Have we handed content marketing over to the robots?

What happens when we’re building AI content from AI content from AI content? Do our articles get better or worse? Won’t we all just be producing the same article, over and over, until there aren’t actually any new ideas? And further, what happens when people start their own research and summaries with ChatGPT, and don’t even click through to our websites?

With ChatGPT providing instant, aggregated information, companies need to rethink how they create and deliver value through content. Clearly, AI is disrupting content marketing, and it’s happening fast. Content marketing, in order to stand out, needs to shift from mass-produced, keyword-optimized articles to more strategic, insight-driven, and experience-based content.

Here’s what I see happening:

1. AI Will Be a Tool, Not a Replacement

Good content marketers will still use AI on the front end of content creation for framing and organizing their thoughts, vs. generating them; and on the back end of the process to refine their voice, rather than create it.

Instead of fully replacing human-written content, AI will assist in:

• Generating drafts and outlines faster

• Summarizing complex topics

• Automating repetitive content creation (e.g., product descriptions, SEO briefs)

The best content will combine AI efficiency with human creativity, industry expertise, and emotional intelligence.

2.    Fun Size to Michelin-Star Meal

As content marketers, we’ve been conditioned over the last several years that audiences don’t have the attention span for in-depth content. We’ve been told that snack-sized content will bring engagement. But with short form, dash-off content like listicles, checklists and short blogs being easier than ever to create at volume, the internet is already becoming saturated. Human-driven insights, unique perspectives, and firsthand experiences are now becoming far more valuable. Going forward, people will gravitate toward content that:

• Offers unique data, case studies, or original research

• Provides deep expertise or contrary viewpoints

• Reflects personal experiences, storytelling, and human nuance

In other words, good, effective content marketing will still be work, not magic. Those who commit to creating well-researched, bespoke content and content experiences will reap the benefits.

3.    The Rise of Content as an Experience

Speaking of experiences, content marketing that attracts engagement will continue moving beyond just written articles into more engaging and immersive formats that people will want to interact with directly, vs. just reading the summary provided by ChatGPT:

• Interactive content: Quizzes, assessments, and dynamic tools (e.g., calculators, chat-based experiences) will engage users in ways AI-generated, static articles cannot.

• Community-driven content: Forums, LinkedIn discussions, and expert roundtables will gain importance as people seek authentic, non-AI-generated insights.

• AI-powered personalization: Where AI can help is in tailoring content to specific audiences based on behavior, interests, and intent, creating the ability for marketers to better curate experiences.

4. Search and Discovery Will Change

As someone who has spent a lot of my career building engaging, personalized websites, this is what is keeping me up at night. With AI chatbots like ChatGPT providing direct answers, fewer people will click on traditional articles, relying only on the information provided in the ChatGPT summary. What this means is that without depth, interactivity, or multimedia experiences to inspire users to click through, most people won’t even end up on our sites:

• Brands will need to focus on owned channels (newsletters, communities, exclusive reports) instead of relying on search traffic, and we’ll need to find new, innovative ways of getting people there.

• Websites will likely shift from their TOFU (top of the funnel) focus to more MOFU (middle of the funnel) tools, and content will have to have the requisite personalization and depth.

• Interactive content like webinars, live Q&As, and video-based explainers will grow in importance as people look for real engagement from real people.

• SEO strategies will shift to focus on high-quality, authoritative content that AI bots reference in their answers.

5. Trust and Brand Authority Will Continue to Matter - More

Brand is still king (or was that content?). As AI-generated content continues to become more widespread, trust will be an even more important differentiator. Organizations that work on establishing a clear, strong voice in their thought leadership will build credibility and stand out. Those who eschew trying to “be everything to everybody” and focus on delivering value for very specific audiences will have greater influence as people look for real opinions and expertise rather than regurgitated AI summaries.

For humans, by humans. Yes, AI makes basic content production faster and cheaper, but it also raises the bar for what truly valuable content looks like. Brands and marketers will need to focus on originality, credibility, and engagement to stand out. Rather than just producing more content, the future will be about creating better, more human, and more experience-driven content – using AI. It is time for transformation in marketing, but when isn’t it?

Don’t fire your content marketers yet, kids. These are the folks who will take you into your future.