Many businesses believe choosing between AI tools and writers is often a question of cost versus quality. Nowadays, AI tools are being used in a wide range of applications including content generation. At the same time, it’s essential to consider all available options for content creation to select the best one.
When we sum up, there are four options: in-house content writers, AI-powered content creation tools, freelancers, or hiring an agency. So which is best for your businesses? All of these have their pros and cons. It’s true that AI is being used for content creation even by in-house writers, freelancers, or professionals working at an agency. Though, it will be quite comprehensive to compare them all, we’ve picked up AI tools, and freelancers for comparison. Let’s start.
Ways to Choose Between AI Powered Content Creation Tools and Freelancers
Speed
It’s not even a competition in this category. The AI writer is much faster than writing the content by humans. Even the quickest freelance writers will have a hard time knocking out a publish-ready long-form article in less than two hours.
An AI content writing tool is capable of structuring a long-form article of a similar quality level in under one minute. Can AI actually reach that similar level of quality? It’s a nuanced question. For that, it’s better to seek a demo of the tools you selected for writing.
Reliability
AI writers are not that reliable but still win over freelance writers in many cases. After all, AI writers aren’t shaped by the complex human life situations or the irrationality of humans. No writer, not even the best freelance writer on the planet, is immune from facing delays when producing work anytime for any reason whether personal, professional, medical, or spiritual.
Unfortunately, freelancers are not always completely reliable, and there is no guarantee that a writer will consistently deliver articles when needed. AI writers are not subject to such issues and produce their writing stream. Of course, AI tools can have occasional stumbles in quality or relevance. However, these mistakes are largely avoidable and do not hinder the timely completion of a final product. To help in choosing the right approach in content creation, have a free consultation with Webuter’s AI consulting services.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is a complex topic, and for that you might need a human writer to apply best practices to your business’s content production. At the same time, AI tools are specifically designed to help your content rank higher on Google and other search engines. This is partly due to the deep learning technology that tools utilize.
In particular, those deep learning models cluster information to identify topics that are relevant to develop through reading. Leading search engines, including Google, deploy almost identical deep learning technology to decide which results should be returned for any given query.
Factual Accuracy
As mentioned above, freelance writers are fallible humans and make mistakes, but so far, they’re doing a much better job than machines at writing accurate content. Fact-checking can be complex even for humans and the technology isn’t there yet for all of these to fully fact-check what they do.
That being said, Webuters AI powered automated blogging tools can generate fact-based content on most topics. But there is room for improvement before this technology can outpace human fact-checkers.
Deeply Technical, Analytical, or Editorial Content
If your company generates highly technical or analytical pieces of content, then AI tools can help. They are invaluable, of course, but an AI content writer is not yet able to be a genuine subject matter expert, especially when it comes to something they haven’t encountered or need a deeper understanding of.
Freelancers can create something similar, but then the rates are unreasonable and skyrocket quickly. Such content usually requires a full-time subject matter expert to write it with a cost that is too high for some businesses.
Freelancers do prevail in editorial content, but remember that tools can also create believable editorial content. It is capable of illustrating a subject to favor some opinion, according to the user’s input keyword. That aside, it can’t yet think critically about that subject or provide an original thought.
Company Brand/Identity Knowledge
The reality is that both freelance and Generative AI tools aren’t that good at it. Currently, AI tools struggle to incorporate brand-specific information, which hinders their ability to grasp the essence of a brand.
Additionally, freelancers often lack sufficient time with any given company to gain a comprehensive understanding of it. In fact, many content managers find themselves needing to refine and adapt freelancer-created content to match the specific needs of the brand.
AI are tackling this issue, but in the meantime, the best way to ensure your content aligns with your brand is to employ full-time or contracted in-house writers who review every piece of writing produced.
AI Content Writing or Freelancers- Which is Best?
AI tools, freelancers or a mix of both? The answer depends on what you want to achieve with the task. Where AI tools excel at automating repetitive tasks, freelancers bring creativity, strategic thinking, and a human touch. Here, you’ll get some valuable tips on when to lean into AI tools and when to bring in freelance help as well as how the two can work together for an even better outcome.
When AI Content Writing Tools Are the Right Pick?
AI can be used to draft initial drafts of thought pieces or creative ideas that freelancers can further refine and improve in terms of quality and tone to better align with brand guidelines. AI tools are perfect for automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as data entry or scheduling. They excel at managing large-scale projects without requiring creativity or customization, thereby saving businesses time and energy in the pursuit of substantial workloads. Check a few AI use cases in addition to its usages in content creation.
When Freelancers Are the Right Pick?
Freelancers are superior when you need creativity, emotion, and storytelling in a project. They thrive in front of a client, where communication is crucial for fostering relationships and trust. Freelancers are also beneficial for more complex projects. They are good for strategic input and the ability to make informed decisions, enabling businesses to meet their targets with creativity and care.
There is no such competition between AI vs content agencies. Businesses can also combine AI tools with freelance expertise to maximize their benefits. Balancing both can enhance customer experience and efficiency.
For example, AI can write first drafts or provide data insights, while freelancers edit, interpret insights, or handle client communication to maintain a human touch. You can also manage AI implementations, ensuring that tools are set up correctly, work as expected, and deliver the intended results according to the company’s requirements.
Conclusion
There is no shortage of AI-based writing tools flooding the online content production marketplace. However, the secret lies in choosing the reliable AI tools, along with human writers. Although AI powered content creation tools may seem to be priced reasonably at first, it is essential for businesses to consider hidden costs:
AI Model Training: AI tools require customization, which demands time, energy, and money.
Correction: Error cannot be blamed on technology. Automated systems can also make errors, and sometimes these need the intervention of a human.
Content Quality Risks: AI-generated content can also be of low quality and uninspiring, potentially harming a brand’s reputation.
Freelancers, who are usually more costly initially, tend to yield higher-quality results that are both personal and creative. Expensive errors can be avoided, and your ROI will generally be higher if you invest in human knowledge.
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