AI may be able to generate content at lightning speed, but you need human expertise to make sure the words don’t fall flat.
By David P. Steel, Founder and Managing Director at steelecht
When generative AI first entered the mainstream, many predicted that text agencies would soon become obsolete. If a chatbot could write a blog post, whip out a product description or generate social media copy in seconds, why continue to hire copywriters, editors or journalists?
A few years later, the reality looks rather different.
The volume of content being produced has exploded. Drafting texts has become faster, cheaper and more accessible than ever before. Yet many of our clients, mostly marketing professionals at medium-sized companies, are discovering that beneath all the AI hype, not a lot has actually changed. The challenge remains of deciding what to say, how to say it and making sure the message actually gets across.
At the end of the day, human readers still react better on a gut level to texts written by other humans – or at least texts which have been substantially reworked by a human. Multiple studies support this finding, influencers are living proof of it, i.e. that humans drive attention (and sales). The London-based agency Pepper Studio goes into detail on this in their Dec. 2025 blog article.
What about steelecht? As a copywriting and transcreation agency founded in 2005, we have navigated several waves of disruptive technologies, from online dictionaries, to automated translation and now generative AI. All tools we have learned to adopt, but on our own terms – that is, to the extent that they help us deliver better quality to our clients.
Prompt writing for generative AI is an easily understandable example. In the balance of time and money, neither of which our clients have an endless supply of, leaving the thinking (and AI prompting) up to us has helped us maintain a certain competitive edge. We generally only charge for our time, so our own targeted use of generative AI – such as for brainstorming, research or identifying argumental gaps – actually makes us faster at delivering solid copy, saving our clients real money.
But for all the discussion about how AI creates value, isn’t the question really about how human expertise increases the value of AI?
Our experience: from content creation to decision support
Clients don’t necessarily struggle with producing content. Most marketing teams use AI tools capable of generating hundreds of articles, emails, advertisements or product descriptions. What they often lack is clarity – or seeing the forest for the AI trees.
Our clients still need help finding the words and messaging that matter most, targeting the audiences that should be prioritized, and ensuring texts are written in a way that support long-term business objectives across all channels. AI has actually revealed an embarrassing truth. Since it takes its knowledge from myriad sources, AI is exposing inconsistencies in how brands communicate, a topic covered by a recent Business Insider post.
This is especially true in multilingual environments.
Sure, AI can handle copywriting in multiple languages. But international communication involves much more than creating words in different languages. Brand voice, cultural expectations, local sensitivities and market-specific terminology still require careful human judgment.
In practice, we find ourselves spending less time creating first drafts and more time reviewing, refining and challenging messaging decisions. The role of our agency is evolving from content producer to strategic communication partner.
Quality before speed
The impression remains that AI has dramatically reduced the time required to generate content. Yet in our experience, while the importance of meeting a deadline is paramount, the focus isn’t necessarily on faster turnaround times – instead it’s about reversing the trend of ever lower quality expectations.
While drafting is faster, we can’t rush across the finish line. Instead, we spend time with clients who want to invest in strategy, refinement and optimization. The value has shifted away from producing words toward improving messaging. Maybe even daring to share an opinion.
Sounding human has never been more appealing, Reuters reports, regardless of the channel.
Your brand personality is at stake
AI can generate endless variations of content, but genuine personality remains evasive. Organizations operating across multiple channels, languages and markets, increasingly need support in preserving a recognizable voice. Without clear editorial oversight, AI-generated content can quickly become fragmented, generic or contradictory, as described in a recent article on techradar.com.
If you want to be unique, recognizable and appealing, upholding brand integrity is essential. At steelecht, we help establish brand guidelines, review outputs and ensure communication remains aligned, regardless of the tools used to create it.
Ironically, the easier it becomes to generate vast amounts of content, the more similar sounding it all becomes. If you want to have personality, you need a person involved.
Clients need creative leadership
Perhaps the biggest misconception about AI is that agencies should resist it. In reality, clients increasingly expect agencies to understand AI tools, their strengths and their limitations. They want partners who can integrate new technologies responsibly, while maintaining quality standards. Partners in creating content must also ensure the protection of personal data when working with AI tools as well as understand the emerging regulations for content.
At the same time, creative and linguistic specialization is even more valuable than before. As AI-generated content floods digital channels, differentiation becomes harder to achieve. The texts that stand out are often those which have a certain creative twist, human angle and the clearest messaging.
While the amount of content available today is unprecedented, audiences have not gained additional time to consume them. Attention remains limited.
The economist Herman Simon once wrote, “A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” That’s why, in an age of unlimited content, differentiation and substance are the only ways to still be seen. So a big part of our job has become not only gaining attention for our clients, but also ensuring that attention is deserved, trust-building and sustainable.
We believe that the most successful organizations are not necessarily publishing the most content. They are publishing the right content, with the right message, for the right audience – which requires the good judgment and expertise that arises from a close working relationship between humans: at our agency and your company.
Get in touch with steelecht for your next project.
Feature image courtesy of Luca Laurence on Unsplash
