AI vs Human Content Writing: What Marketers Should Know in 2026

You may have seen this Wall Street Journal article about how companies are looking for "storytellers" to help with development and writing.

At the same time, marketers report they are increasingly using AI to generate content.
How do we reconcile these two seemingly opposing trends?

It’s all about different types of content.

Check out this chart of what marketers report using AI to create from Ahrefs’ The State of AI in Content Marketing:

This is not surprising to me. Generative AI is pretty good at doing basic stuff. I suspect a lot of those blog posts are easy, keyword-focused articles targeted at consumers: things like “What you need to know about GLP-1 drugs” or “Top 5 Cybersecurity Threats of 2025.” No new insights or commentary, just information.

As content becomes more complex and demanding, AI use goes down. There’s a reluctance to rely on it for formats that require research, synthesizing ideas and knowledge, and developing a strong narrative. This makes sense because:

• AI often hallucinates research and statistics, which can get companies into real trouble—especially in highly regulated industries.

• Generic content won’t hold readers’ attention or distinguish your output from competitors’.

• Longer content like white papers and ebooks are types of BOFU content that often drive conversions . . . so you want to ensure they’re high-quality and effective.

So yes, a lot of that TOFU content is being handled by AI. But as the stakes get higher, smart marketers know that AI can’t be trusted not to fumble the ball.