Yes, publishing AI-generated content is a risk for your brand
You’ve seen it all over LinkedIn. “I replaced my marketing team with Claude and I’ve done X, Y and Z!” First of all, weird brag, my guy. Second, it’s a bad move for quite a few reasons. Let’s talk about them.
Customers don’t really trust AI-generated content
The main goal of your content should be to win over customers. If you’re publishing content that’s clearly AI-generated, you may have them running for the hills.
Research from Meltwater and YouGov has a few very interesting findings:
Positive sentiment towards AI is dropping.
69% of respondents worry that AI-generated content contains incorrect or misleading information.
The UK shows the highest level of concern across all perceived AI risks.
32% of consumers trust brands less that use AI content, and 63% say brand trust reduces when AI usage feels misleading.
Lack of transparency is the leading cause of AI mistrust.
86% say the disclosure of AI usage is important.
If you’re going to use AI-generated content, declare it. If you don’t want to be known as the company that publishes AI-generated content, employ humans to do it. It’s the weird middle ground of trying to hide it that people really don’t like.
AI hallucinations
AI tools get things wrong more often than you think. It’s one of the most off-putting things about AI for me. It’s like handing all of your work over to a junior colleague you haven’t bothered to train and expecting them to get everything right. They’re not going to. (At least the junior colleague probably wouldn’t pretend they’re an expert like AI tools do.)
According to Stanford University Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, hallucination rates across 26 top models range from 22% to 94% (!!). I gasped a little when I read this stat.
If you’re pumping out AI-generated content (I just wouldn’t if I were you), you must fact-check it. Everything. It’s known for being confidently wrong, and you don’t want to be sharing inaccurate information – particularly if your company operates in a regulated industry.
Google might punish you if you publish AI slop
Google says they don’t actually care whether AI is used for content as long as the content isn’t designed with the “purpose of manipulating ranking in search results”, as it goes against their spam policies.
However, evidence suggests this isn’t the whole picture. For example, there have been cases where brands publish a bunch of pages containing AI-generated content. They see great rankings initially, but it isn’t long before these rankings drop through the floor. Really interesting stuff.
Human-written content still appears to have an edge. Research into the topic by Semrush found that position one results are eight times more likely to be human-written. On top of that, only 19% of SEO teams say AI improves content quality.
The problems seem to come down to content that doesn’t adhere to Google’s E-E-A-T framework (original, high-quality, people-first content), and lots of AI-generated content doesn’t fit that description. AI may be able to drink like a fish, but it sure can’t E-E-A-T like human writers. Ba dum tsss. 🥁
It can put your company in a risky legal position
We know that AI likes to make stuff up sometimes and occasionally gets a bit big for its boots. You know, word something really strongly that doesn’t quite line up with facts. Bold statements. Really bold statements.
Those situations can end in accusations of defamation. Defamation, the publication of false statements that cause harm to the reputation of an individual or organisation, can cost businesses a lot of money if they’re not careful. Another reason to fact-check everything.
The moral of the story? Write it yourself, or work with human content marketers (like me!)
If you’re serious about getting in front of potential customers and making a good first impression, publishing AI-generated content isn’t the way to go. Working with a content marketer will help you increase your company’s online visibility.
That’s what I do! I’m Lucy, and I’m a B2B content writer and copywriter. I’m fighting back against boring B2B content and AI slop that does nothing for your brand.
I write B2B content that actually pulls its weight for tech, SaaS, recruitment, HR and insurance brands – long-form articles that climb search rankings and earn AI mentions, web pages that convert and case studies that get your prospects thinking “I want those results, too.”
Want to start publishing B2B content that gets leads? Fill in my quick discovery questionnaire and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
