There’s a growing trend encouraging marketing leaders to shift to an AI-first strategy, systematically replacing talented writers with artificial intelligence.
It’s terrible advice that sets you up to erode your brand, dilute your message, and sabotage long-term results.
This article explains why you should hire the best copywriters you can, use AI smartly, and stop falling for snake oil that sounds like innovation but is merely innovation theater.
Why I’m qualified to weigh in
I love AI and use it to help with writing every day.
I’ve been building with generative AI since 2019, before ChatGPT was even a thing. I have either personally or through my businesses generated, evaluated, and sold billions of AI words.
I’m a lifelong entrepreneur and former agency owner with deep expertise in marketing, branding, design, and strategy. I’ve consulted scrappy startups you’ve never heard of and Fortune 50 behemoths.
In addition to my personal use of AI, my opinions are informed by the experiences of dozens of professionals serving clients across almost every industry you could imagine: fintech, SaaS, hospitality, nonprofits, brick-and-mortar, professional services, healthcare, and more.
As the founder of an AI platform for marketing service providers, I interact with senior marketers daily.
I hear real-world stories of how they’re using AI to help clients succeed and personally advise on use cases for companies ranging from community organizations to global conglomerates.
In my practice as a copywriter, I earn five-figure fees per web page.
AI raises the floor; experts raise the ceiling
Unless someone is already an expert, I won’t even let them use my software.
Yes, I turn customers away.
Because I refuse to contribute—even indirectly—to the deluge of AI slop foisted upon the world. I built an AI solution to amplify expertise, not enable mediocrity.
AI meets you where you are.
If you’re not a pro, the machine won’t magically make you one.
Unless you’re a good writer to begin with, you’ll plateau at AI’s ceiling. And any professional copywriter knows that AI’s work—even from my beloved brainchild—is a strong first draft at best.
A skilled copywriter brings much more than writing, grammar, or style. They bring domain knowledge, strategy, creativity, and a sixth sense for what makes people care.
Strategic writers know audience psychology, anticipate objections, build emotional resonance, and methodically guide readers toward action.
These skills come from hard-won experience and intuition you can’t automate.
Nuance comes from personality, empathy, and lived wisdom.
Human copywriters deliver results machines can’t because they can see the world through your customers’ eyes. No cheat code can replace that.
A great copywriter makes your audience feel seen, not targeted.
Without expertise, copy turns sloppy
Teams without talented copywriters put out half-baked work because they lack the professional discernment to recognize it.
With no experienced eye on the work, it’s easy to mistake a grammatically correct draft for an interesting story.
Over time, customers notice, even if you don’t.
Weak headlines and muddled calls to action don’t spark the same response as tight, well-crafted language.
Plus, AI-generated content often misses the small signals that keep messaging fresh and connected to real people. As the errors pile up, the damage grows. And so does the cost of fixing it.
Those companies will soon find out that “good enough” isn’t.
Large language models like ChatGPT and Claude write by predicting one token at a time.
Automated writing lacks the lived context of being present in the world. It can mimic empathy, but doesn’t feel it. It produces good ideas, but lacks original insight.
And it certainly can’t draw from personal business experience or align every word to a complex strategy.
When organizations remove the human element, they miss the subtleties that shape effective content. Nuance, humor, and timing slip through the cracks. Language turns generic.
AI output feels lifeless without a seasoned editor shaping its raw material into a real narrative.
Companies selling AI writing tools love to downplay these gaps.
Instead, they tout the promise of completing “60 hours of work in 29 minutes.”
In the immortal words of Cher Horowitz, As if!
Cheap copy creates expensive problems
Saving money feels smart until you realize mediocrity is a terrible investment.
AI can enhance how we create copy. But saying farewell to experienced professionals and handing the keys to software doesn’t move your business forward.
More often, it puts your brand on shaky ground.
The need to protect quality, creativity, and integrity has never been more urgent.
Every time you sacrifice professional input for convenience, you weaken your message. Sloppy copy confuses audiences. Inconsistent language breeds skepticism. And before you know it, mediocrity shows up on your homepage.
When you sound like everyone else, customers tune out or turn away.
And once people tune out, trust starts to slip. Trust requires years of consistency. One misstep can break it – and mediocre, AI-led messaging creates a lot more than one.
And the moment trust slips, the door cracks open for your competitors.
When you chase lower costs by letting AI do all the talking, competitors take notice. They’ll spot your weakened signal and step in with sharper, more human messaging.
Over time, your market position will erode, not because of your product, but because your communication failed.
Lost market share rarely comes back. Customers form new habits and loyalties. You pay the true price of letting your copywriter go over months and years, as once-loyal buyers drift away.
If you want to compete on substance, invest in the skills that create substance.
Experts are your competitive advantage
Don’t settle for a false choice between human skill and artificial intelligence. Build a plan that honors both.
- Hire the best copywriting talent you can afford.
- Choose AI tools that support—not diminish—talent.
- Make ongoing learning, like Copy School, non-negotiable.
Use AI as a value multiplier for expert copywriters.
Treat message quality as a core asset, not a line item to trim.
If you care about brand, invest in people who create meaning. Pair their craft with AI that respects and amplifies their expertise.
That combination will earn attention, build trust, and drive results.
If you’re thinking of that cliché, “AI won’t take your job, but someone using AI might,” think again.
Truisms like that can lead you down the path to irrelevance. But that’s a topic for another post.
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