Our Experience With AI Content Creation: Writing Reimagined

The implications of artificial intelligence (AI) using deep learning and natural language processing to understand and generate human language are profound, to say the least. But how well do these AI writing assistants work? That’s what we were hoping to find out when we decided to put one of them to the test. Here’s a bit about our first-hand experience with Conversion.ai’s writing assistant, Jarvis. 

AI-Assisted Content Creation: Outlining Expectations

AI-based technologies have already made a significant impact across various aspects of digital experiences. Tech companies have been pouring millions into research and application of AI to the marketing mix. But the content creation process? Not so much. Despite chatbots and similar AI-based solutions being one of the fastest-growing digital marketing trends, very few initially believed in AI’s ability to produce original, high-quality content.

And that brings us to Conversion.ai’s AI-powered writing assistant, named Jarvis. We made it a point to get into this “experiment” with open minds, expecting to see some – albeit not necessarily drastic – cutbacks in the time spent on some steps of the writing process without sacrificing quality. We also expected AI-assisted content creation to provide that much-needed push that helps you overcome writer’s block. But we were still somewhat skeptical about how good AI-based writing assistants can be in terms of generating high-quality, natural-sounding content. Did it meet those expectations? Yes. Did it exceed them in some ways? It did, especially when it came to structuring your outline, expanding on and supporting your ideas – and speeding up the process in general. But while the writing templates definitely help your workflow, AI-assisted writing is still far from a be-all-end-all, fully automated content creation solution. 

How It Works: Seeing Conversion.ai’s Jarvis In Action

Here’s the thing about writing: It’s way more complex than it looks. Brainstorming topics and ideas, researching, putting together outlines, procrastinating – hey, we all do it sometimes – editing, waiting for the final draft to be approved; it’s all part of the process. When you rely on copywriting as a primary means of communicating your messages and ideas as heavily as people in our industry do, you realize how time-consuming it can be. The deceivingly simple process of writing a copy from scratch generally consists of multiple not-so-simple steps, including: 

• Brainstorming ideas, angles, and topics 
• Researching the topic and collecting resources 
• Creating an outline and organizing the main points  
• Building the body copy by expanding on each subheading 
• Rearranging the flow and editing the copy 
• Proofreading and revising for grammatical errors
• Having it reviewed by an expert  

But it’s rarely as direct and straightforward as checking these boxes one by one until you finish the copy. And in that sense, seeing Jarvis in action was nothing short of mind-blowing: AI doesn’t care for – or fear – the blank page or struggle with writer’s block as our human brains do at times. Instead, it jumps straight into generating content. 

Yes, there is a learning curve to it – but not in the hard-to-figure-out kind of way. The Long-Form Assistant, our go-to template throughout this “experiment,” and the numerous other templates available within the Conversion.ai dashboard are straightforward and easy to use. In fact, creating long-form content with Jarvis proved to be a simple three-step process:

• Creating a new document and launching the Long-Form Assistant 
• Providing a brief content description, keywords, and choosing your tone of voice 
• Letting AI generate content for you, starting with the title and intro paragraph 

The challenging bit was letting this AI-powered writing assistant do its thing – generate content – without feeling like you’re giving up control. At times, it can leave you fighting the urge to take over and continue writing the good, old-fashioned way. Not because Jarvis’ outputs weren’t satisfactory or failed to meet our standards, but because we are – well, human. And seeing this AI-powered tool go about generating original content in such an effortless manner is bound to leave your ego a bit bruised. But these minor “power struggles” – for lack of a better word – aside, Jarvis has proved itself as an incredibly helpful collaborator throughout the content creation process, start to finish. 

For marketing teams, this opportunity to improve the content creation process and generate high-quality, brand-compliant content at scale – without a lot of human intervention – is nothing short of ground-breaking. And while we’re on the subject of human intervention, yes, there’s still the need for some editing and adding a “human touch,” but nowhere near as much as one would expect. It’s not always at a level where you can simply copy-paste the content it generates, but we wouldn’t count this as a downside. You’re the content creator in charge, and Jarvis is your writing assistant; editing his work comes with the territory. 

The Future Of Copywriting (Is Here & Now) 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related technologies will bring about substantial changes to work tasks and business processes across all industries; that part is becoming increasingly apparent. As we had a chance to see first-hand, the future of work – as it relates to copywriting, at least – is already here and in the form of AI-powered writing, no less. The future of work, as many like to call it, isn’t some distant, futuristic, yet-to-be-seen concept. As we had a chance to see first-hand, the future of work – as it relates to copywriting, at least – is already here and in the form of AI-powered writing, no less. 

And one of the most pressing questions seems to be: Should we be worried about AI taking our jobs? Is there a chance of something like that happening? Maybe, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet. Even if AI were to “take over,” it would allow skilled staff to focus on high-value tasks and do the kind of creative thinking and high-impact writing they want to do.  Creative teams would no longer waste their time churning out standardized bullet points. And in what world would that not be a good thing?  We can see definite improvements in productivity; point the AI in the direction you want to take the content, and it will get to work straight away. In that sense, the time savings throughout the process were evident, and Jarvis – as a jumping board for ideas – has proven to be surprisingly efficient. 

It cuts the time in half and can be quite beneficial for those who deal with extensive copywriting, often accompanied by tight deadlines. Jarvis does rather well with creating and rewriting product descriptions, brainstorming new ideas, and organizing and enhancing the messaging concepts. But should we be concerned about AI-assisted copywriting software? Will it be the thing that puts us all out of our jobs? 

Probably not. 

Take Grammarly, for example. It’s a widely adopted online grammar checker that happens to be AI-powered. In recent times, Grammarly has become ubiquitous among individuals ranging from high school students to seasoned researchers and copywriters. Nonetheless, there are legitimate concerns regarding the potential job displacement of English teachers, editors, and proofreaders due to the widespread use of this tool. However, it’s worth noting that despite its undeniable value and time-saving attributes, we are still a long way from achieving full automation of the content creation process. This is particularly true for long-form writing that demands extensive research and fact-checking. While Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant, it’s crucial to emphasize the term “assistant” here, indicating its supportive role as opposed to a complete replacement for human expertise.

While Jarvis can undoubtedly provide valuable assistance, it is essential to recognize that it cannot complete a task entirely on its own. As the writer, you must provide a clear sense of direction, guidance, and creativity to produce a high-quality marketing copy. But as an assistant, it can do wonders for brainstorming, strengthening and pushing your ideas forward, structuring your content more efficiently, and considering different angles to add “flavor” to your copy. Or, to sum it up, Jarvis is still only as good as the writer using it. 

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of questions that we are yet to answer as we move forward and adopt AI-based content creation as the new norm in copywriting. However, one thing remains evident from our experience with Conversion.ai’s writing assistant: AI is transforming the world of copywriting in ways that would’ve been unimaginable only a few decades ago. And while AI-powered writing assistants, like Jarvis, might be great collaborators and will save you a ton of time, humans still rule the realm of writing. So, content creators, take a deep sigh of relief. Your future in the business is secure.