Artificial Intelligence in writing, content creation and creativity

Is AI creativity better than human creativity?

The first thing to consider when using AI for creative purposes, is that, despite its impressive ability to produce imaginative material, it’s not truly creative on its own. AI operates based on patterns, data and algorithms, and learns from already existing information to generate content.

Take ChatGPT. It uses machine learning to generate text based on prompts, and it’s based on an algorithmic computing strategy that trains on a huge amount of data. It isn’t conscious and doesn’t create original thoughts, but simply builds text based on the logical patterns of words and phrases it has learned.

While on that subject, it’s worth mentioning that AI systems are only as good as the data they are trained on, and if the data provided is poor or biased, the results from AI will be flawed as well. Even with high-quality data, AI can still perform below expectations if it’s not properly managed during development.

While AI can help with creative tasks, it may not be helping our own creative capabilities. Post-pandemic educators have noticed severe declines in students’ ability to think critically and solve problems at the most basic levels. AI can do a lot of the heavy computational lifting for humans, and while that means convenience and speed, it’s also raising concerns about its effect on building important cognitive and independent thinking skills. Unlike earlier revolutionary tools which made certain tasks easier without reshaping how we think, AI is alleviating the need to process information and make decisions, reducing our reliance on our own cognitive skills. The challenge lies in developing balance between making use of Artificial Intelligence for efficiency, and ensuring we still think creatively and solve problems on our own.

So, regarding the question of AI creativity, it’s important to keep in mind that AI currently does not surpass human creativity, but it can be a helpful assistant for finding, digesting, and collating information, as well as generating content as directed by people.

Why is Generative AI so popular?

AI-generated content services are rapidly gaining popularity for their impressive abilities to speed up design work, generate personalized content and boost overall creativity.

These services make it possible for users with limited creative or design skills to produce quality visuals. This makes design more inclusive and accessible, and speeds up the creative process. Generative AI models also allow for rapid personalization of content, which for many businesses means easier tailoring for specific audiences and overall increase in user engagement.

How does an AI write?

AI writing tools use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to generate human-like writing. The process can be broken down into four steps:

- Training: AI models are trained on massive datasets of text, including books, articles, websites and social media. This data serves as the foundation for the model's understanding of language, covering grammatical structures, vocabulary, style and the nuances of communication.

- Processing: When a user provides the AI with a prompt, whether it’s a question or a statement, the AI model analyzes the input and converts it into numerical representation. This numerical representation is essentially the native language of the AI, with which it can identify relevant patterns and relationships within its training data.

- Generation: The AI model uses statistical and probabilistic methods to predict the most likely words or phrases to follow the input. This is not a conscious process, but is iterative, generating one word or phrase at a time in numerical representation.

- Refinement: The generated text is converted back to the human language being used, and is then refined through post-processing techniques to improve its fluency, coherence, and adherence to the user’s specific stylistic requirements.

This entire process is incredibly fast. If you haven’t seen it or tried it yourself, there are plenty of free AI writing tools available online. Some of the best and most popular AI writing tools are Aria - Opera browser’s integrated AI, Chat GPT, Claude and Gemini. For more free AI tool recommendations, read our article on the best free AI tools you can start using today.

Sales-oriented content

Different tasks require different tools. Models like Copy.ai and Jasper, for example, are found more useful in the creation of marketing copy, such as headlines, social media ads, or even email marketing campaigns.

Businesses and marketers can make use of artificial intelligence to enhance user engagement, by creating compelling product descriptions and generating attention-grabbing headlines. AI can also be utilized for SEO optimisation, which ensures better visibility in search engines.

However, it’s wise to be cautious when using AI for business purposes. For more details, read our article on AI safety.

AI as an ideation tool

In any creative process, it’s helpful to have someone you can bounce ideas off of. While AI isn’t creative on its own, it can serve as a helpful assistant in brainstorming ideas. Chatbots can easily offer inspiration, examples, or use-cases, expanding the creative possibilities. AI models are also capable of analyzing trends, competitor content or user queries to provide keywords, as much as different perspectives and suggestions.

Although the final outcome still depends on human input, AI tools can enhance the creative process and offer multiple possibilities, which give a solid foundation for future content.

Is Artificial Intelligence a good editor?

Although most AI-powered tools can be helpful for adding the final polish to a project, they’re met with significant limitations when it comes to proofreading. Standard AI chatbots and writing models can identify common grammar and spelling mistakes. However, also trained on datasets that, while extensive, aren’t always grammatically refined. This can result in errors, inaccurate information, and stiff or unnatural suggestions, especially when presented with unfamiliar topics..

This is an issue because AI doesn’t always understand writing complexities the way humans do. Programs based on artificial intelligence can strip writing of its unique voice or style, which is why relying on them completely can result in unnatural and awkward syntax.

So, even though AI doesn’t currently stand up to humans in proofreading, it is a free and accessible option. If you do choose to go that route, we recommend opting for tools tailored specifically for copyediting, grammar or language correction, rather than common chatbots. Tools such as Grammarly, EditGPT, CorrectEnglish or Antidote are much more beneficial when reviewing text than any large language model used for conversing, such as ChatGPT.

AI content creation: summary of benefits and drawbacks

First and foremost, using AI in content creation is fast. By automating tasks like drafting, editing and SEO optimization, or quickly generating product descriptions, emails, or social media captions it speeds up production and allows creators to focus more on strategy and the creative side of projects. AI can also help maintain a consistent tone and style throughout all content pieces, to ensure a cohesive brand voice - an advantage to businesses that regularly produce a high volume of content. Finally, AI can make content creation more affordable, as it reduces the demand for large content teams - even paid tools can prove to be more cost-effective.

While AI provides numerous benefits, there are some downsides to consider as well. Although impressive and powerful with its capabilities, artificial intelligence lacks the true creativity and emotional intelligence that human writers bring, which often results in loss of the important personal touch, and producing content that lacks depth. Moreover, while most AI tools are highly advanced, they still require human supervision for quality control. Relying too heavily on AI for content may lead to mistakes going unnoticed, bias in copy, or a general lack of originality that is needed when you want to engage an audience.

A balance between AI and human creativity

Artificial intelligence is, without a doubt, a powerful tool for streamlining content creation and writing, that can elevate any creative process if used wisely. But it’s important to remember that creativity and originality thrive on human input, at least currently.

AI provides a level of efficiency that is extremely useful to content creators, but there’s a ways to go before it can substitute for human insight and judgement.