The crucial role of human judgment and expertise in a world of AI-generated content

Lowering the bar to entry, heightening the expectations

AI has made it more accessible to create content that was previously much harder and time-intensive. It allows more people to express themselves and improves the efficiency of many tasks. The barrier to entry is lower; however, that also means that content isn’t going to be of the same quality, and there’s also going to be more of it, a lot more.

This kind of environment creates a higher expectation of quality than before.

People who don’t understand what makes content high-quality will demand justification for why more time should be spent on a piece of content or why they should hire an expert to do a task. It will be up to skilled craftsmen to communicate and demonstrate that value.

If anyone can be a film director by using AI, how does that affect the industry? It makes experienced, expert film directors stand out.

More value than just the output

Copywriting is a great example, as even though anyone can write copy, such as myself typing this out, communicating effectively requires skill and practice. AI can generate content extremely efficiently as well as being fantastic at transforming text through natural language prompts, but it doesn’t replace the need for human expertise.

A copywriter’s purpose is to provide more value than simply putting words on a page. They align messaging with business goals, offer expert judgement and direction, empathise and tailor content for various audiences, and create new and innovative content that isn’t a remix of existing content. Some of these things can be achieved with AI to some degree, but not completely.

Your job has to be more than a task”

Can you tell if something is good or bad?

Output produced by AI is impressive, but often poor in quality. Content can sound weak, lacking substance. It may contain errors, fabricate information, or create things that sound correct but aren’t.

Even if you know how to generate content, you may not know if it is effective. AI tools can mimic structure and tone, but they lack the critical lens of a trained expert. If you’re not an expert, do you know what “good” even means?

After all, you don’t know what you don’t know, and expertise fills those gaps.

Convenience replacing common sense

Companies are pushing employees to use AI to multiply output or become more efficient, treating it like magical fairy dust. In reality, AI tools also come with their own set of problems. Without expertise, people risk producing subpar work while overestimating their capabilities.

This is known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, where people overestimate their ability when they lack knowledge in that area.

AI output is often overly flattering and agreeable, making users feel confident in flawed outputs and reinforcing existing beliefs, creating a feedback loop where users are validated for their views rather than challenged to think critically. The result is a downward spiral - overconfidence, laziness leading to reduced critical thinking, and a reliance on tools that may fail to deliver when used incorrectly.

A recent article by the BBC Don't blindly trust what AI tells you, says Google's Sundar Pichai makes it sound as if not believing everything AI outputs is newsworthy. For me, the shocking headline should be the fact that people are blindly trusting AI in the first place.

Is this not common sense? Do we need to start reminding people not to believe everything they read on the internet again?

Human and machine

As AI becomes more prevalent, human expertise, experience, and quality will remain the differentiator when producing great work. AI tools can streamline tasks, generate content at scale, and mimic creativity, but they lack the depth of judgement, emotional intelligence, and ethical reasoning that humans possess.

We need to foster critical thinking, not blindly rely on convenient technology, and balance quality with speed, while also recognising the value of new tools that enhance our capabilities. When choosing to use AI as a tool, we must choose how and when to use it in the places it benefits us most, just like any other tool.