The Mistake of AI Copywriting and Marketing
September 29, 2025Everyone seems to be talking about artificial intelligence, and most people are using it in one form or another. In fact, businesses report a 55% increase in AI usage from 2024 to 2025. The challenge is the trust we place on AI. Too many businesses put their faith into a large language model, meant to generate text based on what it has “absorbed,” not actual intelligence. AI copywriting and/or marketing will vastly differ because humans weigh factors and see nuance that AI may not. So, how does someone blend their use of AI (which is a valuable and useful tool) and still produce trustworthy, successful strategies and content?
The Rise of AI in Marketing
Technically speaking, the use of artificial intelligence began in the 1950s with the Turing Test. We’ve come a long way since then, and AI has worked its way into everyday life. With tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and others, marketers, executives, and business professionals worldwide have found ways to utilize AI to improve productivity and success.
Unfortunately, some have allowed the tools to take over instead of double-checking their work, which has led to some very public mistakes. This is why we don’t recommend using AI as a substitute for human experience. AI is a powerful tool in your marketing toolbox, but shouldn’t be the only one.
The Limitations of AI-Generated Content
While AI can generate valuable research, strategies, and advice, it is limited by the data it was trained on – the internet.
1. Lack of Emotional Intelligence
A computer cannot have emotions, let alone the emotional intelligence that comes with years of living. This, in turn, means AI is cold and calculating. Unempathetic and uninspired, even when it is pretending to “be inspirational”.
2. Generic Voice and Tone
AI is a powerful tool for generating words and text, which can be great for scalability. However, it can often sound very bland, incoherent, or repetitive. For brands seeking to stand out, this does not bode well. Brand voice and tone are strategic, meant to bring the brand to life. Don’t let AI reduce your brand to a distillation of internet “wisdom”.
3. SEO and Accuracy Risks
From the overuse of keywords to unnatural phrasing and inaccurate information, artificial intelligence often leads to disappointing results when humans don’t step in to correct it. This can not only make your brand look bad, but it can also damage your hard-earned reputation. SEO, and its cousin GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), are changing rapidly, and marketers must keep up.
4. Ethical Implications and Legal Ramifications
At the time of this writing, two federal judges were forced to retract their rulings after lawyers pointed to “AI hallucinations” – content AI simply made up – in their rulings. Amazon created an AI tool for recruiting, then scrapped it after discovering it vastly “preferred male candidates.” Additionally, creatives have raised concerns about the impact of training these algorithms on their intellectual property, which, in many cases, has been fed to AI without their knowledge and consent. The Authors Guild is one of many creative organizations that are suing AI companies for copyright infringement over theft of authors’ works and lobbying for sensible policies and regulations governing the use of AI. Individual creatives have also initiated lawsuits against major AI models over similar concerns.
Using AI to streamline work and leverage analysis can be powerful—but the ethical implications and legal ramifications should be carefully considered as well. AI isn’t perfect (just like humans!), so any content that will be used for legal purposes or could have significant legal consequences if misused should be thoroughly reviewed and considered before proceeding.
Real-World Consequences of AI-Only Content
Why put in all this work when AI can just do it? The reason is the real consequences that come from letting AI screw up. You’ve likely built your audience’s trust up for years. Why would you want to hurt that trust with a mistake that could be easily prevented?
The Best Approach: Human-AI Collaboration
In our article, Why Human Copywriting is Still Important in the Age of AI, we wrote that using AI as another tool in your marketing toolbox is highly recommended instead of as a standalone creator for several reasons:
- Humans understand brand values, tone, and storytelling.
- Real writers can craft narratives that resonate deeply with audiences your brand needs to communicate with.
- With real-world experience, human copywriters and marketers can work with AI to craft strategies creatively, instead of only regurgitating what others have tried.
- Writers can align content with broader marketing goals and audience insights based on experience and emotional intelligence.
- Humans adapt content to trends, news, and social nuances where machines cannot—relating to others in ways only humans can.
We recommend creating a human-AI content strategy that allows AI to help you brainstorm and develop drafts, while you then edit, fact-check, and improve. Use AI for research, outlines, and drafts, not complete projects. Let your human colleagues refine, personalize, and strategize. And never let AI-generated content go out into the world without being checked!
Conclusion
Nothing can replace human creativity and nuance. We’ve had millennia to explore, create, learn, and adapt. Artificial intelligence has only existed for roughly 75 years. It has a lot of catching up to do.
Need help finding the right balance between AI tools and human storytelling? Let Crossroads Communications guide you through it.
