and AI can’t replace a strategist who shapes why and how these are generated. It can’t build the support structures to activate them: defining content and channel purpose, testing strategies, filters to prioritise the best ideas, controlled vocab and content design systems. And it definitely can’t play diplomat between individuals who have subjective opinions on which ideas are best and most pressing.

Of course, AI is only as intelligent as you can teach it to be. And there’s a fair bit of lesson prep before you can ask it to consistently create relevant, on-brand prose.

You can cover a topic by multiple angles, for multiple audiences. How you identify and choose which makes the difference between helpful and irrelevant content. 

Then you need to get AI writing in your brand voice. To do this you could, in theory, feed it your ToV docs or let it learn patterns from your existing content. But this relies on you having so thoroughly defined and implemented the character, construction and style of your voice – for different contexts – that a language model could pick it up.

The fact is that these content foundations are usually shaky at best – often non-existent. It’s here where the real work lies.