AI is transforming copywriting from replacement threat to creative opportunity, pushing writers toward higher-value strategy and human-centered work.
Based on Beth Dunn's insights from her INBOUND presentation, we'll look at how creative professionals can harness AI to handle the boring, repetitive stuff while keeping their unique voice and personality intact.
At INBOUND this year, Beth Dunn—who's basically a content strategy genius—dropped some real wisdom on us. She reminded everyone that AI isn't lurking around the corner waiting to snatch our jobs. Instead, it's more like getting a really good intern who can handle all the boring, repetitive stuff while you focus on the creative heavy lifting and those game-changing big ideas that actually matter.
That shift in perspective changes everything. We keep getting trapped in these doom-and-gloom conversations about AI in marketing, always circling back to that same panicked question: "Is this thing going to steal my livelihood?"
But here's what Beth was getting at - AI is pretty terrible at the stuff that makes us human. It can't read between the lines of customer feedback, feel genuine empathy for your audience's struggles, or craft stories that hit people right in the feels. Those are still our superpowers.
What AI is excellent at is being your creative sidekick - helping you break through writer's block, cranking out multiple versions of concepts to test, and handling the tedious parts so you can focus on the big-picture thinking and creative magic.
So maybe we should stop asking "Is copywriting dead?" and start asking the better question: How do we team up with AI to create work that's more human, more strategic, and more impactful than anything we could do flying solo?
When you just hand everything over to AI and call it a day, you get exactly what you'd expect - content that's about as flavorful as cardboard. Sure, it technically qualifies as "copy," but it's the kind of generic, soul-sucking stuff that makes people's eyes glaze over and hit the back button.
But flip the script and treat AI like your creative sidekick—someone who can help you brainstorm, organize your thoughts, and knock out first drafts—and everything changes. Now you're not trying to turn AI into the next Shakespeare. You're using it to power through the grunt work so you can pour your energy into the stuff that actually moves the needle.
The big-picture strategy. Those lightbulb moments that make people stop scrolling. The authentic storytelling that builds real connections with your audience.
That's where AI gets exciting for creatives—it's not about replacement, it's about giving you superpowers.
Every writer knows the pain of the blank page. Instead of forcing inspiration, AI can help generate raw material to work with—outlines, headline variations, or a first messy draft. The magic happens when you shape that raw material with your expertise and voice.
Beth Dunn often talks about “finding your voice” as a writer. AI can’t know your voice unless you show it. Feed it examples of your best-performing content and the stuff that hits you just the right way. Then, explicitly tell it to mimic that style.
AI becomes much more effective when it’s trained to sound like you, not like a generic copybot.
Picture all those mind-numbing marketing tasks that eat up your day but don't actually require any real creativity: cranking out alt text for a hundred product images, testing forty different email subject lines, or turning a rambling customer review into a snappy testimonial quote.
This is exactly the kind of stuff AI was born to handle. Let it take care of the tedious busywork so you can save your brainpower for the creative heavy-hitters - those killer campaign concepts, compelling brand narratives, and thought-provoking content pieces that actually make people stop and pay attention.
Sure, AI can spit out words all day long. But can it feel the vibe of a moment? Does it know why your campaign needs to feel urgent right now, why your audience is giving you the side-eye, why that one metaphor hits different, or why some creative concept just feels completely wrong for the brand?
Not a chance. That's pure human territory.
Real copywriting isn't just about filling up word counts. It's about creating genuine connections with people - the kind that build trust and actually get them to do something. And that takes human intuition, real empathy, and hard-won experience that no algorithm can fake.
Beth Dunn nailed it at INBOUND: AI isn't here to put creatives out of business - it's here to make us better at our jobs. For copywriters and marketers, this means completely reframing how we think about AI. It's not the enemy of creativity, it's just another tool in your toolkit.
The difference is, this tool can handle all the repetitive grunt work while you focus on the creative breakthroughs that only humans can deliver.
The marketers who'll crush it aren't the ones hiding from AI or the ones letting it do everything for them. They're the smart ones treating AI like a solid creative partner - using it to draft faster, test more ideas, and iterate quickly, all while keeping that authentic human voice front and center where it belongs.
AI isn't the end of creative work - it's the beginning of creative work that actually matters. While everyone's busy arguing about whether robots will steal our jobs, the smart creatives are already figuring out how to team up with AI to do their best work yet.
The future belongs to the copywriters and marketers who embrace this partnership. They'll be the ones creating campaigns that actually connect with people, telling stories that cut through the noise, and building brands that feel genuinely human - all because they had AI handling the boring stuff while they focused on the magic only humans can create.
So stop worrying about being replaced and start thinking about being amplified. Your creativity isn't going anywhere. If anything, it's about to become more valuable than ever.
