What Is AI Copywriting?

Written by Coursera Staff • Updated on

Artificial intelligence (AI) copywriting involves prompting a generative AI model to output human-like copy based on certain queries, often within specific parameters. Explore AI copywriting and learn how it can enhance your content creation.

[Featured Image] Two business professionals are discussing content created by AI copywriting for their business project.

Artificial intelligence (AI) copywriting involves using AI to create written content. It allows content creators to leverage innovative generative AI platforms to quickly create large volumes of human-like text in various forms for a range of marketing purposes.

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Copywriters develop and share content with a marketing purpose in mind. This content is also called copy. Copy is more than just text content. It also includes: 

  • Short blogs

  • Ads

  • Videos

  • Radio spots 

AI copywriting allows copywriters to create all of the above and more with greater speed and volume than ever before. That’s why many suggest that AI copywriting may prove profoundly lucrative. In early 2024, J. P. Morgan Research estimated that AI copywriting could increase GDP worldwide by up to 10 percent—equating to as much as $10 trillion [1]. However, AI can’t replace human expertise. Instead, it can offer a robust set of tools to enhance efficiency with brainstorming, research, and copy optimization.

Explore AI copywriting in more detail, including the various types and tools available and their pros and cons, to gain a better understanding of the possibilities.

Types of AI copywriting

As mentioned, AI copywriting and, more broadly, generative AI are increasingly common business tools. As a result, writers can choose from many such available platforms. Some common AI copywriting platforms include: 

  • ChatGPT

  • Jasper

  • Copy.ai

  • QuillBot

  • Newsletter.ai

  • Perplexity.ai

  • OwlyWriter

  • HubSpot Content Writer

  • Grammarly AI

  • Rytr

  • DeepL

While many AI text generators are based on a small selection of large language models, not all AI copywriting platforms perform the same thing in the same way. It may benefit you to explore various options before choosing one you can work with easily and consistently. Furthermore, it’s advisable for you to thoroughly verify all AI-generated copy, regardless of your preferred platform, before you consider publishing. This helps to ensure your content is accurate and of a high standard.

How does AI copywriting work? 

AI copywriting is the result of many years of research in the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The first thing a generative AI framework has to do is learn. Programmers train AI platforms on enormous data sets. By inputting data into a machine learning program, the AI gradually learns to recognize, categorize, analyze, and ultimately respond to information. Today’s AI algorithms attempt to simulate the way a human brain works. In theory, such human-like machines will be able to learn and speak in increasingly human-like ways. 

Many types of AI programs are chatbots, a technology that mimics human learning and communication using natural language processing (NLP). Programmers train these chatbots to recognize patterns in data, identify user intent, and apply what they’ve already learned in terms of data patterns. Chatbots then output new data in the form of conversational-sounding answers to user queries.. 

Chatbots don’t learn in the same sense that people do, of course. Large language models (LLMs) “teach” a chatbot to output statistically probable answers to questions it reverse-engineers from the data sets programmers trained it on. You can think of a generative AI chatbot as a highly complex autocorrect feature. 

These complex, predictive chatbots are what you’re querying when you ask AI to generate copy. AI doesn’t write in the same way a person does. However, it can produce startling simulations of human-like behavior. 

What is AI copywriting used for?

You can use AI copywriting for a variety of things, such as: 

  • Social media posts

  • Product descriptions

  • Keyword research

  • Hashtag creation

  • Blog or article outlines

In essence, AI copywriting provides a tool to simplify content creation. By inputting a topic or title, you can prompt an AI model to generate human-quality copy, such as social media posts or blog articles. You can even have it refine said output by specifying certain tone of voice requirements to best capture what you’re looking for. 

Before having AI generate copy, you can use an AI model to help you develop ideas. You can even ask its advice on how to approach certain topics. Once you have an idea in mind, you can ask AI to generate an outline for the piece of copy. From there, you can write the copy yourself, asking AI for recommendations along the way. 

After you’ve completed a piece of copy, you can ask AI to offer revisions, corrections, and suggestions for improvement. Beyond basic grammar and spell-checking, it can offer further writing tips, such as enhancing style and maintaining a consistent tone of voice throughout a piece. 

Who uses AI copywriting?

Businesses use AI copywriting to boost productivity, create large volumes of content, and optimize that content more quickly and accurately than human copywriters tend to be able to. Industries and sectors leveraging AI include: 

  • Information technology

  • Education

  • Finance

  • Insurance

  • Health care

  • Manufacturing

  • Retail

  • Construction

  • Agriculture

Copywriters themselves use AI copywriting software. AI isn’t meant to replace copywriters wholesale; it’s used to help copywriters create large volumes of content within a relatively short time. It simplifies content optimization for SEO and other goals, reducing the time and effort required.  

Pros and cons of using AI copywriting

From supporting writers in faster content creation to presenting ethical questions, AI copywriting has several pros and cons. Explore them in more detail for a stronger grasp of what’s at stake. 

Pros

By automating the content creation process, at least in terms of creating outlines and undertaking the more tedious writing-based tasks, AI copywriting does much of the heavy lifting involved in copywriting. For instance, generative AI can produce concise summaries of reams of data, improving understanding and shortening the research process.  

AI copywriting algorithms also lower the barrier of entry to careers in copywriting. By leveraging advancements in generative AI, anyone can generate copy of a relatively high standard. 

Cons

Generative AI comes with inherent risks. If a programmer trains an AI model on inaccurate data, it can only output incorrect answers. The same thing is true if training data is biased, plagiarized, or compromised in some other way. 

Generative AI poses risks in terms of copyright infringement, data security, and confidentiality. Due to their predictive nature, AI models can unintentionally replicate existing text, images, or audio content. Questions remain regarding the status of intellectual copyright in the world of AI. 

How to get started in AI copywriting

To start AI copywriting, learn how your generative AI model of choice works. This is important when it comes to prompting the AI in a way that leads to content you can use. Become more familiar with how an AI framework reacts to certain queries regarding tone of voice or brand presence. Moreover, learn how to ask for things such as: 

  • Keywords

  • Hashtags

  • Length of the piece

  • Location

  • Target audience

 

Again, AI frameworks aren’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. You may have some experimenting, testing, and revising ahead of you as you get started in AI copywriting. 

Explore AI copywriting and build your skills with Coursera

AI copywriting can’t replace human expertise, but it can provide a tool to enhance the process. After you’ve weighed the pros and cons of AI copywriting and tried out a few interfaces, take the opportunity to learn more on Coursera. 

UC Davis’s course, The Strategy of Content Marketing, will help you with the basics of marketing strategy—successful marketing being the cornerstone of copywriting. The University of Virginia’s course, Artificial Intelligence in Marketing, can offer additional insights. 

Then consider signing up for Coursera Project Network’s guided project Copywriting with ChatGPT: Produce Compelling Copy That Sells, and try out what you’ve learned. 

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Article sources

  1. JPMorgan.com. “Is generative AI a game changer? https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/global-research/artificial-intelligence/generative-ai.” Accessed February 12, 2025.

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