With the rise in popularity of generative AI, many clients are now using these tools to create content around their brand, for social media, blogs, website pages and company correspondence. Its use has become commonplace and, for many, a first port of call. A recent study found that nearly ninety percent of businesses regularly used AI in at least one function. Another reported that 87% of 879 marketing professionals surveyed worldwide used it to create content.
The benefits are obvious. AI can suggest ideas, turn notes into structure and spot points that could easily be missed. For somebody who understands the subject, but struggles to articulate in writing, that is incredibly useful. It saves time and gives a place to start. It can produce wording within seconds that may otherwise have taken hours. Used properly, it can help somebody express what they already know. But polished wording is not always good writing. It can contain unnecessary drama, exaggerated phrases and more words than needed.
Human connection existed long before anything was described as business. Our earliest ancestors communicated, cooperated and formed trust because survival and progress depended upon it. They shared knowledge, exchanged resources and did things for one another, long before that behaviour carried a label. Business is the same human relationship, where one person has something another person needs, and communication helps form the trust behind that exchange. Technology has changed the distance and speed of that connection. It hasn't removed the human at either end.
Every email, quotation, reply, website article and social post is a small piece of exposure. A logo and colours make a company recognisable and set a visual expectation. The words around that brand shape how the company is understood. How phrases are expressed, the structure of sentences and their cadence all leave an impression. For many local businesses, that voice develops naturally from the people within it; how they explain something, answer a question, offer reassurance or deal with a problem.
That human element doesn't disappear when the exchange becomes commercial. A product or service may be the reason somebody starts looking, but trust often determines who they choose to deal with. It's built through smaller interactions; how a problem is understood, how clearly something is explained and whether the words feel genuine. AI can produce clean and grammatically correct wording, yet still remove the personal touch that creates that connection. It can also add fluff and elaborate language around a simple point. Language can be technically correct while still being wrong for the person or business using it.
Readers may not consciously recognise the difference, but they can feel when the tone is generic, overly fluffy or unlike the business they know. A company can remain recognisable through its visuals, while gradually becoming less recognisable through its words. That change can happen one piece of content at a time, without anybody within the business noticing it.
The effect doesn't stop with a human. Once content is published online, it becomes part of the information connected with that company. Search engines, bots and AI systems use those words to build an understanding of what the business is, what it knows and what it should be relevant for. Every vague post, exaggerated headline and paragraph of filler adds to that picture. One may make little difference, but hundreds can bury the words that accurately explain the company. They dilute the relevance of the words and phrases that matter. The commercial effect may be indirect, but the content remains connected with the brand whether anybody reads it or not.
For communication, website content and social media, we see AI best used as an assistant. Start with real questions, genuine experience and the point the business wants to make. Use it to develop ideas, build structure and identify what may have been missed. Then be critical of the output. Would somebody in the company actually say it? Does it sound natural when read out loud? Has it added fluff and filler? Check the facts, then put it back in your own phrasing. Generating the words is often only one part of the work.
For data processing, complex analysis and automation between sources, the power of AI is undeniable. But communication is different. Press releases, social posts, website content and company correspondence all carry the voice of the person or business publishing them. Using AI output without precision may save time, but it rarely does the individual, the brand or the company justice. Anyone can use a tool. The quality of what it shapes depends on the knowledge, judgement and effort of the person using that tool. At brand level, a shortcut today can create a longer-term cost. Use the tools wisely.
* These thoughts were materially drafted by a human. AI assisted with the structure.