Everyone's talking about AI these days. Your inbox is probably full of tools promising to write perfect blog posts in seconds. Your colleagues might be experimenting with ChatGPT. And you're wondering: should I jump on this train too?
Let's cut through the hype and get real about AI content.
The Tempting Promise
The pitch sounds amazing. Type a prompt, wait thirty seconds, and boom—you have a complete article. No writer's block. No waiting for drafts. No back-and-forth revisions.
But here's what actually happens.
You get something that looks decent at first glance. The grammar is fine. The sentences make sense. But as you read deeper, something feels off. The tone is flat. The facts seem questionable. The whole thing sounds like it was written by someone who doesn't really understand your business.
You know what? That's exactly what happened. Because AI doesn't understand anything. It's just predicting the next word based on patterns it has seen before.
What Google Really Wants
Before we decide if AI content for websites works, let's talk about what you're actually trying to accomplish. You want two things: to rank on Google and to connect with your readers.
Google uses over 200 signals to rank your content. It checks if people are sticking around or bouncing immediately. It looks at your site speed, mobile friendliness, and backlinks. But at the heart of everything is E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
This is where AI generated content hits a wall.
AI has no real-world experience. It can't share what it learned from actually doing something because it hasn't done anything. It lacks genuine expertise and authority. And when it doesn't know something? It just makes it up. AI experts call these "hallucinations," but that's just a fancy word for lying.
For topics that affect your money or health (what Google calls YMYL content), this gets even more serious. One wrong fact in AI content about medical advice or financial planning could genuinely hurt someone.
What Your Readers Actually Want
Your audience doesn't care about Google's 200 ranking signals. They came to your website with a question. Did you answer it? That's all that matters.
If you did, they'll trust you. If you didn't, they'll leave and probably won't come back.
Here's where AI for content writing really struggles: context. Human communication is subtle. When someone says "That's interesting," it could mean they're genuinely curious or completely bored. You can tell the difference instantly by reading their tone and body language.
AI can't do this. You can give it detailed instructions. You can tell it to "sound warm and friendly." It will try. But it can't truly understand the fears and hopes of a small business owner who's nervous about making their first online sale. It can mimic empathy, but it can't feel it.
The result? Content that checks all the technical boxes but falls flat emotionally.
Google's Actual Stance on AI
Here's something interesting: Google doesn't actually ban AI content. Their official position is clear—they care about quality, not how content is created.
In their 2023 guidance, Google said they aim to "reward original, high-quality content that demonstrates expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness."
But—and this is important—their latest Quality Rater Guidelines from January 2025 include a warning. If your content is mostly AI-generated "with little or no added value," it gets the lowest quality rating possible.
The data backs this up. Google's AI Overviews now appear in 13% of searches, up from 6.5% earlier this year. But pages using them saw 40-60% fewer clicks. Why? Because readers can sense when content lacks depth.
When AI Actually Helps
Look, AI isn't completely useless for AI content creation. After testing it extensively, here's where it actually works:
Research: AI excels at breaking down complex topics quickly. Use it as a starting point, then verify everything yourself.
Polishing: Tools like Grammarly can catch grammar issues and improve readability. Just don't trust them blindly—they sometimes miss context.
Gap Analysis: This is AI's superpower. Point it at competitor content and it will show you what topics they covered that you missed.
SEO Structure: AI can suggest keywords, headlines, and internal linking opportunities. But be careful—it might push unnatural keyword stuffing if you're not watching closely.
Brainstorming: Use AI for content creation to explore different angles or perspectives. Just don't let it write the final version.
Notice a pattern? AI works best as an assistant, not a replacement.
The Real Question You Need to Ask
Here's the test that matters: Would you send this content to a potential customer without editing it?
Seriously. Would you read it aloud in a meeting? Would you email it to your best client exactly as AI wrote it?
If there's even a hint of hesitation, your audience will feel it too. They'll sense the generic tone. They'll notice when content doesn't quite address their specific concerns. And they'll leave.
Recent studies show that AI-generated text has recognizable patterns that make it easy to detect. Your readers might not know exactly why something feels off, but they'll know it doesn't sound authentic.
The Bottom Line
AI content has a place in your workflow. It can speed up research and handle basic tasks. But it's not a complete solution, especially when quality matters.
The best content still comes from humans who understand your business, your market, and what keeps your customers up at night. AI can help those humans work faster and smarter. But it can't replace the judgment, creativity, and genuine understanding that only comes from real experience.
Use AI as a tool. Just don't let it do the thinking for you.
Because at the end of the day, your content represents your brand. And you wouldn't hand your brand over to an algorithm that doesn't even understand what your company actually does.
Would you?
