AI tools like ChatGPT can speed up the writing process, there’s no doubt about it. However, you still need a human writer. I’m going to show you why.

I recently wrote a blog post called ‘How does a pay advance work?’ I wrote the post from scratch, but I was interested to find out whether ChatGPT could have done the work for me.

Here’s what I discovered.

Introductory paragraph

Section below the introduction

Here’s my original copy:

“How do you know an employee is under financial stress?

With the cost-of-living crisis financial stress is widespread, and it affects employees’ physical and mental health, and behaviour.

There are many signs that indicate an employee is stressed, including:

• increased absence rate.
• arriving for work late or leaving early.
• being distracted, forgetful and lacking in focus.
• not putting any effort into their work.
• producing work that’s below their usual standard.

When an employee is consumed with financial worries they probably aren’t eating or sleeping properly, which can cause long-term health issues. Again, this has financial implications for a business.

In the UK, a worrying 89% of large UK businesses are impacted by employees’ poor financial wellbeing.”

I asked ChatGPT the same question, ‘How do you know an employee is under financial stress?’ Here’s what it generated:

“Employee financial stress can manifest in a variety of ways, some of the signs include:

1. Increased absenteeism or tardiness: Employees who are struggling with their finances may be more likely to miss work or arrive late, as they deal with financial issues or attend to other obligations.
2. Decreased productivity: Financial stress can be a major distraction and can affect an employee’s focus and ability to perform their job effectively.
3. Decreased morale: Financial stress can have a negative impact on an employee’s mental and emotional well-being, leading to a decrease in morale and motivation.
4. Increased use of workplace benefits: Employees who are experiencing financial stress may be more likely to take advantage of benefits such as paid time off or access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
5. Changes in behavior: Employees who are struggling with their finances may exhibit changes in their behavior, such as becoming more irritable or distant, or having a decreased ability to manage their emotions.

ChatCPT would have saved me some research time with this section. However, I couldn’t have used the copy just as it is – far from it. I would have needed to clear the fluff, pull out visible signs of financial stress and communicate them concisely.

For example, I would have changed number 5 to say:

“Changes in behaviour. Employees may become irritable, distant and less able to regulate their emotions.”

Here’s how I would have changed the final paragraph to make it clearer:

“It’s important that employers are aware of these signs and offer support to employees. Support could be financial resources, counselling services, or access to financial benefits like a pay advance.”

Including relevant, high-authority links is beneficial for SEO. It tells Google the website cares about its users because information is generously shared.

The main issues with this ChatGPT copy are:

• it doesn’t reflect client’s brand style.
• it isn’t reader-friendly. There are too many excess words which slows comprehension.
• there are numerous grammatical errors.
• spellings are in American English.
• no external or internal links are included.

Keywords

The main keywords for the original blog post were ‘pay advance’. These keywords needed to be included in the title, introductory paragraph, in at least one sub-heading, somewhere in the middle, and towards the end.

Copy generated by ChatGPT would have needed thorough checking to ensure keywords were included naturally in the right places, and that there was no ‘keyword stuffing’.

Tailored copy

Over half the copy for this blog post couldn’t have been generated by ChatGPT, even to aid research, because it was specific to the company.

For instance:

Why choose (insert company)?

Sign up for (insert product) in 4 easy steps

So, is AI worth it?