AI Writing Tools: Hype, Slop and What Actually Works

Everyone talks about AI-generated content like it’s either the second coming of the printing press … or a doomsday device cooked up by that one guy who still uses Internet Explorer.

The truth? AI content writing tools, when chosen carefully, can genuinely make your content sharper, faster and a lot less soul-crushing to produce.

First Things First: What Exactly Is an AI Writing Tool?

Before we decide whether AI technology is our savior from the cloud or just Clippy 2.0, let’s first talk about the basics and discuss what an AI writing tool actually is.

An AI writer is a program that uses natural language processing (NLP) and an AI algorithm (or a combination of several) to create written content. Think of it as the sophisticated cousin of your basic grammar checker — while Grammarly fixes your commas, generative AI tools can craft entire articles, emails and social media posts from scratch. (Although, to be fair, Grammarly isn’t exactly a bare-bones spellchecker anymore, either. So the boundaries are starting to blur.)

How Does an AI Content Generator Work?

Well… it doesn’t. These apps aren’t people: they don’t hold jobs, panic before deadlines or binge coffee at 2 a.m.

What they do is process vast mountains of text data and use clever algorithms to predict what words should come next to achieve what they understand to be “content quality.” It’s like having a writing assistant who’s read everything on the internet — and can mimic human writing styles with surprising (if occasionally odd) results.

And if you’ve been thinking, “Maybe I should get an AI writing tool,” you might want to slow your scroll. Because it’s not as simple as picking “the” tool — it’s about choosing the right type, philosophy and fit for your workflow.

Some tools, like Grammarly, started out fixing typos, but now dabble in tone rewrites and short-form generation. Then you’ve got full-blown content marketing suites — like Brafton’s contentmarketing.ai — designed to help plan, draft and optimize entire campaigns. And in between, there are AI features quietly baked into bigger platforms: social schedulers that write captions, CMS plugins that suggest headlines or e-commerce tools that spin up product descriptions.

Each comes with its own strengths, limitations and “personality” — which is why you need to be very intentional and strategic about picking the right one. Yes, chasing shiny features gives you that quick high, but a tool that actually matches your team’s workflow and content needs will end up saving, if not making you money. 

The Upside: How AI Content Generation Boosts Human Writers’ Workflows

Now, as a writer, I might have mixed feelings about an AI tool stepping in to “help” with my job. And that’s valid — it’s something every company that actually cares about employee well-being should keep in mind. But that’s not the whole story.

Because when you use them wisely, AI writing tools can supercharge human workflows in ways that go way beyond just churning out words. Done right, that translates to happier teams, faster go-to-market and — yes — real revenue.

And because we’re all still hunting for the secret sauce while new models drop every Tuesday, “best practices” can feel a bit like autocorrect in a chaotic group chat: you want the speed without letting the bots text your biggest client something better suited for Reddit.

Here’s where AI can actually shine — if you set it up right.

Enhanced Productivity

Blank pages cost money. AI tools help your team skip the starting-line panic and move straight to structured drafts, outlines or campaign ideas — often in minutes instead of days. It’s like adding a junior copy team that doesn’t call in sick and won’t ask for a standing desk (yet).

Cost Efficiency

Using AI tools can streamline your entire content production workflow. Instead of spending weeks on a single campaign, you can potentially reduce the time and resources needed for entire marketing campaigns. Your team can focus on strategy and refinement rather than staring at empty documents.

Consistent Brand Voice

Here’s where it gets interesting — and tricky. Your choice of tool, prompts and setup determines how consistently your team can stick to editorial guidelines and brand voice. Train your AI writing assistant properly, and it can adhere to specific brand guidelines better than some human writers. The contentmarketing.ai platform, for example, offers a done-for-you option that handles this complexity via structured brand briefs, but the principle remains: garbage in, garbage out. You need to do the upfront legwork in order to get a quality outcome.

Idea Generation and SEO

Each provider takes a slightly different approach to keyword optimization and E-E-A-T. Tools like Clearscope focus heavily on SEO optimization, but leave AI out of any process beyond an initial outline. ChatGPT offers broad versatility, but doesn’t come prepackaged with templates or guidance on best practices. And platforms like Jasper specialize in marketing copy, which can be great, depending on the types of templates or level of interoperability you seek. 

The key is understanding how much guidance each tool requires for your specific workflows, and that challenge is what we’re all trying to wrap our heads around. AI-driven storytelling requires a thoughtful approach to maintain brand credibility. After all, what’s that subscription worth if it generates thousands of words a day that fail to match your editorial guidelines or build trust with your target audience? 

Don’t Forget the Fine Print To Avoid the Cons of Generative AI

Let’s be real: AI-generated content isn’t infallible — nor am I, the human writer. But that’s not why you, the tech-curious leader, are here.

Every setup still needs humans in the loop, and we’ve all seen the headlines about brands getting roasted for pushing out AI content without oversight. The technology is impressive, but it isn’t magic. “What’s the worst that could happen?”, you ask?

Lacks Originality and Human Creativity

“Originality” isn’t just randomness thrown at a wall. True originality in human writing comes from combining unexpected inputs, domain expertise and context-sensitive judgment. 

It’s that moment when your content writer connects that half-melted chocolate bar on their desk, a “Greetings from Norway” post card on the wall and whatever questionable song was playing on the radio … all while drafting a white paper on enterprise data compliance. (I’m sorry, you’ll have to find that particularly juicy analogy out in the wild on your own.)

AI models can very believably simulate novelty by adjusting temperature settings, top-p parameters or fine-tuning with niche data. But without grounding in lived experience or access to truly new information, even the most “original” AI output is still a remix of existing content.

If your setup doesn’t account for that, you’re basically playing a giant game of Stille Post (or Telephone, for the non-German speakers): each iteration sounds fresh, but it’s really just a slightly distorted echo of what was already there.

How To Push AI Closer to Originality

Inject fresh, proprietary data into your prompts. Use unique survey results, insider anecdotes or brand voice quirks that only your company has access to.

Combine multiple knowledge sources. Don’t rely on AI alone — blend AI output with human expertise and recent research.

Use AI creatively as a divergent thinking partner, not just in marketing. Let it spark ideas, then filter and refine through human curation rather than treating it as the sole author.

The SEO Question

The most frustrating thing about “bad AI content,” at least for me as a writer, isn’t that it might replace me — it’s that people don’t really get why it’s bad.

First, they read something bland and assume, “Well, it was probably written by AI — so of course it sounds generic.” Then someone writes a bland piece by hand, and they think, “Ah, that must be authentic, because no AI would be that boring on purpose.” Which leads to a weird loop where the existence of AI makes human writing worse — and the internet even more stuffed with shallow content … ironically generated to explain why AI content is shallow.

The notion of “bad AI content” often stems from generative AI optimizing around predictable, high-volume keywords. This leads to content that matches existing patterns rather than creating truly differentiated, helpful pieces.

But here’s the deeper shift: Search is moving beyond transactional keywords toward exploratory, question-driven and context-rich queries. Google’s Helpful Content updates, AI Overviews and the rise of AI-driven search assistants reward unique insights, branded perspective, lived experience and multimedia content that AI alone can’t synthesize.

To stay relevant, brands need to pair AI’s speed and scale with authentic expertise, proprietary data and audience-first strategies — not just keyword stuffing. The relationship between AI and SEO is evolving rapidly, and smart marketers are adapting their strategies accordingly.

Don’t Be That Brand: Common Mistakes With AI Content Writing and How To Avoid Them

Far be it from me — a millennial who’s equally addicted to his vintage typewriter and his AI butlers — to judge. But after seeing enough brand embarrassments to fill a group chat (autocorrect fails and Stille Post vibes included), some patterns do start to emerge.

Here are the classics — and how to avoid starring in the next “AI fail” headline:

Mistake: Expecting Publish-Ready Output

Solution: Treat your AI writing tool as a collaborator, not a replacement. Always plan for a thorough editing and fact-checking phase. The first draft is just that — a first draft.

Mistake: Giving Vague Prompts (or Not Defining Your Brand Voice Beforehand)

Solution: The quality of output depends entirely on the quality of input. Learning how to write prompts that get results is a critical skill. Whether you’re trying to nail the right tone or feed in specific instructions, specificity is your friend.

Mistake: Forgetting the Human Element

Solution: A human writer must always refine the final product. They inject creativity, personal expertise, anecdotes (depending on the brand) and audience-specific insights that AI algorithms can’t replicate. This workflow depends on regular training and upskilling to stay effective.

Your AI Strategy: A Partnership, Not a Replacement

AI writing assistants are powerful allies in the content creation process. The key is using them to handle the heavy lifting while freeing up human writers to focus on strategy, creativity and adding the nuanced touch that resonates with audiences.

Think of it this way: AI can help you build the foundation and frame of your content house, but you still need human expertise to add the windows, paint the walls and make it a place people actually want to visit.

The brands winning with AI content aren’t the ones trying to replace their human writers — they’re the ones empowering their teams with tools that make them more effective, more creative and more strategic. That’s the real tea on AI writing tools.

Note: This article was originally published on contentmarketing.ai.