In 1997, something incredible happened: IBM’s Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov, the reigning world chess champion. It was the first time a computer had bested a human at the pinnacle of chess, showcasing AI’s potential. This wasn’t just a flashy victory; it was a moment that signaled the dawn of a new technological era.
After this moment, Mr. Kasperov had the idea for a new type of game, “Advanced Chess.” Human-computer teams worked together, combining human players' strategic insight with machines' computational power. These hybrid teams consistently beat humans and computers working alone. Viswanathan Anand, who won these tournaments in consecutive years from 1999–2001, shared a keen insight:
I think in general people tend to overestimate the importance of the computer in the competitions. You can do a lot of things with the computer but you still have to play good chess.
The parallels are strong and obvious when applied to marketing and AI. We’re in the Advanced Chess era of content marketing: AI is transformative, but you still have to be a good marketer.
Current State of AI in Content Marketing
AI-assisted content production is here and growing.
More than 44.4% of marketers have used AI for content production, and 88% of SMB marketers believe their organization needs to increase their use of automation and AI to meet customer expectations and stay competitive.
Today’s AI tools, like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Anthropic’s Claude, are incredibly advanced. They understand language well and can generate high-quality content. They are tireless machines capable of generating more content in moments than you and I could hope to read in months.
They are incredibly powerful, but there’s one problem. They’re stupid.
The Clumsiness of AI Alone
While these large language models excel in quantity and human-like generation, they lack intuition and true creativity. This deficiency prevents them from creating truly engaging and impactful content that resonates with audiences on a deeper level.
You should have seen the first draft of this article: bland drivel.
We’ve seen AI do some silly things like recommending glue pizza and setting new legal precedents for lying to grieving passengers in the Air Canada lawsuit.
AI is fantastic at dumping out metric tons of content, but it suffers from a lack of context, emotional intelligence, and nuance. (What is nuance but the practical filter of wisdom that comes from lived experience?)
Think about what’s happening when an AI writes a blog post. By definition, AI writes the most likely words next. It creates content based on what’s most predictable. This works well for communicating information, but oh boy, is it boring. It lacks the spark of creativity and insight that sets interesting writing apart. If you’ve ever read an AI-generated article and thought, “This is missing something,” that’s because it is—it’s missing soul.
And then there are the hallucinations. Like an overconfident recent graduate, AI asserts incorrect facts with gusto. Perhaps referencing non-existing supporting evidence or creating social posts with outdated or fictional product data (similar to the Air Canada customer service response). These errors aren’t just embarrassing; they erode trust and damage your credibility.
AI’s worst offense? Stripping words of their humanity. Without the human touch, the content becomes robotic, devoid of the emotional connection that drives real engagement.
AI can mimic, but it can’t feel. It can process, but it can’t understand.
Obviously, relying solely on AI for content creation doesn’t work if you care about quality. But what about the good ole’ days of people writing words manually?
The Limitations of Humans Alone
Let’s face it: content marketing is exhausting work. You slog through endless research, writing, and editing to launch something new, only to restart from zero the next morning—it’s a grind.
“Do more with less” has been the mantra for decades, and nothing exemplifies this more than the content treadmill. In this relentless, fast-paced, always-on market, relying solely on human effort causes burnout and leads to missed opportunities because you’re too tired to capitalize on them.
When was the last time you had to pull an all-nighter to meet a content deadline? Last month? How many cups of coffee did it take to keep you going? Or did you measure it in pots?
The struggle doesn’t stop there. Editing and refining copy presents a whole new challenge. Sure, tools like Grammarly catch spelling and grammatical issues, but what about logical ones? The nuances of your argument and the flow of your narrative—without someone to review your work, you easily miss your mistakes.
How often have you stared at the same piece of content for so long that everything blurs together?
Human effort alone means dealing with cognitive biases and errors that can sabotage even the best ideas. The relentless pace demands fresh, high-quality content constantly, and it’s nearly impossible to keep up without burning out.
Why keep running on the same old treadmill? These limitations of human-only content creation aren’t just hurdles; they’re brick walls blocking your path to effective marketing.
AI and Human Collaboration: A Winning Team
The future of content marketing isn’t about choosing sides; it’s about getting better content and faster content—the best of both. AI can churn out data and drafts, but only humans can refine them, imbue them with meaning, and truly connect with an audience. It’s time to stop pretending AI is the ultimate solution and recognize it for what it is—a powerful tool that needs the guiding hand of human creativity to truly shine.
Combine AI’s speed and efficiency with your creativity and judgment. AI can assist you in brainstorming, drafting, editing, and optimizing content.
The result? High-quality content is produced faster and better than using traditional methods.
Dismissing AI like ChatGPT as a fad or an inferior tool is like preferring a typewriter over a modern word processor. It might feel nostalgic, but it’s not practical. It’s art. Embrace AI not as a replacement but as an enhancement to your marketing efforts.
How AI and Human Collaboration Works in Practice
Let’s examine how I created this post with ChatGPT 4o. If you have read this far, you will not be surprised to learn that this wasn’t a one-sided effort—it was a collaboration to demonstrate the power of combining AI with human creativity.
First, I kicked things off with my initial ideas and structure. My insights set the foundation, framing the key points and outlining the narrative. This initial draft was crucial—it provided direction and substance. But you already know the first draft was garbage. It usually is, no matter who writes it.
Next, ChatGPT refined my draft, challenging my points, expanding on others, and injecting energy into the language. I highlighted the exhaustion of content marketing, and the AI hammered home the relentless grind and the absurdity of all-nighters fueled by pots of coffee. This back-and-forth—my edits and the AI’s refinements—sharpened the content.
The AI didn’t just refine—it introduced new content, pushing us to think deeper. When I mentioned tools like Grammarly, the AI questioned how we address logical errors without human review. This push-pull collaboration kept the content sharp and comprehensive.
The result? High-quality content produced in a fraction of the time. This iterative back-and-forth—my insights and writing, combined with the AI’s refining, challenging, and new content creation—demonstrates the unstoppable force of human-AI collaboration.
Dismissing AI like ChatGPT as a fad or inferior tool is like preferring a typewriter over a modern word processor. Nostalgic? Maybe. Practical? Absolutely not. I embrace AI not as a replacement but as an enhancement to make my work better and give substance to my ideas.
Practical Applications and Future Trends
So, how can you leverage AI in your content marketing? Think personalized content creation and real-time customer engagement. AI can analyze customer data to create highly targeted content that resonates with specific segments of your audience. It can also engage with customers in real-time, providing instant responses based on where they are in the customer journey.
There are many possible applications, from copy editing and email personalization to dynamic ad adjustments and social media analysis. The promises are big, but the present is already pretty good.
Advanced Content Marketing is Happening Now
AI-assistant “Advanced” Content Marketing is already happening. The stats say that you’re already using AI to create content. How can you push those boundaries to create something novel? To make your work faster and more consistent?
Embrace AI as an enhancement to your efforts, not a replacement. Together, AI’s efficiency and your creativity can deliver the most effective content to the right people at the right time.
Not sure where to start? We can help. Let’s talk.
