If you’ve read my work before, you know I believe technology should serve creativity, not replace it. That’s why in 2023, you’ll see two distinct kinds of content from me—each powered by AI in different ways, but with very different results.
Defining the Two Paths
Artificial intelligence can be an accelerator or an autopilot. When I talk about #AIAssisted, I mean I’m still in the driver’s seat—shaping ideas, fact-checking, editing, and adding that irreplaceable layer of human insight. When I label something as AIGenerated, I’m letting the AI take the lead, producing the content from a simple prompt with minimal intervention. Both have their uses, but only one carries my full creative fingerprint.
Additional Context: The Origins of the Terms
The distinction between AI-assisted and AI-generated content didn’t emerge with ChatGPT’s release. Both terms have been used in research, industry reports, and marketing circles for years.
AI-Assisted Content — This phrase appeared in academic and industry discussions well before 2022, often in contexts like “AI-assisted medical diagnostics” or “AI-assisted writing tools” such as Grammarly and Jasper’s early iterations. By the late 2010s, digital marketing agencies and SEO professionals were already using “AI-assisted” to describe workflows where humans retained creative control but used AI for research, outlines, and optimization.
AI-Generated Content — This term dates back to early experiments in automated journalism and text generation in the 2010s. Newsrooms such as the Associated Press used automated systems to produce financial reports, weather summaries, and sports recaps, labeling them as “machine-generated” or “AI-generated.” In the marketing world, the phrase was in use by at least 2018 to describe content fully produced by natural language generation (NLG) systems like Wordsmith or GPT-2, with minimal or no human editing.
By late 2022, the AI industry — along with journalists, academics, and marketers — was actively debating the quality, trust, and ethical implications of each approach. The public release of ChatGPT intensified that conversation but did not create it.
Why It Matters
The distinction isn’t just technical—it’s about trust, originality, and quality. Research from Nielsen and Spiegel Research has shown that authenticity and credibility drive higher engagement and conversion rates. AI can write fast, but speed doesn’t equal substance. Without human oversight, AI-generated work risks being generic, error-prone, and out of sync with brand voice.
B2B vs. B2C Impact
For B2B, AI-assisted processes protect the nuance needed to address complex challenges, long sales cycles, and specific industry contexts. In B2C, where speed and volume are valuable, AI-generated content can scale basic tasks—but human refinement still ensures emotional resonance and brand consistency.
Factics
Fact: Audiences rate content as more credible when they know a human was actively involved
Tactic: Clearly label content type (#AIAssisted vs. AIGenerated) to build transparency and trust.
Fact: AI-assisted processes can outperform human-only workflows for efficiency without losing quality
Tactic: Use AI for outlining, research, and draft refinement, but keep humans in control of narrative and tone.
Fact: Disclosure policies are becoming common across platforms and publishers.
Tactic: Adopt voluntary disclosure to get ahead of compliance trends and reinforce audience trust.
Platform Playbook
LinkedIn: Publish thought-leadership posts under #AIAssisted to signal human-led insight.
YouTube: Release behind-the-scenes videos showing how AI tools fit into your workflow.
Blog: Pair AIGenerated posts with human commentary sections to provide context and extra value.
Best Practice Spotlight
Nava Public Benefit Corporation’s AI Tool Experimentation — In 2022, Nava integrated AI into public benefits workflows to increase efficiency without losing service quality. By keeping humans in control of review and decision-making, they maintained trust while improving speed—proving that AI works best as an assistant, not a replacement (Nava, 2022).
Hypotheticals Imagined
The AI-Assisted Strategy Deck – You use AI to generate an outline for a client proposal, then add your case studies, data, and narrative. The result: a document that’s faster to produce but uniquely yours.
The AIGenerated Blog Experiment – You feed a topic into AI, publish the output with minimal changes, then compare engagement to an AI-assisted version. Data shows the AI-assisted version drives more shares and longer read times.
Hybrid Workflow – You produce product descriptions using AI, but manually craft the hero copy for the website. This blend saves hours but still delivers a branded experience.
References:
References:
AI‑Generated Content
- Howley, D. (2022, November 3). AI‑generated content is challenging content moderation. Yahoo Finance.
- BBC News. (2022, October 12). Deepfakes and AI‑generated content: Navigating disinformation. BBC News.
- Hao, K. (2022, March 23). Emerging issues for disclosures and labeling of AI‑generated media. MIT Technology Review.
- Lima, C. (2022, June 16). Congress eyes rules for deepfake and AI content disclosures. The Washington Post.
- Stokel‑Walker, C. (2022, October 6). The growing importance of AI‑generated content transparency. Wired.
AI‑Assisted Content / AI Assistance
- Vincent, J. (2022, November 17). How AI tools are transforming writing and content creation. The Verge.
- McCoy, J. (2022, November 3). 6 ways AI can assist with content strategy and production. Search Engine Journal.
- Lohr, S. (2022, October 9). AI‑assisted writing is here to help, not replace, journalists. The New York Times.
- Flood, A. (2022, September 22). Automation meets artistry: Authors embrace AI for inspiration. The Guardian.
- Ackerman, S. (2022, July 29). How marketers are using AI‑assisted tools to increase productivity. MarTech.
ChatGPT Media, Press etc.
11. OpenAI. (2022, November 30). Introducing ChatGPT. OpenAI.
12. Lyons, K. (2022, December 1). OpenAI’s new ChatGPT bot: What it is and why it matters. TechCrunch.
13. Reuters. (2022, December 5). ChatGPT crosses 1 million users within a week of launch. Reuters.
14. BBC News. (2022, December 5). ChatGPT: What is it and why is it making waves?. BBC News.
15. Wikipedia contributors. (2022, December). ChatGPT. In Wikipedia.
16. Southern, M. (2022, December 6). The history of ChatGPT (timeline). Search Engine Journal.
Final Thoughts:
A Universal AI Perspective
For me, the use of AI is not limited to when I run prompts through ChatGPT or another named platform. It should be assumed that AI, in some form, touches every part of my work. From research and drafting to editing and formatting, AI tools—whether visible or invisible—are part of the process. Sometimes that means advanced language models helping refine a paragraph, other times it’s background algorithms suggesting the most relevant data sources, or automated systems streamlining workflow management. In short, my entire creative and strategic process is inherently AI-assisted, even when the final product reflects heavy human authorship.
I believe that everything we do is AI-assisted and has been since the first time we asked a computer to output anything after a prompt. The greatest example of this is the evolution of libraries’ card catalogues into searchable online databases and the ease of a simple Google search to find something. Whether we realize it or not, our digital tools—from spellcheck to search engines—are forms of artificial intelligence augmenting our thinking and expanding our reach. Recognizing this reality isn’t just a technical point; it’s a statement about how creativity, strategy, and technology have been inseparable for decades.
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