AI-Powered Content Generation: 5 Mistakes to Avoid

As AI continues to evolve, hands-off content generation is becoming more widely adopted. And honestly, it can really take the pressure off your team – if you keep your hands firmly on the steering wheel 

Whether juggling a packed marketing schedule or just needing a spark to get the ideas flowing, ChatGPT and other tools can help you move faster and do more. They're great for filling in the gaps, helping you keep up with demand and move projects along faster.

But here's the thing: While using AI for content creation can save time, it's not a set-it-and-forget-it solution. It’s not a replacement for strategy, creativity, or human insight. If you're not careful, it can lead to content that feels off-brand, lacks accuracy, or just doesn’t uniquely connect with your audience. At its worst, AI-written content can be derivative and dangerous.

That’s why we’re sharing five mistakes to avoid when using AI-powered content generation. This quick guide will help you sidestep common don’ts so you can reap the benefits without compromising on quality.

AI-Powered Content Generation: Common Marketer Missteps

Overreliance on tools like ChatGPT and Claude can suck the quality, the creativity, and even the ethicality of your marketing content. 

There are five common areas where AI might not meet your expectations for content creation: 

1. Don’t rely on AI for expert knowledge
2. Don’t trust AI with proprietary information
3. Don’t expect human content from AI
4. Don’t let AI dictate tone and context
5. Don’t expect AI to handle the task solo
   
   

1. Don’t Rely on AI for Expert Knowledge

Using Wikipedia as a source without fact-checking isn’t wise. Similarly, asking AI to be the sole source of in-depth information on a specific topic isn’t gonna fly with the search engines you’re trying to rank in.

The information you receive from a generative AI tool is compiled from websites on the internet, with no intermediate layer of expert oversight. Just as you would want support for any facts you gleaned from an entry on Wikipedia, you want to back up your information from AI sources.

There’s a reason OpenAI shows the disclaimer “ChatGPT can make mistakes” directly underneath its chat box.

Making an AI platform your “in-house expert” isn’t just an accuracy issue. The purpose of most B2B marketing content is to get it ranking in Google search results for relevant terms your ideal customers are using. Google is transparent about the fact that it uses E-E-A-T guidelines as a major factor in whether it ranks your webpage highly or poorly.

AI tools can be a huge help during the writing process, but raw output isn’t the final product. Without a skilled content marketer reviewing and refining it, that content risks falling short. It's the human touch that ensures accuracy, polish, and alignment with keyword and SEO (search engine optimization) best practices and business goals.

Resource: Want to get a better handle on using AI for content creation the right way? 

Check out our guide to using AI in marketing for tips on strategy, audience alignment, and balance.

To understand why human oversight is still essential, look at Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines and how they compare to AI-generated content. 

Using AI for marketing means you have another tool at your disposal. You can even further personalize the AI experience by creating agents to feed them contextual documents. But it does not provide a replacement for colleagues, especially SMEs, or subject matter experts. Your in-house engineering, technology, and leadership experts remain valuable to the content creation process. They can offer specific examples and niche solutions AI can’t. Robots won’t replace their experience and understanding anytime soon.
 

2. Don’t Trust AI with Proprietary Information

AI models continue to learn and evolve in their quest to provide better support and results. With that in mind, it makes sense that feeding information into AI is one of the primary ways the system “learns” and improves itself over time. 

However, feeding AI data you don’t want publicly shared is a good way to lose control of that information. 

Examples include:

• Personal & financial information (i.e. logins and credit card #s)
• NDA-level customer data
• Proprietary ideas & plans

Some platforms, at least at certain service tiers, assure you that they won’t give out information you don’t want shared, but those reassurances are not guarantees. It’s much smarter to play it safe when it comes to protecting your information. Avoid sharing anything in a prompt that you wouldn’t want disseminated to others who use the same tool. 

3. Don’t Expect Human Content from AI

The debate about whether generative AI for content creation will eventually be able to replicate human tones and inflection is evolving by the day. Many AI tool creators have created add-ons to help “humanize” the AI content you are receiving. Of course, better prompting makes a big difference too. 

Current AI software doesn’t automatically infuse results with a level of humor, cleverness, empathy, and emotion that can equal human writing. Never simply copy and paste AI-generated content as-is. Treat it as a starting point, then refine it with your own expertise, insights from your SME, and the human perspective that makes the content accurate, engaging, and valuable.

It’s nice that the issue of “humanness” is on the radar of the AI creator community, but for now, your team should have the final say on brand voice. 

Example:

The Differences:

• Addresses a real customer pain point (spam email)
• Uses a more conversational tone
• Demonstrates industry knowledge
• Explains why it matters
• Sounds like a real person with experience
  

4. Don’t Forget to Check for Tone and Context

Consider the following:

• AI outputs are very matter-of-fact
• AI can only answer you based on its historical understanding of the world
• AI content is limited in the scope of tone and context it can provide.

Yes, if prompted, AI can infuse sarcasm or other humor into a response. It can strive for a professional tone or speak conversationally if you tell it to. But because AI content is generated based on a specific algorithm, it will still follow a logical path that doesn’t break new ground. Double-check any text from an AI tool and ensure it matches the intended message.  Otherwise, your blog post will come off as generic and sound similar to the 999 other folks who used AI to write a similar article.

Example: To prove this point, we asked AI to answer a question for this blog post. The answer on the left is AI’s answer; the one on the right better reflects protocol 80’s brand and style.

Prompt: How does a prompt guide ChatGPT’s response?

Differences:

• It reflects the brand’s perspective
• Offers a specific example versus generic recommendations
• Sounds like advice from an experienced marketer

5. Don’t Expect AI to Fly Solo

AI tools are improving regularly. However, a human writer still needs to provide guide rails for the AI creator to ensure quality and uniqueness.

Think of prompting an AI content tool like the popular “No See, No Speak, No Hear” baking challenge on TikTok. In the challenge, one person is blindfolded, another wears noise-canceling headphones, and the third can’t speak. The only teammate who can give instructions has to be incredibly clear and specific. If the directions are vague, the result is usually a messy kitchen and a batch of ruined cookies.

AI works much the same way. It can only respond to the information you give it, generating content based on the exact parameters in your prompt. If your instructions are incomplete or unclear, don’t expect a polished, accurate result. The quality of the output depends heavily on the quality of the prompt.

This could mean insufficient:

• Length
• Tone
• Level of depth
• Consideration of the target audience

Editors will continue to be valuable for nuance, human perspective, and general biases for a long time. And remember: AI is literally incapable of coming up with brand-new thoughts or ideas.

Using AI-Powered Content Generation Effectively

AI can be a powerful asset in your content strategy — not because it replaces your team, but because it helps it work more efficiently. When used thoughtfully, AI can handle repetitive or time-consuming tasks, giving your team more room to focus on strategy, creativity, and quality.

That said, AI isn’t meant to take over your marketing efforts, but to support them. The best results come from using AI as a collaborative tool — one that works alongside skilled marketers to elevate your content, not automate it entirely.

Humans and AI: A Smart Content Team, Not a One-Man Show

With new tools launching every week, using AI can feel overwhelming. But you don’t need to chase every trend or master every platform. The goal isn’t to use generative AI on every task. — It’s to work smarter (not harder).

Want to learn more about using AI to strengthen your B2B marketing strategy? Explore our AI resource hub for practical guides, best practices, and expert insights:

(Editor's Note: This article was originally published in March 2024 and was recently updated.)