Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm. We’re using it to brainstorm, research, write, edit, test, adapt, and produce. A task that once took an afternoon can now take minutes. One idea can become dozens of headlines, emails, ads, and social posts before lunch.

That’s an incredible shift in what creative teams can produce.

But it raises the question: is using AI for our creative helping us, or is it secretly hurting us?

The Risk of Making More—and Saying Less

AI is remarkably good at creating something that feels right. Give it a prompt, and it can produce a polished headline, a competent email, or a handful of campaign concepts in seconds. It recognizes patterns in existing work and uses those patterns to generate something that appears new. The key here, however, is that it only appears new; it’s actually derivative.

Creative that follows familiar patterns can be perfectly competent without being particularly distinctive. As AI use increases, so too does the risk of sounding like everyone else.

Great creative doesn’t just communicate. It gets noticed. It creates associations. It gives people something to remember. It’s distinct. Over time, those distinctive ideas, words, and experiences help build recognizable brands. If we use AI primarily to reproduce what already exists, we may become very efficient at creating work that fits the category without giving audiences a reason to remember the brand.

There’s another risk, too: when creating variations becomes incredibly easy, we can mistake more for better.

You can generate 20 headlines instead of two. Test 10 concepts instead of three. Create dozens of variations across audiences and channels.

But if we change too many variables at once, more testing doesn’t necessarily mean more learning. We may know which version performed better without understanding what actually made it work, limiting our ability to apply that success elsewhere.

Use AI for You, Not Against You

The answer isn’t necessarily to use less AI. It’s to use it more intentionally: instead of using AI as the source of the creative idea, utilize it to help you get to a better idea faster.

One of the easiest ways to let AI take over is to ask for the finished product immediately.

Instead, break the process into stages and use AI to accelerate each stage:

Research → Theme → Hook → Market Awareness → Argument → Call to Action

For example, use AI to identify insight when creating copy (Research). This insight can be related to the customer, like analyzing customer feedback, sales calls, survey responses, or reviews to identify patterns, recurring objections, customer language, and underlying motivations.

AI can also help analyze existing creative. Instead of asking it to recreate a successful piece of copy, ask why the existing copy works. What structure does it use? What is the central idea? How does it establish relevance? How does it move the audience from attention to action?

That gives creative teams something more valuable than a finished paragraph: a better understanding of what to say and why it matters.

The goal isn’t to reproduce the work. It’s to understand what makes it work.

Let’s use this blog post as another example. I did my Research and knew my Theme (AI in marketing), but I needed my Hook (what is my viewpoint?) and Market Awareness (who am I targeting with this blog post, and what is the Voice of the Connexio HCP blog?).

So, instead of: “Write a blog post about using AI in marketing.”

I started with: “Analyze the blog posts on https://connexiohealth.com/category/connexio-health/ for structure, form, tone, cadence, and purpose.”

AI was able to tell me the favored structure of the Connexio HCP blog posts, including general flow and formatting styles of headlines.

I also asked: “Please analyze what audience would be most inclined to read the blog posts on https://connexiohealth.com/category/connexio-health/.”

I got a list of possible audiences, like marketing directors (most likely to engage with this blog post), copywriters (likely to engage), and AI technology specialists (less likely to engage as they may not be marketing focused). This also produced a reading level for my intended audience.

The analysis also made it clear that my ideal reader isn’t “someone who uses AI” but someone who is thinking, “AI is clearly going to be part of my job, but I don’t want efficiency to come at the expense of creativity.”

With these two prompts, I then knew who I was writing for and what Hook I wanted.

Note that AI isn’t replacing the creative idea. It’s helping uncover the information that can lead to one.

Let the Channel Shape the Creative

AI also makes it easier to adapt an idea across channels.

But adaptation shouldn’t mean simply shrinking, expanding, or rewording the same message.

Instagram has different demands than Google Ads. A social video might depend on visual rhythm, cultural relevance, or the first few seconds. A search ad has far less space and relies heavily on message architecture and relevance to intent.

The central message is: while the idea may be the same, the creative execution shouldn’t be.

AI can help translate an idea between environments. But first, we have to understand what makes that idea work in each environment.

Just as we did above, we can use AI here to find the insight about what works across channels.

The Goal Isn’t More AI. It’s Better Use of AI.

AI is changing the economics and mechanics of creative production. But the advantage won’t simply come from producing the most content. It will come from knowing what to automate, what to question, and what still requires human judgment.

AI can make creative production faster. It can help us research more efficiently, explore more possibilities, identify patterns, challenge assumptions, and eliminate unnecessary production work.

It shouldn’t make us less curious, less discerning, or less creative.

The goal isn’t more AI.

It’s better use of AI.

Use it to accelerate the process—not to replace the thinking that makes the work worth remembering.

References:

Contino, J. (2026, September 6). AI Creative Needs Better Systems. Sagum. https://sagum.com/2026/09/06/ai-creative-needs-better-systems/

Hollatz, K. (2025, July 15). A Copywriter’s Honest Thoughts on AI Copywriting. Kayla Hollatz. https://kaylahollatz.com/blog/ai-copywriting/

Rogoz, R. (2025, April 15). I’m a Copywriter, and Here’s How I Use AI Every Day to Double My Output. Medium. https://medium.com/@razvan.rogoz/im-a-copywriter-and-here-s-how-i-use-ai-every-day-to-double-my-output-8ee72ed9c9bf