What you can learn from these AI content horror stories

A series of horror stories show the dangers of abusing AI for content creation.

Unfortunately, these are just a few of the recent stories we’ve tracked that show how widespread the abuse of AI-generated content is — even from media companies and brands that should know better.

Why it matters: This unfortunate situation is a masterclass in how No to use artificial intelligence in content and media – and we can learn a lot from it. (Even if it drives us crazy.)

Connect the dots: In episode 54 of The Marketing AI Show, Paul Roetzer, founder/CEO of the Marketing AI Institute, explained what marketers and business leaders need to know about AI-generated content.

• This poor behavior is likely to be explained by incentives. “I think there’s a lot of financial pressure on these media outlets,” says Roetzer. “Probably a great incentive to improve efficiency and reduce reliance on human writers.” If stores think they can generate ad revenue by posting crappy content, there’s probably a lot of motivation to do so.
• But this is a losing strategy. This latest batch of horror stories shows just how wrong this strategy is. “It destroys the trust of the audience,” says Roetzer. And it does so almost as soon as inaccuracies or quality issues with AI-generated content are discovered. Clearly, this road does not end well for the companies involved.
• It also shows failure at the leadership level. “Either they don’t understand how technology works and that it shapes things, or they don’t care,” says Roetzer. “Neither looks good.”
• Simply put, companies should No Replace writers with AI. These stories make it pretty clear: pure AI-generated content without guardrails destroys brand value. Content farming for advertising dollars is a terrible strategy and business model. And replacing staff with AI tools that operate without human supervision is bad for business.

How to take measures: Use AI to create great content. AI can dramatically improve the productivity and creativity of tasks such as ideation, curation, outlining, first drafts, editing and polishing. “But don’t think you can take people out of the loop,” says Roetzer.

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