Why Content Marketers Need Editors to Humanize AI Text in the Age of ChatGPT

Let’s face it: AI is here to stay in the corporate world. More and more companies have adopted AI content polices, and content marketers in particular can save valuable time by utilizing large language models like ChatGPT in generating blog posts, social media captions, headlines, ad copy, and more.

But with the widespread adoption of these AI tools, content marketers now have a new task: personalizing, differentiating, and humanizing AI-generated text. AI-generated text can easily come across as robotic, impersonal, or disconnected from a brand’s audience (or worse, factually incorrect).

Working with an editor on humanizing AI text can make the content development process even more seamless.

Here are the top five things editors can do to help communications and marketing professionals adapt their AI-generated text:

Remove Overused Buzzwords

Since ChatGPT and other large language models are trained on preexisting content, they’re likely to be heavy on jargon and corporate lingo. For example, Microsoft notes that some obvious AI words and phrases are cutting edge, at its core, fostering, or in conclusion. Not only might these terms get flagged by AI-generated software, but they can also be an instant turn-off for a brand’s discerning customer base, which could lead to a decrease in engagement, sales, or following. Nobody wants to read boring writing.

Editors are trained to make writing accessible and effective. Not only can they cut out buzzwords, but they can provide comparable language (many editors keep lists of heavily used words and more compelling alternatives).

Avoid Repetition

AI-generated texts tend to have a similar structure and can often feel repetitive. Editors can look at a piece of writing as a whole and provide line edits to help with overall readability and narrative flow. They can remove or cut down wordy paragraphs, smooth out transitions, ensure paragraphs are cohesive, and that paragraph and sentence length are varied enough to make the reading experience more pleasurable.

At heart, editors are stand-ins for readers. They are trained to point out discrepancies, holes, and flaws, and can make the writing as strong and persuasive as possible—and know when less means more.

Refine Hashtags and Emojis

Hashtags help with visibility and brand awareness, and asking ChatGPT to include hashtags and emojis can be a valuable shortcut when writing for social media. But these suggestions always need a human editor to review and fine-tune. For example, when asked to write a social media post promoting a local event, ChatGPT suggested hashtags that were so general that they wouldn’t aid in discoverability—or worse, would come across as out of touch.

Emojis also need a human editor to review. AI can be extremely useful in suggesting appropriate emojis to use, but their selections need to be reviewed—often, they include a couple appropriate emojis and a few that are irrelevant to the content of the post. A human editor can easily yea or nay the emojis selected by AI (or add in similar ones).

Personalizing Your Content to Your Specific Brand Voice

Strong brands have unique voices. While AI is rapidly growing more sophisticated, your brand voice is what sets you apart from your competitors (and all the other online noise).

Editors can be your expert partners in establishing your company’s voice and house style. They can help develop and implement a house style guide to help with your company’s credibility, and can fine-tune AI-generated copy so that it fits with your organization’s mission, goals, and audience.

Plus, AI cannot add personal stories from you or your organization. An editor on your team can personalize text with relevant anecdotes, case studies, or staff bios.

Allowing You to Focus on the Big Picture

Perhaps the most enticing part of working with an editor means that you as a content marketer can focus on big-picture ideas: long-term strategy, metrics and analytics, real-time audience engagement, and taking advantage of rapidly developing trends in your industry.

For example, if you work with an editor on your content, you will have more time to analyze data from past posts, research competitors, and plan content that will more effectively engage with your audience.

With an editor on the team, content marketers may also have more time to look at the zoomed-out view of the company’s content for the quarter or year.

Plus, content marketers will have more time to focus on the social part of social media: engaging with your community by responding to posts, asking questions, providing essential customer service, and chiming in on conversations and memes tied to real-time events.

AI is constantly evolving, but the value of editing AI-generated text simply cannot be overlooked. And working with a professional editor is an even more effective way to incorporate this tool into your content marketing process.