GenAI and the Content Conundrum: Why the Human Touch Still Matters

Recently, I asked an AI tool as an experiment to write a story on a major tech deal that was trending. What I got back was… mostly technically correct but also the most boring, soulless thing I’d ever read. No nuance. No personality. Just a neatly structured set of words—carefully assembled like Lego blocks—that absolutely had a ‘Robo’ vibe. Truth be told, that’s what it is.

In a way, it’s like predictive text on steroids—faster, more polished, but still missing the soul of real storytelling.

And that’s exactly the problem all creative folks are facing.

The blunt truth, beyond the human-in-the-loop postures, is that, we are living in an age where AI-generated articles, PR pitches, and marketing copies are becoming the new norm. Some have even openly confessed that they’ve “automated” their entire content workflow for efficiency, reducing dependence on humans. But it also sounds dangerous, despite the fact that GenAI is a tool that’s going to create a whole new generation of left-brained people, polarized on structure and facts.

But for right-brained people—a vanishing tribe of empaths driven by creativity, intuition, and big-picture thinkers—AI will be a strategic tool. They will rule AI, not the other way around.

Always, we need to remember that creating great content—whether journalism, PR, or marketing—isn’t just about assembling words. It’s about telling stories. And stories, well, they belong to humans.

AI is Your Intern, Not an Editor

I won’t lie—AI is incredibly useful. It can digest a 100-page whitepaper in seconds, throw out 20 headline suggestions in a blink, and optimize your content for SEO with killer precision. If AI were to be a person, it’d be that overenthusiastic intern who works 24/7, never takes a lunch break, and somehow knows everything about Google’s latest algorithm update.

But the key question is—would you let that intern publish an unedited piece in your name? Would you trust them to handle a crisis PR statement without oversight?

Because AI, for all its speed, doesn’t think and reason like a human. It doesn’t understand why a particular word choice might land badly. It doesn’t feel the weight of a scandal, the tension in an industry shift, or the pain behind a layoff, or the subtle sarcasm in a CEO’s off-the-record comment. It just produces words based on patterns. And that’s not the same as storytelling.

Where AI Falls Flat (and Always Will)

1. AI doesn’t chase a story – I once spent three days tracking down a reluctant source for an investigative piece. AI would’ve given up in three seconds. It can summarize existing data, but it can’t find new information.

2. AI doesn’t have a moral compass – It’s not calibrated for the ‘True North.’ For instance, should a certain piece of news be reported? Is a marketing claim ethically sound? AI doesn’t care. It’ll write whatever you tell it to—no questions asked.

3. AI doesn’t do nuance – I once saw AI describe a tech CEO’s “departure” without mentioning the actual reason (a massive insider trading scandal). Humans know when to read between the lines—AI doesn’t.

4. AI makes things up (a lot) – Journalists fact-check. PR pros verify. AI? Sometimes, it just invents things (politely called “hallucinations”—the domain of Psychiatry and Neurology before GenAI). I once asked AI to summarize a CEO interview, and it quoted lines the CEO never actually said—a perfect recipe for landing in a soup.

Where AI Can Help (When Used Responsibly and Ethically)

Let’s be honest—AI, when used wisely, can be a fantastic assistant. And everyone uses it, however great an AI Nazi (the Grammar Nazis have evolved) they claim to be on LinkedIn. So what are the likely AI use cases for content creators?

• Brainstorming – Stuck on headline ideas? Let AI throw some spaghetti at the wall.

• Summarization – Need a quick digest of a research paper? AI can save you hours.

• For first drafts – A rough AI-generated draft can be useful—as long as a human rewrites it.

• For sanity checks – AI can spot typos and SEO gaps, but it shouldn’t be the final gatekeeper.

What’s the key? AI should be a tool in your arsenal, not the one holding the pen as a writer. Its someting like how the calculator changed math.

The Future: AI Won’t Replace Writers, But Writers Who Use AI Will Replace Those Who Don’t

Let’s be real and honest again—AI isn’t going away. The Altman age has begun, and we will have our Musk moments. Looking at the horizon, it’s only going to get better. But the best content will always have a human heartbeat—a pulse that’s felt and read.

I mean, think about it—what’s the last piece of writing that really moved you? Was it an AI-generated report? A keyword-stuffed blog post? No. It was something raw, insightful, alive—something that had a soul.

So, what’s the future of content creation? AI can assist, sure. But the storytellers? The truth-seekers? The people who know when to say something and when to stay silent?

That’s us. That’s human. And that’s irreplaceable.