When AI writing tools arrived on the scene, I was their biggest critic.

Robots will never replace human writers, I said.

Fast-forward to 2023. I’m now the President at Content at Scale – an AI writer that’s so smart it can create hundreds of posts per month, all fully optimized for SEO.

How did I go from anti-AI to pro-AI in a total 180° turn? 🌀

Let me share my story and how it coincides with the rise of AI.

It’s all about adapting to the times.

AI is here, and there’s no point in fighting it. It has made a huge impact on every industry, particularly content writing.

And if you don’t embrace automation, you’ll be left behind.

The faster you are able to adapt, the less disruptive the technology will be.

Through my journey, you can learn how to adapt, evolve, and grow with AI.

Let’s get started.

Attention writers: Are you ready to adapt? Watch this. 👇

How I Built a Thriving Business Before the Rise of AI

At 19, I left school to pursue my dream of becoming a writer. That’s all I wanted to do and I was determined to make a successful career out of it.

And so I did. I was able to build a thriving enterprise with a team of 100+ writers. 

At that time, artificial intelligence (AI) didn’t exist, and the idea of an AI-driven world was just a cartoonish concept (think The Jetsons 🛸).

Then came the article rewriters. Those clunky robot spinners took your original content and spun every word and phrase into every synonym possible. You can imagine the garbage it churned out. 😆

The output was so bad, I thought, no WAY will robots learn how to write like a human – at least not in the next 500 years.

But in just six short years, technology evolved rapidly…. and I was proven wrong.

From Skepticism to Adoption

On November 30, 2022, ChatGPT arrived. 

A very smart and easy-to-use chatbot + a very curious populace = bedlam.

And within 5 days, ChatGPT had already crossed the 1 million mark – making it the fastest-adapted tech ever. 

GPT-3, the language model behind ChatGPT, is getting closer to passing the Turing Test, which assesses a machine’s capacity to display intelligent, human-like behavior.

When GPT-1 was introduced in 2018, it already had 117 million parameters. Now GPT-3 has a mind-boggling 175 billion parameters and GPT-4 is rumored to have 1 trillion parameters. 🤯

When I first saw a demo of Content at Scale – an AI writer based on GPT-3 – I was blown away! The article was well-researched, well-written, and almost ready to publish, and it took the machine less than 5 minutes to write it.

My skepticism turned into excitement as I discovered that AI is not here to replace us but make our lives easier.

And so that was the start of my journey toward adopting AI into SEO marketing.

Embracing Change in the World of Content

Pivoting from an anti-AI stance to becoming an advocate wasn’t easy. Nor was it immediate. It took time and effort to learn how this new technology can work with a human rather than against it. 

This is how I developed our C.R.A.F.T. framework at Content at Scale. Instead of fearing AI, why not use these cutting-edge tools to supercharge your productivity while still retaining the human element of personalized content that resonates with your audiences?

With AI working alongside a human writer, you can:

• Create high-quality content that caters to the ever-changing SEO landscape.
• Get valuable insights into user behavior, preferences, and trends which are essential for crafting targeted content.
• Produce more content faster than ever without compromising quality or originality.

Want to learn every step involved in our C.R.A.F.T. framework? You’re in the right place. To learn more about AIO and C.R.A.F.T, read our individual guides:

• C – a full guide on cutting the fluff
• R – a full guide on optimizing your content for SEO
• A – a full guide on adding blog images and visuals
• F – a full guide on how to fact-check
• T – a full guide on how to trust-build in your content

Additionally, subscribe to our blog, watch our C.R.A.F.T. and AIO tutorials on our YouTube channel, and read this blog to understand the AIO model.

What Does Google Say About AI Content?

The evolution of AI is bigger than the invention of electricity or fire. That’s how Google CEO Sundar Pichai sees the impact of artificial intelligence on humanity.

How will Google adapt?

The New York Times uncovered the answer when it reported last week that Google is working on building an entirely new search engine powered by AI.

As early as next month, we could be seeing AI tools injected into the current search engine via Project Magi. And Google promises to roll out more features in the fall.

Before this announcement, Google had been taking its sweet time adopting AI into search, until it learned that Samsung was considering replacing its default browser with Microsoft Bing – which is powered by GPT-3.

That’s $3 billion worth of potential lost income. 🤯

Now that a brand new Google search engine is coming, what happens to search?

Will SEO Content Still Matter?

Domain name power and topical authority won’t be going away.

Both are built on 100% high-quality SEO content that meets EEAT requirements.

EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

Even when Google adds AI features to search, its crawlers will still prioritize helpful content – doesn’t matter if a human or a machine wrote it.

Links and domain authority will continue to play a critical role in search rankings, and it matters now more than ever. 

So if you want to secure your future in the AI era, the best way to do that is to create more content and start building your topical authority and domain strength.

How do you consistently make great content? You guessed it – through Content at Scale.

Remember: Google doesn’t care how you write your content as long as it’s good, helpful content that’s worth your readers’ time.

Here are some of the ways you can modify your content strategy in the world of automation — and turn it into an AI content strategy:

• Maintain link quality: Focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable sources rather than relying solely on quantity.
• Prioritize domain authority: Invest time and resources into building your website’s credibility through consistent branding, quality content, and positive user experiences.
• Optimize for semantic search: As AI becomes more sophisticated, it will be better equipped to understand the context behind users’ queries. To stay ahead of the curve, optimize your content for semantic search so you can provide helpful answers to your customers.
• Embrace structured data: Structured data allows search engines to better understand and categorize your website’s information. By implementing schema markup on your site, you can improve its visibility and increase click-through rates.

How to Adapt Your Content Strategy to Stay Ahead

Are you a writer, agency owner, or business leader?

Do not fear AI. Robots are here to make your job easy, not kill it altogether.

Find ways to incorporate AI into your workflow to make your workforce more productive. Some examples are:

• Content research: Use AI-powered platforms like BuzzSumo, Frase.io, or ChatGPT to identify trending topics within your niche and gather relevant data points for crafting compelling articles.
• Title generation: Tools such as Takooba, Portent’s Title Maker, and ChatGPT can help generate catchy headlines based on keywords.
• Social media scheduling: Automated solutions like Buffer or Hootsuite allow you to share fresh content across various social media channels without spending hours manually posting on each platform.

What Are Marketing Experts Saying About the Rise of AI?

Joe Pulizzi, channeling his inner Nostradamus:

Back in 2017, I wrote a piece on content creation robots for Content Marketing Institute. Joe Pulizzi wrote this in the comments section:

In 10 years the majority of content will be generated by software. In 20 years, humans will wonder why we wasted so much time on content creation. I can’t see any other way around this.

That was 5 years before GPT-3 came out! Although he was off by a couple of years, Joe’s prediction was spot on. 😉

Paul Roetzer, Founder & CEO of Marketing AI Institute, on the impact of AI on knowledge workers:

Out of the 132 million full-time workers in the country, 76% are knowledge workers – people who think for a living. That’s around 100 million writers, marketers, salespeople, programmers, architects, engineers, and lawyers who will be out of a job in 1 to 2 years!

Paul says the only way to survive is for knowledge workers to focus on education and retraining.

Ann Handley, digital marketing pioneer, on AI transforming writers:

The best-selling author of Everybody Writes says AI has the potential to elevate writers. That is, if they’re willing.

If you’re a mediocre writer, then AI can turn you into an exceptional one.

If you’re already a first-rate writer, what can you offer that bots don’t have? 

Emotions. Wisdom. Perception. Experiences.

Qualities that make you human.

Mark de Grasse, President at Digital Marketer, on AI making content marketing better:

As a leader in marketing education, Mark believes that AI will only make good marketers so much better.

With all the mundane, repetitive tasks gone, marketers can now focus on creating more – and better – content with AI tools.

Aleyda Solis, SEO leader, reminds us to be aware of AI’s limitations:

An AI tool is only as good as its training model. ChatGPT is, in fact, only trained up to 2021 so it doesn’t know current data.

When using AI for writing content, always:

• Back up your content with facts and stats.
• Rephrase your content to avoid duplication.
• Fact-check everything.

Future-Proof Your Career Through Continuous Learning

Taking a proactive approach toward improving your skills will make you more adaptable and better equipped to navigate an AI-driven world.

Four things you should do now:

1. Educate yourself: Stay informed about emerging technologies related to your field by attending webinars or conferences. Subscribe to newsletters from reputable sources like Content Marketing Institute.
2. Hone your skills: Develop expertise in areas where machines cannot compete with human abilities such as storytelling, empathy-based communication, or persuasive copywriting.
3. Embrace change: Don’t shy away from experimenting with new tools that can help you stay ahead. For example, explore AI-powered platforms like Frase which helps with content research and optimization.
4. Network with professionals: Join online communities or forums where you can discuss industry trends, share insights, and learn from other experts’ experiences. Platforms such as LinkedIn’s Content Strategy group are great places to start.

Is AI The End of Human Creativity?

AI models are here to augment and enrich our creative process – not push human writers aside.

Because as writers, we have an incredible gift – the ability to connect with others through our words. Our creativity and empathy are what make us irreplaceable. And now, with AI by our side, we can focus on our strengths and let technology handle the rest.

So, to my fellow writers, I say this: Embrace the change.

Let’s adapt and grow together.

With AI in our toolkit, we can reach new heights and continue to make an impact with our words.

I invite you to join me on this journey. Let’s create a brighter future for writers in the AI era.

*Every word of this final concluding section was written by Content at Scale. It crushed.