AI in Content Creation (Part 2)

NOTE: Some don’t believe AI should be used for content creation. Olivia, a student in my online Social Media Production class at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, is one such person. It’s helpful to know both sides of this argument. Recently, my students were assigned to write a paper about AI. Here’s part 2 of 2 of her paper titled, “Generative AI in Content Creation: A Comprehensive Analysis of Why AI Is Just as Bad as It Is Good in Creative Fields.” Hope you enjoy it. You can read Part 1 here. –JP

In Part 1, I made the case for AI — and then the case against it.

Since OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in 2022, generative AI has worked its way into nearly every industry. And PR, marketing and advertising are no exception. Professionals use it to brainstorm, knock out busy work, and move faster.

But faster isn’t always better. 

AI can misread prompts. It can hallucinate (everything it produces has to be fact-checked). 

And by the time you’ve rewritten a prompt for the third time, you could have just done the work yourself. The tool that’s supposed to lighten the load often, well, adds to it.

The extra work is only the beginning, though. In Part 2, I’ll dig into three bigger problems: what AI does to diversity in content, why it’s no match for human creativity, and the ethical questions it raises for the people who do this work. 

Let’s go…

AI is Diversity Challenged

In addition to the workload, AI has and will continue to lead to the lack of diversity in content. 

One of the most important aspects of PR, marketing and advertising is brand identity — the distinction from one brand to another. It’s important for a brand to have a uniqueness that draws consumers in. If all content is created the same, then it will be harder to stand out as a brand. 

Zhivar Sourati, a graduate research assistant at The University of Southern California, among other authors, clarify that “language modeling is central to modern artificial intelligence (AI) as it provides the foundation for systems, such as ChatGPT and Gemini, that understand, generate, and interact through natural language… At their core, these models operate by predicting the next token given a preceding context” (Sourati et al., 2026). 

AI No Match for Human Creativity

Over time, using AI for creation creates this homogenization of the content produced, and makes it easier for consumers to ignore it. AI cannot compete with human creativity; it’s only as capable as the data it has been trained on. Whereas the human brain can completely generate new ideas and information. 

An article published by MIT stated, “A generative AI system is one that learns to generate more objects that look like the data it was trained on” (2023). 

I believe people are meant to discover and create; it’s like our superpower. Greene, a psychology professor, said, “When you ask AI to do something creative, it will do something creative… But the ideas it produces, even though they may be good ideas, end up pretty similar to each other. What’s lost is the human diversity of ideas” (Georgetown University, 2026). 

In short, the “creativity” of AI might be more digestible or convenient, but it lacks the human element that gives content creation life. If relied on too heavily, AI could cause an epistemic collapse, which Sourati et al. describes as “a situation where diversity in knowledge, reasoning, or interpretation is lost, leading to uniform ways of thinking and a narrower collective understanding” (2026). 

To me, that’s devastating. The thought and creation behind our job is the reason I chose to pursue communication, and if we give artificial intelligence the responsibility of creating and thinking for us, then what’s the point?

Ethical Concerns

A major issue with generative AI in content creation are the ethical concerns. 

AI can decrease the need for entry level jobs, lead to misleading advertising, and blur the lines of accountability. Companies like Canva, WPP, Omnicom, and more have already begun replacing writers, junior content creators, and media strategists/planners. AI can create copies of advertisements, reduce the need for models in content, as well as other small tasks. 

This may be great for the company, but in turn, terrible for the workers. Many lose their jobs, some can’t find them to begin with, and those who do have jobs are now tasked with maintaining the workload using AI. 

False Advertisements

Aside from job displacement, generative AI can also lead to false or misleading advertisements. Duivenvoorde elaborates that these ads may mislead consumers “by over-promising a product’s assets, under-emphasizing its limitations, or not fully disclosing additional costs” (2025). 

AI doesn’t understand what’s wrong with that, because it can’t. It doesn’t get context or morality like people can. 

Lines of Accountability Blurred

And finally, AI blurs the lines of accountability. When a mistake is made, who’s at fault? Who’s responsible for the computational machine that generates the work created?

All of this is to say, AI is a very capable tool that many professionals have adapted to using. It can make jobs easier and more efficient. It can even get rid of that busy work no one likes. 

But the ultimate question is: Is it worth it?

AI is misused as much as it is properly used. It can: 

• misinform
• overcomplicate tasks
• remove diversity from content creation
• form ethical dilemmas
• and many more concerns

People have done these jobs long before AI came around, and they’ve done a fantastic job. 

If we become dependent on AI, it’ll destroy jobs and individuality. 

Overall, I think it’s best to use the human mind. THAT’s where greatness happens.

_______________________

References

Advertising giant WPP set to axe 1,000 more jobs as AI reshapes the industry. The Economic Times. (n.d.-a). https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/advertising-giant-wpp-set-to-axe-1000-more-jobs-as-ai-reshapes-the-industry/articleshow/133668164.cms?from=mdr#google_vignette

Advertising giant WPP set to axe 1,000 more jobs as AI reshapes the industry. The Economic Times. (n.d.-b). https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/advertising-giant-wpp-set-to-axe-1000-more-jobs-as-ai-reshapes-the-industry/articleshow/133668164.cms?from=mdr

Aruna Ranganathan | Xingqi Maggie Ye, Aruna RanganathanAruna Ranganathan is associate professor of management and organizations at the Haas School of Business, Ranganathan, A., & Ye, X. M. (2026, March 3). Ai doesn’t reduce work-it intensifies it. American Association for Physician Leadership – Inspiring Change. Together. https://www.physicianleaders.org/articles/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies-it

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Djajapranata, C. (2026, July 27). Ai is creative. but can it replace human creativity?. Georgetown University. https://www.georgetown.edu/news/ai-human-creativity-research/

Duivenvoorde, B. (n.d.). Generative AI and the future of marketing: A consumer protection perspective – sciencedirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212473X25000148

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NASA. (2024, May 13). What is Artificial Intelligence?. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/what-is-artificial-intelligence/

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Sourati, Z., Ziabari, A. S., & Dehghani, M. (2026, March). The homogenizing effect of large language models on human expression and thought – sciencedirect. ScienceDirect. https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661326000033

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WPP cutting up to 1000 more jobs as AI reshapes … (n.d.). https://www.ft.com/content/91395fb6-1782-41b2-82e5-e2a40d754e3f?syn-25a6b1a6=1

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