Generative AI adoption has skyrocketed in the last 12 months. Three out of five workers currently use or intend to use it at work. And 76 percent of marketers have already adopted it to create content and write copy.
And yet, AI content creation still poses serious concerns. According to Salesforce’s Generative AI Snapshot Research Series – an ongoing research study of over 4,000 full-time employees – 54 percent worry generative AI outputs are inaccurate, and 59 percent worry about bias.
For marketers, inaccurate narratives and biased storytelling are serious causes for concern. Quite simply, AI-generated content has the power to erode brand trust, destroy credibility, and diminish your chances of demand generation and lead capture.
Here are four AI content creation issues that you shouldn’t ignore.
1. AI content creation and copyright concerns
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT scrape millions of web pages. It looks at news articles, books, Wikipedia entries and blog posts and uses this information to generate output. When it comes to copyright infringement and content ownership, we have to ask: Is AI content creation even legal?
The New York Times doesn’t think so. Lawyers for the newspaper are exploring whether to sue ChatGPT creator, OpenAI, to protect its intellectual property rights. According to an NPR interview with Daniel Gervais, the Director of Vanderbilt Law School’s Intellectual Property Program,
“A successful copyright lawsuit has the potential of really bankrupting a company since we're talking about millions and millions of instances of infringement.”
As it stands, copyright disputes are typically handled on a case-by-case basis. But with such growing investment (and interest) in generative AI tools, governments need to find balanced outcomes that benefit owners and users of copyright works.
In the meantime, businesses will struggle to use generative AI tools for content creation and call it their own. There is no guarantee that AI-generated content won’t infringe on the copyright of other written materials. And until the law catches up, businesses must find alternative solutions to AI content creation to avoid penalties.
2. Missing the mark with tone of voice
Copyright concerns aside, generative AI tools can create content for you (we’ve all messed around with ChatGPT). But if you’re unsure how to use these tools, it’s easy to miss the mark regarding your brand’s unique tone of voice. And as we all know, your brand’s voice is the reason your business can:
- Grab attention;
- Retain interest;
- Build trust; and
- Improve brand loyalty, advocacy and likeability.
Suppose your business relies on ideal customer profiles and buyer personas (like every good business should). In that case, AI content creation can be a fast track to saying little in a generic tone of voice - and that attracts nobody.
3. A lack of original thinking and thought leadership
Thought leadership is the backbone of content marketing. In fact, 54 percent of decision-makers, and nearly half of the C-Suite, say they spend more than one hour per week reading and reviewing thought leadership content.
But, because generative AI tools learn from other content, they cannot factor in a unique perspective or original thinking. Instead, they recycle pre-existing ideas, and that offers little value to your audience. And if you’re not providing your audience value, they won’t stick around.
4. It impedes your chances in Google’s search rankings
The cornerstone of Google’s search engine algorithm is experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (otherwise known as “E-E-A-T”). Google uses this framework to determine the quality of all content it places on its search engine results pages.
So, if 54 percent of people worry generative AI outputs are inaccurate, how can you expect Google to trust the value of AI content creation in its search engine? This is especially true given that AI-generated content is riddled with misinformation and hallucinations.
The only way to avoid this is to create high-quality content that offers your audience a value-adding point of view. Only then can you begin showing up in search and growing your organic interest.
A content concierge for the B2B technology sector
Undoubtedly, generative AI tools bring many benefits to the content creation process. They’re wonderful sounding boards, idea generators, and synonym creators. But, as Steve Jobs once said, “Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.”
To give your B2B audience something worth engaging with, you need to create original content that prioritises quality, trust, and expertise.
That’s where we come in. We’ve joined forces with Articulate Marketing to combine our in-depth data-driven insights with their extensive experience writing for the B2B technology sector. The result? Targeted, expert content that drives intent and boosts your pool of qualified leads.
