Humans Outdo AI In Writing

Introduction to AI-Generated Content

The world of content creation is undergoing a significant transformation with the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI). While AI can generate high-quality content, it often lacks the human touch that makes content truly engaging and relatable. As a result, there is a growing need to make AI-generated content more human-like. This article explores the ways in which humans can add value to AI-generated content and create a more harmonious collaboration between humans and AI.

The DJ Analogy

The author draws an analogy between DJing and content creation. Just as DJs use technology to enhance their performances, content creators can use AI to improve their work. The author recalls their experience as a DJ, where they had to haul crates of vinyl records to every gig. With the advent of Serato, a technology that allows DJs to play their entire digital music collection using special vinyl records, the game changed. Similarly, AI-generated content has changed the game for writers and content creators.

Unique Human Writing Capabilities

The author identifies seven unique human writing capabilities that AI cannot replicate:

1. Patterns: Detecting subtle signals in wording, rhythm, and analogies that resonate with shared human experience.
2. Topics: Intuitive understanding of what readers will find genuinely interesting or relevant.
3. Experience: Personal stories and perspectives, especially from individuals with established reputations.
4. Judgment: Applying nuanced moral reasoning beyond programmed guidelines.
5. Taste: Making decisions about what works stylistically.
6. Richness: Describing tastes, smells, textures, and sensations from lived experience.
7. Secrets: Incorporating insights or data not available in AI training sets.

AI vs. Human Strengths

The author contrasts the strengths of AI and humans across four categories:

1. Technical Execution: AI excels at processing and error prevention, maintaining strict formatting, and producing grammatically accurate content at scale. Humans, on the other hand, excel at breaking established rules, creating new styles, and developing distinctive personal writing styles.
2. Knowledge & Information: AI can synthesize information from vast knowledge bases, generate factual content, and create comprehensive explanations of complex topics. Humans contribute original research, develop novel philosophical insights, and write from a deep cultural understanding of specific communities.
3. Production & Adaptation: AI can generate high volumes of content quickly, create variations on existing themes, and translate between languages with high accuracy. Humans invent new literary forms, craft narratives that respond to the cultural moment, and create humor that relies on nuanced cultural context.
4. Data & Emotional Intelligence: AI can convert structured data into readable narratives, summarize lengthy content, and create consistent documentation from technical specifications. Humans create characters with complex motivations, write dialogue that captures psychological nuance, and convey subtle emotional states through deliberate word choice.

Telltale Signs of AI-Generated Content

The author identifies 11 telltale signs that signal AI-generated content:

1. Sterile language: Overly formal phrasing that no human would use.
2. Structural monotony: Predictable sentence patterns that create a hypnotic rhythm.
3. Awkward transitions: Abrupt jumps between ideas without natural connective tissue.
4. Robotic tone: An impersonal voice that keeps readers at arm’s length.
5. Factual shakiness: Assertions that sound plausible but don’t hold up to scrutiny.
6. Personality vacuum: Writing devoid of quirks, humor, or authentic perspective.
7. Generic coverage: Surface-level treatment of predictable topics.
8. Sourceless claims: Data statements without proper attribution.
9. Shallow insights: Ideas that never push beyond the obvious.
10. Brand misalignment: Content that doesn’t match the established voice.
11. Weak bookends: Forgettable openings and conclusions that fail to engage.

Conclusion

The key to creating compelling content is to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of both AI and humans. By understanding where AI excels and where human input is essential, content creators can blend the two seamlessly to create something greater than the sum of its parts. The most valuable content comes from creators who can identify and eliminate telltale AI patterns, transforming sterile AI output into content that genuinely resonates, connects, and performs. Ultimately, the most compelling content comes from the thoughtful collaboration between humans and AI, rather than trying to replace one with the other.