Over the past year, there has been a noticeable shift in corporate communications. Executives are producing more thought leadership content than ever – social media posts, sponsored articles, and video – discussing everything from industry trends to cultural moments. According to the Content Marketing Institute, over 70% of B2B marketers increased their content output in the past 12 months. And in many organizations, the expectation is clear: stay visible or risk becoming irrelevant.
What’s driving this increase in content?
AI is certainly responsible for some of the workflow, as drafting, editing and scaling has never been easier. For example, a recent report from Salesforce found that more than half of marketers are using generative AI to create content.
The question though, in the face of more content, is there a best way to produce it? Simply put: should AI hold the pen, offer an assist, or be skipped all together? Let’s examine that.
AI vs. Human Content: The Tradeoffs
AI-generated content is built for speed. It’s efficient and remarkably good at producing something that looks and sounds “complete.” Give AI a prompt, and within seconds you have a draft that’s structured, polished, and usable. For busy communications teams, that’s a massive advantage, especially when the goal is to maintain a consistent presence.
But that efficiency comes with a tradeoff.
AI doesn’t originate ideas, it assembles them. Much of what it produces is based on patterns and existing material rather than an original perspective. The result is often clean and professional, but also somewhat predictable. And in a crowded environment, predictability is easy to ignore. Publishing frequent AI-generated content won’t help you stand out. The content that tends to resonate most comes from an original point of view, one that people recognize as genuine.
It starts from a place AI can’t access (even with the best prompts): real-life experience. It reflects personal perspective, not aggregated consensus, giving it a distinct voice. The kind of nuance that doesn’t always fit neatly into a formula and resonates because it feels real. Of course, human content is not perfect. It takes more time and effort to develop, and time is a valuable commodity.
So, which is better?
Audience Preference
Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen a growing emphasis that people value human creativity and authenticity in content development.
For example, according to Pew Research, 53% believe AI will worsen people’s ability to think creatively. In the same study, most Americans (76%) said it’s extremely or very important to be able to tell if pictures, videos and text were made by AI vs. people. Additionally, research from HubSpot shows content perceived as “authentic” consistently outperforms overly polished brand messaging in engagement.
Does that Mean AI Shouldn’t Be Used?
Not using AI seems like a missed opportunity of efficiency. However, ignoring what audiences want and the advantage of reflecting the human experience can’t be overlooked. The answer: redefine the role AI plays in content creation.
For example, rather than giving AI a prompt and having it create a first draft of an article and then having an executive review, instead start with a rough human first draft that captures opinions and experiences and then have AI fill in holes and refine. AI is about optimizing the human product, not substituting it.
Another way AI should not be left out of the process is in scaling content. While you may need to prompt the Large Language Model, asl known as a ‘LLM’ to keep your personality and not create absolute uniformity (it’s default), it can help generate alterative versions, supporting communications, or future ideas.
The Net: Human Content Remains King
AI is changing how we create content. There’s no question about that.
However, when anyone can generate content in seconds, the advantage shifts to those who bring something AI can’t – original thinking, real experience, and a distinct point of view.
That’s what captures attention and builds trust. And that’s what will ultimately separate the content people scroll past… from the content they actually remember.