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Why Content Designers and AI Could Actually Be a Dream Team

Susann Pocha
27 July 2023

If you’re a content designer, UX writer, or hold any other role in the field of the ever-evolving world of digital content creation, the prospect of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into your work process is both exciting and daunting.

Large language models (LLMs), in particular, are passionately debated for how they will not only transform our work but completely disrupt it. The possibilities for editing and generating text are diverse and evolve rapidly. Yet, in the future of content design, human creativity, and AI efficiency are not competitors but rather dynamic teammates. Here are three reasons why content designers should seriously consider pairing up with AI.

1. AI is efficient and effective

AI can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of content design. But only if content creators understand how AI works. The better they understand the functionality and capabilities of the system, the better they will generate useful prompts that transform their ideas in real-time. Also, AI systems are outstanding at mining vast quantities of data and identifying patterns. This can save time or open up completely new perspectives. The once-dreaded blank page can lose its intimidation. Knowing these AI capabilities and how to use them paves the way for a more efficient and effective content-creation process.

2. Humans can decide the focus

AI can free content designers to concentrate on what humans do best: shaping ideas, strategizing, and solving problems with empathy and purpose.

While AI can manage the routine tasks of data analysis, pattern recognition, and interpreting insights, it’s humans who lead the way. It’s humans who provide the perfect briefing for the artificial teammate, ensuring it creates content that is not only accurate but also relevant and ethical. It’s perfectly clear: Crafting a well-thought-out strategy is essential to nourish the AI with precisely tailored prompts and get it reflect on the ideas you’ve been thinking about. This thoughtful application of AI could help generate more targeted and personalized content, resulting in better user engagement. The more focused the thinking of humans, the more valuable the result of the AI.

3. Writing skills become a new benchmark

While AI can create mostly generic content, it still can’t replicate the exceptional writing skills that humans possess–at least not without inhuman efforts to engineer prompts.AI lacks the ability to fully comprehend nuances of language, emotion, and culture that are often essential for compelling content.

AI fails to adapt content to user and business needs. This is where content designers shine, by giving communication a fresh touch that makes it exceptional, if not surprising!

So … what’s next?

To wrap it up: AI’s role is not to replace content designers, but rather to augment their capabilities. For me, it offers a way to automate repetitive tasks so I can focus on strategic thinking, problem-solving, leadership, and maintaining exceptional writing quality. When designing conversational experiences for our customers, my role has shifted. I no longer point out the many constraints within the conversation that the chatbot used to have, but instead, give constraints to the AI to keep the conversation on track and aligned with user and business needs.

It’s incredibly fun and challenging at the same time to put yourself not only in the shoes of the user but also in the shoes of AI. As this process is just emerging, it is up to us content designers to use this service wisely and thus shape the future of our profession.