A few days ago I reviewed an AI writing tool.
I even published a blog post using this AI writing tool.
Writing tools powered by artificial intelligence use a combination of machine learning algorithms and natural language processing to understand the context of what you want to write and then generate quality content.
In total, artificial intelligence is a big market.
It is predicted that by 2024, it will reach $500 billion.
AI is already being used extensively as virtual assistants, chat bots, insurance processing, and Google search.
AI-powered content writing is a new development.
An AI content writing tool can help you quickly generate lots of text that then you can write according to your requirement.
This way, as a content writer, you can save hours of grunt writing.
Bulk content can also be created for SEO purposes.
But ever since the Google helpful content algorithm update has been rolled out, many SEO experts are going to be cautious about using AI writing tools directly to generate bulk content.
Can content writers benefit from these AI writing tools?
They definitely can.
If you feel threatened by the onslaught of AI writing tools, there is no need.
As of now, these tools are far away from writing like humans.
Like you, they don’t have a unique writing style.
They write well.
There are no grammar and spelling mistakes.
In near future they may even do research to get relevant data when writing articles and blog posts.
But if they are doing the work of content writers, why would someone hire a content writer?
Why not simply work with an AI writing tool?
Many people may choose to do so.
Lots of grunt writing will be done by these tools.
By the end of the day writing is a creative process.
An AI writing tool can write like a content writer with average abilities.
It cannot write like a professional content writer.
The one blog post that I generated lacks emotion and style, and hence, I published it in the name of another writer, and not under my own name.
Some advantages of working with AI writing tools
AI writing tools definitely come with multiple advantages and that’s why there are so many of them these days.
I’m listing some advantages below.
AI content writing tools are good for creating outlines
Creating an outline can be a tedious job.
You may need to gather points from different websites and blogs and then craft your outline.
When I was trying out the Scalenut AI writing tool it asks for some keywords.
Then it asks for the main headline.
Beneath the main headline, you need to enter 200-500 characters about what you want to write.
Then it automatically generates a list of topics and subtopics that you can cover in your article or blog.
For example, it presents you with 5-6 H2-level subheadings.
You can move them up and down.
You can remove them one by one.
You can add your own H2-level subheadings.
You can similarly add your own H3-level subheadings.
It also showcases similar blog posts and articles published by other websites.
It has an interface that automatically makes you write an outline for your blog or article.
Even if you don’t want the AI content writing tool to write for you, it is good for creating outlines and doing some initial SEO research.
Unfortunately, I can no longer use the Scalenut AI tool because when I tried to subscribe it asked for a credit card.
I have a debit card but I don’t have a credit card.
I have contacted them on Twitter, but they haven’t yet responded.
You can scale up content writing
Sometimes your blog or website requires you to make multiple updates in a day.
You can either spend hours writing content, or you may need to hire multiple content writers.
With an AI content writing tool you can generate 1500-2000 words in a matter of a few minutes.
It may not be a perfect article or blog post, but it gives you enough material to edit and reform.
In the time it takes to manually write a single blog post, you can write 3-4 blog posts.
Personally I feel how well your AI content writing tool writes depends on your niche or your field.
I haven’t had a chance to try out various professions with the AI writing tool that I tested.
I tried topics like content writing and copywriting and for that, it was generating decent content.
What about accounting?
What about topics like engineering, medicine, architecture and other topics that require expertise?
What about writing a movie review or a product review?
Most of the AI writing tools are not offering preview without a credit card.
This is a bummer.
Therefore, I haven’t been able to try various topics.
But you can certainly scale up your content writing if your AI writing tool generates good content on your topic.
Make more money as a content writer
Again, this is subject to how well your AI writer writes your content.
But if you can generate lots of content and then revise it according to your writing style, as a content writer you can work much faster.
Most of my clients hire me not just because they need content, they are looking for content in my style or in my voice.
When you can work faster, you can take on more assignments and this way, you can make more money.
You need to keep in mind that your subscription cost may go up as you use more words.
In particular subscriptions, some AI content writers offer up to 10,000 words and some offer 100,000 words.
It depends on which AI tool you use.
An AI writing tool can help you overcome writer’s block
A good thing about AI writing tools is that they don’t suffer from writer’s block.
Writer’s block is a state of mind when you are unable to write.
Suddenly, ideas cease to come.
You cannot think of good words.
You cannot form sentences.
You feel stumped.
In such situations, an AI writing tool can help.
First of all, it asks you questions in such a manner that you are forced to use at least some imagination or creativity.
For example, it will ask you to enter a headline or the title of your web page or blog post.
Then it will ask you to enter a few introductory words.
Based on this information it will present you with an outline.
Even after that if you’re not feeling like writing, you can generate 1500-2000 words to play with.
By the time you are through with the interface, your writer’s block will be over.
Here is a nice blog post on how to generate content writing ideas with an AI writing tool.
What are the disadvantages of using an AI content writing tool?
There are certainly some risks involved when you choose to depend solely on an AI writing tool.
Here are a few disadvantages that you may encounter when using an AI writing tool.
Risk of plagiarism and inferior quality
How good a writer are you yourself?
Can you easily differentiate between quality content and inferior content?
I will tell you why it matters.
When you work with a “human” professional content writer, you can rely on him or her for writing high quality content.
Even if you’re not an experienced writer yourself, you know that you are getting good content because it is being written by a person, manually.
Solely depending on your tool’s judgement can fill your website or blog with lots of inferior quality content.
Can you trust the developers of the AI writing tool?
What if they are simply plagiarising content from other websites and blogs?
It may be difficult to make out whether they are actually using AI and natural language processing to generate text or they are simply extracting text from other websites.
Suppose your command over the English language (assuming that you are writing content in English) is not good.
Can you make out if the language used by the AI writing tool is up to the mark?
What about Google’s wrath?
These days Google is coming down heavily upon websites and blogs that use automated tools to generate lots of content just to improve search engine rankings.
The latest Google algorithm update specifically targets such websites.
What is an AI writing tool but a software that generates text automatically?
Google hasn’t laid out all its cards, but what if its algorithm can make out if you have used an AI writing tool to generate lots of text fast?
Your search engine rankings may suffer irreparably.
Google may be a big reason why many people won’t be using AI writing tools, at least in the coming few months, until the dust settles down on the latest update.
No creativity and imagination
Human creativity and imagination are limitless.
You give me a topic and I can write on it in 10 different ways using the same information.
I can tell you an anecdote about a certain product or service.
I can use storytelling to drive in a point.
I can make a joke.
I can be funny; I can be tragic, and I can evoke fear in the same piece of writing.
An AI writing tool cannot do that.
Its writing is boring and drab.
Even if it tries to be funny, it sounds like an inexperienced writer.
This is one of the biggest reasons why people who really value quality content won’t be using AI writing tools.
My suggestion would be, if you want to use an AI writing tool, use it for research, compiling ideas and creating outlines.
Don’t use an AI writing tool if you are not an experienced content writer because otherwise, you won’t be able to judge its quality.
Also, be careful of what AI writing tool you use.
There are many in the market.
As it happens with every fad, every kid on the block wants to develop the next killer AI writing tool.
Some of them may be resorting to “shortcuts”.
Use a tool only when it is endorsed by authoritative people and publications.
Here is a list of some good AI writing tools.