AI Writing Tools: Can They Improve Your Writing?

Did I Write This Headline, or Did I Generate It Artificially?

Would you know how to spot artificially generated content? And is it actually any good?

Artificial writing tools are becoming indispensable for anyone who needs to generate a lot of website content. But just like any other software tool, it takes time to practice and learn the art of generating engaging content that will be absorbed rather than skim-read quicker than a plasterer applying his first arc of the day.

Google’s position on AI content has evolved considerably. They initially considered it spam, but Google now evaluates content on quality, not how it was produced. That said, in its raw format, the uncooked text that an AI generates would not pass a human review, let alone be considered fit for consumption by any discerning reader. I’ve seen enough of it to be certain of that.

To get the most out of artificial writing tools, I’ve found you have to apply careful ideation and optimisation, adding tasty morsels throughout your prose to avoid sounding like a robot-driven monotone. This is the foundation of my AI content strategy that passes human review every time.

AI Is Not Your Biographer

There are no shortcuts to making content that rises above the gutter level of the dreary content mills that blight most websites. That’s why I developed a systematic AI content strategy that consistently produces professional results.

Still, with some effort, I’ve found you can produce content quicker, faster, and more accurately than your competitors, and I can easily pass a human review test every time. The alternative is a quick elevator trip to the basement of search engine results, and I don’t fancy the view from down there.

My Ingredients for Producing Scrumptious Content Candy Using AI

This is exactly why authentic copywriting skills remain irreplaceable. You need to learn how to write amazing copy that sells, then use AI to scale that voice.

In the screenshot below I’ve removed my painstakingly typed text and left the headline intact to show you the type of output an artificial writer generates in seconds.

There are tweaks you can make to vary the output. I’ve found that adding a more descriptive content brief generates significantly better results. I can alter the tone of voice by choosing to write in the style of famous people like Tony Robbins or Oprah, or even by pointing to a website and asking to speak in that context.

So, as you can probably guess, I’m not much of a fan of the writing part.

I’m not even trusting it to contribute to this article. One day the AI will fight back and take control of the keyboard, much like the fictional HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I’ll be sitting here watching it type and there won’t be a thing I can do about it.

What the Dickens!

Where AI Actually Earns Its Keep: Idea Generation

This is where my AI writing friend excels and where it saves me so much time. Writing templates abound. For business applications, I’ve found the most success with building comprehensive AI marketing strategies rather than just using AI for isolated tasks. I combine that with Claude Code for web development, and I can orchestrate AI-powered tools across different content tasks.

Do you need to write a new blog post about that new business growth service? I enter a title, and the AI rustles up five or six outline headings for my subsequent missive. Understanding the marketing harsh truth about AI content helps me avoid common pitfalls, and it’ll help you too.

Are you writing a product description? This is where AI writing provides semi-factual information written in a flash. I see no excuse for leaving product descriptions empty when you have an assistant that can examine the internet library and return a unique product description in seconds. I’ve done this for clients with hundreds of products and it transforms what would have been weeks of work into days.

There are content improvers, sentence expanders, blog post intro paragraph ideas, creative stories, and even tools to rephrase text in “explain it to a child” format. I use all of them at different times.

Can Artificial Writing Tools Make You a Better Writer?

Yes, undoubtedly. If you are constantly forgetting your P’s and Q’s and misplacing your commas, then it makes perfect sense to at least use a grammar checker so that elementary errors are not yours to make, my dear Watson.

“Cooper! If you are more interested in watching the first IX than studying Shakespeare, you may come and stand in the bin, from where you will have a better vantage point.”

I used to call my old English teacher “Stumpy” but he was not a pale imitation of Mr Creakle from “Bleak House.”

As for improving your actual writing - no. I’ve found that AI writing is devoid of character and only suitable for the most mundane writing tasks. Holding a plot theme for writing fiction is wishful thinking. I’ve tried it, and the results are about as compelling as a dishwasher instruction manual.

Artificial writers speed up the creation process by providing prompts and nudging me in the right direction. For the ordinary stuff, they excel. If you’re serious about scaling content production, I’d recommend learning how to set up AI projects that maintain quality whilst increasing output.

Need help with your content writing? Get in touch and I’ll show you how I approach it.