3 Reasons Why We’re in a Golden Age for Digital Copywriters
in the AI Era
By Nick Usborne

“Hey, Nick, I have a question for you about the future of freelance digital copywriting.”

When I hear this, or something like it, experience tells me that there’s a good chance the question they want to ask me will go something like this …

“Is it too late to become a freelance copywriter? Has the opportunity passed now that AI can generate content and copy in seconds?”

The short answer is no … the opportunity hasn’t passed. You can still become a freelance copywriter. In fact, I believe we’re entering a new golden age for professional copywriters who adapt and evolve with AI.

Let me share three reasons why I feel so confident about our future.

Reason #1: Demand for digital copy keeps growing, year after year.

Even with AI being with us for a while now, the demand for high-quality digital copy overall keeps rising.

MarketingProfs estimates spending on digital marketing is set to reach a head-scratching $526.17 billion by the end of this year (2024).

That said, what has changed is the nature of that demand.

Because yes — tools like ChatGPT have taken over the most vulnerable human copywriting jobs — the shorter, lower-barrier-to-entry kinds of copy, like short ads, product descriptions, and catalog copy.

Those will continue to be the most vulnerable copywriting jobs and will affect those writers with minimal training who haven’t invested in upgrading their skills.

But writers who invest in themselves and learn the higher-value skills clients need are the ones who’ll thrive in this golden age.

The reason is simple:

However capable AI might be — and continue to become — businesses still need the professional judgment of a highly trained copywriter.

That way, as copy and content come off the “AI assembly line,” there’s a human in the loop who’s expert enough to judge its quality and make improvements.

I believe this to be especially true as more companies adopt AI.

If they’re ALL using the same prompts, the same tools … you can imagine that their content is going to start sounding too similar to one another’s.

So the need for a great copywriter to step in and differentiate the content by making it more human will be growing by leaps and bounds as their spending on digital marketing keeps increasing.

Reason #2: AI has created new roles for skilled copywriters.

Now, this is where it really starts to get exciting, in my opinion.

Because it’s opening the doors to make bigger fees, deliver even greater value to your clients, and position yourself way ahead of the pack if you do this sooner rather than later.

Basically, the rise of AI in digital marketing is creating new roles for writers who decide to embrace it.

For example, most companies have no official AI policies. They’re not training their employees on how they want them to use AI … They’re not giving any guidance at all!

This is creating a huge opportunity for you as a skilled copywriter to come in and help them.

Show them the best practices for creating prompts that give the highest-quality output possible. Help them integrate AI into their marketing processes for creating copy and content.

That alone could make you a very successful (and possibly wealthy) copywriter.

But in addition to needing skilled copywriters who can show them how to do that, there’s also a need for …

• AI Output Editors: Good human writers are now needed to refine and improve AI-generated content, ensuring it maintains brand voice, comes across as “human,” remains emotionally intelligent and authentic, and meets high-quality standards.
• Creative Directors for AI: These are the experienced copywriters who can “judge” whether the content or copy AI has produced is “good” in the first place, and can then work to improve it or hand it off to an AI output editor. This, again, would ensure that there’s a consistent brand voice across all of a company’s AI-generated content.
• AI-Enhanced SEO Specialists: In addition to “humanizing” content, copywriters are needed who can combine their understanding of search engine optimization (SEO) with AI tools to create more effective, keyword-rich content that still reads naturally to human audiences, provides value, and resonates with them.
• AI-Assisted Sentiment Analysts: Another growing need is for writers who can use AI to analyze audience sentiment from sources like customer reviews, social media, and more. That way, a company can adapt and craft new messaging strategies to address sentiment trends.

I truly believe I’m only scratching the surface here.

Research from the International Data Corporation suggests that companies will be spending about $632 billion on integrating AI over the next five years.

You combine that with all the money companies are already spending on digital marketing, and there you have it — a true golden era for copywriters unlike any we’ve ever seen.

Reason #3: AI Puts a Spotlight on Human Creativity, Ingenuity, and Emotional Intelligence.

One of the great things about AI is that it can handle the “heavy lifting” of creating content and copy from scratch.

This means humans — i.e., you as a digital copywriter — are now free to do what you do best as a human: be creative, innovate, and master emotional intelligence.

Look — these AI models like ChatGPT and Claude don’t have actual “intelligence.” At least, not yet.

And they don’t have emotions.

AI can’t remember a sunset they saw when they were 7 years old.

They can’t recall the first time they tried ice cream.

They can’t talk about their first kiss.

You get the idea.

These are the experiences that make us uniquely human.

And AI is only making this human experience more valuable than ever before.

Because it’ll be you as a copywriter who will now be able to spend more time developing your client’s unique brand voice once AI has done the more routine stuff.

You’ll be the one coming up with the strategy of what the AI should write in the first place.

And you’ll be the one infusing emotion and that irreplaceable human experience into the final product.

What’s more, humans are needed right now to also make sure that the ocean of content AI is producing remains culturally relevant, isn’t insensitive, and doesn’t miss any nuances (that it tends to do, since it’s not, well, human!).

All this to say that AI, if anything, is highlighting the things that make us humans irreplaceable.

And in this new golden age, embracing your humanness as a copywriter can take you far.

Wrapping this up …

Yes, the copywriting landscape has changed in a big way now that AI is here.

And while it may seem like it means the end for human writers, I believe it’s ushered in a new era of opportunity — for those willing to adapt and grow along with it.

It truly is a golden age, but you’ll need to get serious about continuously updating your skills … embracing your humanness and emotional intelligence … and becoming truly proficient at using AI tools to their full capabilities.

If you can do that, I think you’ll be surprised at how many big opportunities the coming months and years will bring to you!