Contributed to Content Marketing Institute, Recruiter.com, Startups.com, and dozens more publications 
What are your views on using AI to create blog content?
I get this question daily. My answer is almost always “don’t do it.”
This inevitably leads to questions about why not and when businesses should use AI to create blog content.
So we decided to create a series of questions to help you decide.
But first, let’s set the stage.
There’s a reason for the flood of interest in using AI writing tools for everything from papers to articles to social media content, landing pages, and even ad copy. AI can brainstorm ideas, summarize, rewrite, and even automate entire pieces of content—sometimes in seconds. If used strategically, AI can be an ally for content creators battling writer’s block, tight deadlines, or overstuffed editorial calendars.
But here’s the core issue: It’s the ultimate double-edged sword. AI-generated content doesn’t think. It imitates.
That can work in specific use cases, but in most content marketing workflows, especially where SEO, brand voice, and trust are essential, replacing a human writer with AI can backfire in a big way.
Let’s break down when to use AI for blog content creation—and when it’s a terrible idea.
Are Search Engines a Customer Acquisition Channel for You Today?
Most businesses we talk to see that the lion’s share of customers find them through one of two methods:
- SEO (ranking organically in search engines like Google)
- PPC (pay-per-click advertising — driving people to your site from Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, etc.)
Related: the SEO vs. PPC debate
If SEO is a major customer acquisition channel for you, we strongly recommend against using AI to create blog content.
Why? Because Google’s stance is clear.
In their 2025 Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, they state:
“The Lowest rating applies if all or almost all of the [Main Content] on the page is copied, paraphrased, embedded, auto, or AI-generated… with little to no effort, originality, or added value. Such pages should be rated Lowest.”
What stands out most has been bolded below.
Translation? If your content screams ChatGPT and offers no new insight, real-time expertise, or in-depth analysis, it won’t rank.
And we’ve seen it firsthand.
One business came to us in March 2024 after their site received a manual action penalty from Google for having a website consisting mostly of AI-generated content.
Their site went from 20 million readers/month from organic search to 0.
Another client jumped on the AI content train several years back to cut costs.
Results stayed normal for 3-4 months after they switched to AI content.
Then, search traffic fell by 80%.
Bottom line: Yes, AI-powered tools can be tempting for bloggers looking to cut costs or scale fast. But if you rely on SEO traffic to grow, this path is risky.
Which brings us to the scenario where AI might be a good solution: if you don’t see SEO value today.
If SEO doesn’t generate customers for your business, you don’t have much to lose. One approach you could consider is using AI tools to cut costs and scale up content on your site, see which pages gain traction, and have a human writer rewrite those pages.
There’s merit to that approach, but AI can hurt more than rankings.
Even if SEO does not matter to you, start by asking yourself:
Is Your Brand an Asset or a Liability?
Your brand voice, design, values—even your font choices—shape customer perception. If your brand is a competitive edge, protecting it matters.
Are You Willing to Jeopardize Your Brand to Lower Costs?
Because when you use AI for content generation, you’re gambling with your brand credibility in a big way.
But Pat, there aren’t any brand risks to AI, are there?
There are.
AI tools often hallucinate facts, fabricate sources, and bring zero domain expertise to the table. Even if you save on writing costs, you’ll still need to invest in fact-checking, especially in regulated industries like health, finance, or ecommerce.
If you don’t, you’re opening the door to plagiarism, misinformation, legal exposure, and serious reputational damage.
Beyond that? Your followers will notice.
They subscribed to your newsletter, follow you on LinkedIn, or listen to your podcast for your voice, not a template-trained LLM.
Once they sense you’re phoning it in, trust erodes. And that hits conversions.
We dive much deeper into the risks of AI in content marketing here.
What’s Your Timeline to Make Money from this Business?
Over the years, we’ve worked with a dozen brands focused on affiliate marketing.
The brands we worked with created informational websites designed to rank in search engines for valuable keywords. The sites then collect advertising revenue and get referral commissions for recommending products to readers.
The brands we worked with focused on the long term: creating helpful content for readers and building a brand.
Meanwhile, their competitors churned out quick-hit content for short-term gains, then moved on when rankings tanked.
If you’re building a short-term affiliate site or testing product-market fit, AI might help you publish fast, test ideas, and learn. These workflows prioritize speed over quality.
But if your goal is to build a long-term brand, one that earns organic traffic over time and builds loyalty with it, then the type of content that you need to create still needs a human touch.
Great writing compounds. Generic content fades.
What’s the Goal of Your Blog Content?
If you just want pageviews or eyeballs, AI content might get the job done.
But if your goal is to attract the right target audience, earn their trust, and guide them from first click to purchase, AI can’t replace your voice.
A human writer can align tone of voice, writing style, product knowledge, and your content marketing strategy in a way no model can.
So, Are There Still Opportunities to Use AI in Content Creation?
Yes, absolutely!
We’re not anti-AI. We’re just pro-authenticity, pro-insight, and pro-long-term brand value.
(And maybe just a little anti-misinformation.)
Here’s where we recommend using AI in the content creation process:
- Topic ideation
- Playing devil’s advocate
- Simulating target reader feedback
- Analyzing larger data sets
1. Use AI for Topic ideation
If you’re looking to fill your editorial calendar, AI tools can be a good starting point for ideation. Prompt it with the goals you’re looking to achieve, who you’re hoping to help, and ask it to come up with twenty potential article topics.
Chances are, 15 of them will be garbage. But the other five might be worth pursuing. Take the best topic ideas and conduct your own research to see if these are good topics.
- Have past customers asked these questions to your customer service team?
- Conduct competitor analysis. Are competitors getting meaningful search traffic from these topics?
- Are people searching online for keywords related to these topics?
2. AI is Exceptional at Playing Devil’s Advocate
AI tools are exceptional at poking holes in your arguments. If you’re writing about the three most important traits to look for in a pair of climbing shoes, they’ll ask why you focused on A, B, and C instead of trait D.
Here’s an example of how we might frame this for an article on the Intergrowth site.
3. AI Can Simulate Target Reader Feedback
LLMs do a great job of playing the role of your target reader.
Ask AI tools to take on the role of a CMO struggling to acquire customers profitably. What follow-up questions are they most likely to ask as they read this article? Did we get too technical — are there sections they struggled to follow along with?
4. Use AI to Analyze Larger Data Sets
AI is better than humans at analyzing large data sets and compiling summaries or pulling out key data points. Use this to your advantage.
So we asked AI to help. We uploaded the audio to Google’s NotebookLM and asked it to compile key takeaways from each interview, along with guest quotes and timestamps to review for accuracy. We reviewed the key takeaways and fact-checked the guest quotes to pull together the full article.
Conclusion
So there you have it.
Should you use AI to create blog content? Probably not.
If you’re interested in turning your blog into a tool that brings new customers to your site every month, get in touch. I’ll show you how our team helps B2C companies that see their brand as an asset get more customers from their blog.
SCALE YOUR ORGANIC TRAFFIC
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