Exceptional copywriting starts where AI ends

AI has changed the way copy gets written, but it’s also changed the way clients think about copywriters. What used to take eight hours can now be done in minutes and clients with restrictive budgets often ask themselves why they need a copywriter if they can “just use AI for that.”

But if there’s one thing I find myself proving again and again in one client engagement after another, it’s this: AI alone doesn’t make copy exceptional.

Great writers and AI are complementary, not competing

Exceptional copywriting begins where AI stops, and you can’t have one without the other. You can’t have exceptional copywriting without knowing how to use AI tools, and you can’t get the most out of AI tools without the insight, instinct, and discipline of an expert copywriter.

In a previous article entitled “The results you get from AI depend on who’s prompting it,” I wrote about an experiment I ran that compared prompts written by a professional copywriter against prompts written by a non-writer. The results weren’t close: In 10 out of 11 tests, the expert-driven prompt produced the output the stakeholder preferred. In other words, AI is only as good as the person guiding it.

In this article, we’ll move past prompting and look at the entire writing process when human expertise and AI tools are treated as two parts of a whole, rather than competing interests. If you’re a copywriter wondering whether it’s worth adopting AI, or a business leader tempted to think “I can just use AI for that,” I’m about to show you why the most successful brands are those that use AI and human expertise in tandem.

The ideal AI-enabled copywriting process is expert-driven

It’s easy to see why so many reasonable people have (wrongly) believed that AI would lead to large-scale unemployment in the creative space. After ChatGPT’s public launch in November of 2023, industry analysts figured there would be hundreds of thousands of creatives facing the consolidation, replacement, or elimination of “a significant amount of tasks within [their roles]... as a result of AI.”

But official government data shows writers and authors are still just as in-demand as ever.

The fact is, AI doesn’t replace copywriters—it assists them. The mistake of early analysis was looking at AI solely as a form of “artificial” intelligence capable of replacing biological intelligence. In reality, AI has proven to be more in line with “assisted” intelligence, a powerful drafting partner that sharpens speed and scale while assisting (rather than replacing) human judgement, nuance, and decision-making.

Let me break it down.

Strategy and conceptualization

Every project starts with a strategy. Defining your brand’s voice, building an authentic connection with your audience, clarifying objectives—these are things no AI model can do without an expert’s input.

Without those foundational elements of your messaging strategy, you’re just throwing words at a screen and hoping some of them stick. Exceptional copy comes from the intersection of big ideas and bold execution, from knowing why you’re writing and how to write it before you ever touch the words themselves.

AI prompting and iterative refinement

(I won’t get into the nuances of multi-turn prompt authoring, but here’s a comprehensive resource that I recommend to copywriters new to AI prompting.)

A skilled copywriter designs prompts informed by strategy and brand insight, then refines them through back-and-forth iterations until the output starts to show promise. At this stage, AI is like a high-powered brainstorming engine generating options, stretching possibilities, and surfacing language that might not have come to mind in a solo rough draft.

Expert-driven revision, editing, and review

Then the real work begins. AI outputs are rarely finished products. When a writer returns an assignment to you, it’s safe to assume it’s a final product. But when an AI returns an output, it’s always only a rough draft.

AI-generated rough drafts are raw material. They’re sometimes compelling and they often include a few excellent gems, but they almost always leave something to be desired. The expert’s job is to rewrite, restructure, and refine that raw material into something more useful. 

The average client should never have to see your rough draft. Clients should only ever see content that reflects the audience’s tastes, content that’s fueled by their messaging strategy, content with enough polish to read as though it had never passed through an AI at all.

The process then closes with editing, proofreading, client review, and maybe a few rounds of back and forth. At every step, the human hand is what bridges the gap between speed and quality. AI accelerates the path forward, but human expertise determines whether that path leads to success or off a cliff.

Copywriting models bring out the best in AI models

First things first, “model” doesn’t mean the same thing in “copywriting model” as it does in “AI model.” A copywriting model is a framework designed to improve the performance and creation of copy, primarily for marketing and communications purposes.

One of the biggest mistakes people make with AI is treating it like a magic eight ball: asking a vague question and hoping for a useful answer. That’s not how great copy is made and it’s certainly not how you get the most out of AI tools.

Exceptional copy requires exceptional structure, and copywriting models provide that structure. Two of the most popular copywriting models that come to mind are AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) and her cousin AIDCA (which adds conviction). These models offer proven frameworks for guiding readers from curiosity to conversion—and there are countless others to choose from.

The impact of a copywriting model in AI prompting

Let’s say you’re looking to write a LinkedIn post about why small businesses should use email marketing. Here’s how your prompt might look:

As you can tell, there’s plenty of room for improvement in this prompt. So let’s incorporate a copywriting model, like AIDA.

Now, let’s look at the results side by side.

Weak prompt, weak result	Better prompt, better result

Framing your prompts within proven copywriting models is enough to improve the quality of your AI outputs. That one step alone can elevate your work beyond the majority of everyday users—and copywriting models are only one aspect of copywriting expertise. 

Keep in mind, though, that neither of the prompt examples above would qualify as expert prompts and neither result is ready for publication. One is average, the other is above average, but there is quite a bit of distance between “above average” and “expert,” and there are many more practices you’ll want to learn if you’re serious about investing in AI-generated content.

Find the right point for the human to take the lead

If AI can get you 60% of the way there, expertise is what will carry you across the finish line. Since the launch of GPT-5, raw AI drafts are rarely terrible, but they’re rarely great either. They sit in that middle ground of “usable but uninspired”—the kind of copy that fills a page but doesn’t move a reader. Once you’ve prompted your content, it’s time to edit it.

Edit for tone and audience resonance

AI can vary outputs depending on the audience, but expert copywriters can empathize and form connections with the members of that audience. Whereas an average AI can tailor its outputs for a CFO audience, an expert copywriter would know to review that output to peel back metaphors, focus on quantifiable metrics, and emphasize measurable outcomes.

Revise for strategic alignment

When you tell an AI what your business objectives are, it can use them to inform its writing. But a good copywriter knows to read an AI draft the way an architect inspects blueprints: making sure the foundation supports the desired outcome.

That means restructuring sections to sharpen the narrative, rewriting calls to action so they align with the brand’s funnel, and tightening the flow so the messaging leads with impact.

Maintain style and voice consistency

AI is a master of mimicry, until it isn’t. If you’ve ever tried to get anything consistent out of an AI, you know exactly what I’m talking about: drift. Chat with an AI long enough and it forgets the earlier parts of the conversation until, after only a short time, it’s spitballing answers based on recent context and entirely disregarding your initial instructions.

Copywriters work to ensure that every line of content feels consistent with how your brand speaks, regardless of whether it’s a social post, an email campaign, or a keynote script. That includes every element of your style guide, from heading casing to brand voice.

In the rewriting and editing phase is where AI-generated content goes from “good enough” to polished, persuasive, and on-brand. AI helps spark ideas, but it’s ultimately the expert’s craft that makes those ideas unforgettable.

Look at the real-world outcomes and use cases

So what does all this mean in real terms? It means businesses can finally have the best of both worlds: speed and scale from AI, and creativity and persuasiveness from an expert copywriter.

For businesses and brands

The payoff is immediate. Campaign timelines shrink from weeks to days. Messaging variations multiply, giving marketing teams more to test without ballooning costs. And the quality of the copy—when an expert owns the process—drives measurable outcomes. These process improvements translate to higher engagement, stronger conversion rates, and a unified brand office that resonates with its target audience.

For copywriters

This approach isn’t just about maintaining job security amid rumors of replacement. It’s about upskilling. Copywriters who embrace emerging technologies like AI gain a competitive advantage. They can deliver more work faster without sacrificing quality. That means higher earning potential and less gut-wrenching feeling that you’re subverting your own craft in the name of speed.

AI can help you become a client’s strategic partner, somebody who not only can create enterprise-quality content but can also meaningfully demonstrate how that content fuels business growth.

In the end, clients can stop asking, “Why hire a copywriter when I have AI?” and start asking, “Where can I find one who knows how to use it?”

Key takeaways to help improve your AI copywriting expertise

AI-enabled copywriting combines machine efficiency with human creativity. Because, to get the most out of either, you need both. Copywriters who embrace AI can write at a higher quality, scale output, and unlock new strategic value.

• Lead with strategy. Defining voice, audience, and objectives is the expert’s job—AI can’t replace foundational brand thinking.
  
  

• Prompt with expertise. Skilled copywriters design and refine prompts informed by models like AIDA to elevate AI-generated drafts.
  
  

• Treat AI outputs as rough drafts. AI outputs are raw material; experts restructure, polish, and align content to brand, audience, and objectives.
  
  

• Maintain brand consistency. Copywriters prevent AI “drift,” ensuring every line reflects the style, tone, and voice of the brand.
  
  

• Blend speed with quality. AI accelerates brainstorming and drafting, while human craft delivers persuasion, creativity, and measurable results.
  
  

• Upskill for advantage. Copywriters who adopt AI gain productivity and earning power while strengthening their role as strategic partners.
  
  

• Adopt techno-creative processes. The future lies in pairing human ingenuity with AI precision to produce sharper, more effective copy.

The techno-creative way is the way of the future

AI can generate content at lightning speed. Copywriters can craft messages with creativity and persuasion built in. But it’s only when businesses treat the two as parts of the same whole, rather than as competing interests, that you can get truly exceptional results.

AI alone can give you something serviceable, but often generic. A copywriter alone can give you high-quality work, but at human speed and scale. Pair them together and suddenly the work isn’t just faster, it’s sharper, more creative, and altogether better than what’s humanly possible.

That’s what I call techno-creative copywriting: a collaborative process where human ingenuity is augmented by machine precision. It’s not about humans vs. AI. It’s about humans and AI working side by side to create copy that connects, converts, and outperforms.

AI brings the scale. Humanity brings the spark.

For copywriters, this is the moment to embrace AI as a core part of your craft. For businesses, it’s the moment to recognize that your AI isn’t a differentiator if your team lacks the talent to wield it. At the end of the day, any AI can generate words. But only an expert can use AI to generate copy that works.

Learn more about AI-enabled, expert-driven content creation.