Is AI going to kill my content writing job?

Written by Gabrielle

(I bloody hope not.)

Remember when the news was flooded with outcry over students submitting work written by ChatGPT? I don’t know why we were all so surprised. Kids were given a free tool that could turn a few short sentences into essays and coursework in seconds. When Netflix is churning out series after series to watch in one weekend, why wouldn’t they?

Well, if you were like me at school, you’d have frowned at your classmates who were using it. You’d be sitting on your high horse, proud of the fact that you hadn’t. The jury’s out if you’re still doing that in your job as a content writer, fifteen or so years on…

…or is it?

Welcome to 2025, Gabs

In a moment that I genuinely NEVER thought would come, I came out of 1807 and into 2025 the other week. I opened ChatGPT for the first time, dipping my toe into the AI-first culture we’re building at Flaunt Digital. I’ll be honest, the AI wasn’t as big or bold as all the noise has made it out to be – I saw a simple search bar in the middle of a webpage and thought ‘what’s the worst it could do?’.

Take my job, according to some friends and family. Tough crowd, huh.

What does a content writer do?

(Hint: We LOVE writing.)

I’ve long been an advocate that content writers, copywriters, writers, whatever else we call ourselves, should actually write. In part, that’s because my workday doesn’t get much better than a clear diary, seven-ish hours to focus on nothing but tapping away at my keyboard. But it’s also because anyone – which I’m fast realising – can whack a few bullet points or a bunch of words into ChatGPT, add a prompt or two, and churn out something that could pass as ‘decent’ content.

But should you be trusting them to?

Content writers vs ChatGPT-ers for brands

By ‘you’, I mean brands.

The ones that go from zero to hero when ad copy is just right. The ones that crash back to reality even faster when it’s wrong, a PR crisis no-one wants to touch.

For all its speed, flexibility, and reliability, there’s one piece of ‘intelligence’ AI doesn’t have that us writers do: relationships with these brands.

And this time, I mean the people behind them – the ones who:

Engineer the products or services, the ones who have turned concepts into prototypes, then tested and tweaked them a gazillion times before landing on the solution.
Pick up, put down, then pick up the phone again to hear the pains and challenges of their customers day in, day out. They talk the real talk, rather than walking the AI-generated marketing walk, which, let’s be honest, was kinda impactful until everyone on LinkedIn started using it, the feed now a drivel of repetitive tosh.
Watch competitors like a hawk, and know when to take inspiration from new ‘biz on the block (and when to leave them be).

Let me explain.

The human touch

At Flaunt, there’s a correlation between content performance and touch points with our clients. The ones we speak to the most are usually the ones that see proper, tangible impact from digital – the websites, blogs, landing pages, press releases (etc) we create. And that’s because we’re as on it as they are.

Groundbreaking event in their industry? You bet we’ll open our emails and see a comment from the client, be it the MD or marketing assistant.

Government making (another) change to budgets, investment, taxes, tariffs, or something else that affects their sector? Not only will we know about it, but we’ll already have comments ready and waiting from their experts to fire off to journalists, whether it goes one way or another.

String of negative comments on social media? We won’t just put out a blanket statement and hope the issue is swept under the rug (you could use ChatGPT for that…). We’ll work with our client to understand what’s gone wrong, and why, then find a solution that shows these customers that the brand knows what matters. They can hold their hands up. We’ll work to make things right. We’re only human – so why shouldn’t our statements be, too?

(P.S. if you like the sound of all this, you should check out our work.)

Content writers don’t simply regurgitate USPs

We actually understand them. And we write about them in a way that AI can’t.

That’s not because it doesn’t know how to, but because it doesn’t have the trinkets of info we have from weeks, months, years of servicing a client.

I won’t deny that finding the right words to describe a service or product can be tricky – and something an AI synonym generator can help with. But making the words relatable? That’s a content writer’s bread-and-butter – and something I doubt AI can kill.

We’re able to play with the new interactive tool our devs have built to make the buying journey simpler and more involved for the customer. We get a sneak-peek (and if we’re lucky, a feel) of next year’s spring/summer clothing collections for fashion brands before Christmas has even passed.

We’re consumers ourselves, real people living out changing seasonality trends. And we’re all over a brand’s messaging dos and don’ts – no matter how apt a particular word is in our eyes.

Why did I use ChatGPT?

All this said, and you may have forgotten my admission to having a go with ChatGPT. As long as we see it as a tool, rather than a means to an end, I can get on board – I think. I’ve been using it to check HTML I’ve written, suggest synonyms when the OED has failed me, and tweak copy to a tone of voice I’ve never written in before.

My biggest fear is AI rendering my brain useless – I don’t want to become an idiot who can’t think, ideate, or problem solve for herself. (There are enough people paving that path.) I want to continue feeling pride when people ask me what I do, with the words I write evidence that content writing is more than throwing some words into ChatGPT and hoping for the best. It’s an art – and like other art, AI can’t replace the sentiment that comes with doing it yourself.

So, will AI replace my writing job?

Never. Maybe. No. I don’t think so…

…not yet. The romanticist in me reckons she’ll still be paying off her mortgage in twenty years as a content writer. The realist knows AI is going to change our industry, but how far is partly down to us – and making sure our value is known.

I’m not worried about losing my job to AI today – I’m more worried about the assumption from friends, family, the general public that something artificial can replace something so human, which in essence, is the USP of my job.

I’m all for making work more efficient, profitable, impactful. But we all still get screamed at by the self-checkout for an unexpected item in the bagging area, don’t we?

Looking for words from a human and content marketing that hits the spot?

Get in touch.

Gabrielle Percival

Senior Content Lead

Gabs was born in Leicester Royal Infirmary on the morning of St. Georges Day. She loves skiing, playing tennis and padel a few times a week, and cooking/baking. “I’ve always loved writing and sharing information in ways that are engaging, interesting, relatable, personable, and useful, so here we are.”

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