By Jayne Schultheis - Have you read some text recently and wondered whether it was written by a human or a machine? It's the new normal. And it reflects why AI content detection has become the hot new tool. Schools want to prevent students from cheating. Medical journals want to be sure that they publish articles from scientists, not algorithms. And marketers want to make sure that writers are providing something new and insightful, rather than AI-generic articles.

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In this article — written by a person with extensive online content marketing experience — we will cover:

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• How writers can use AI to improve their articles.
• How to humanize AI-written text.
• Does Google penalize AI content?
• Can AI content be detected?
• How accurate are AI content detectors?

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How Writers Can Use AI to Improve Their Articles

Let's start at the beginning of the content creation process: topic ideation. This is the foundation from which you'll craft your content, and artificial intelligence has revolutionized this process, too. In fact, it's one of the most effective ways a savvy content creator can use AI.

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Rellify is a pioneer of this transformation, harnessing AI to construct Relliverse™ that are specific to each client. Each Relliverse™ we create is a company-specific AI subject-matter expert that provides a rich bedrock for content ideation. This sophisticated use of AI finds winning topics for individual articles and expertly suggests the strongest keywords for each piece.

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Next, writers can use AI to craft a detailed brief and outline, offering a structured framework for an article. And as the writer creates the new article, Rellify's integrated AI-based tools step in to fine-tune the content for SEO optimization. AI can be used to suggest a headline for the article, answer a highlighted question, continue text, and provide an article summary. These functions are also useful for writing Meta Descriptions, posting on social media and generating email promotions.

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In this approach, you use AI to enhance human-created text, rather than simply generating AI-text and trying to humanize it. Human creativity is amplified by AI's analytical prowess. Also, writers and writing teams receive a major productivity boost. In the end, you have content written for people, not bots — engaging to readers and favored by search engines.

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Does Google Penalize AI content?

Google says that it can recognize AI-written text, but doesn't necessarily penalize it. Google uses Natural Language Processingalgorithms that identify patterns typical of machine-generated writing to try to detect AI-generated content.

In a "helpful content update" in September 2023, Google said it wants to promote high-quality, audience-centric content that demonstrates expertise and satisfies search intent. The change from "helpful content written by people" to "helpful content created for people" suggests that AI-generated content isn't inherently problematic.

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Instead, the update emphasizes the creation of people-first content. It also highlights the importance of E-E-A-T. Google's algorithms look for content that displays the following qualities, apparently without regard for how it was created:

1. Experience. Does the content creator have first-hand or life experience with the topic? For example, a review by someone who has used the product has more reliability.
2. Expertise. The content reflects deep knowledge and background on the subject.
3. Authoritativeness: This looks at the content creator's reputation and standing among peers and consumers. A go-to source in a given field will get a high rating here.
4. Trustworthiness. This is the most important of the four factors. Assessing the authenticity of the website, Google rewards pages that are accurate, honest, safe, and reliable.

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These factors are especially important if your content involves Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) issues, such as health or finance. If flaws in your content could lead to health problems or financial losses for readers, Google's E-E-A-T assessment is paramount. AI-written content — with its propensity for inaccuracy — needs to at least be closely edited by a human.

Can AI Content Be Detected?

AI content detection tools are designed to distinguish between content written by humans and content generated by AI. They are not foolproof, however.

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They use machine learning algorithms to analyze written text and look for certain patterns that indicate AI-generated content. Generally, here’s what they look for:

• Writing style. AI writing tends to be overly formal and show a lack of creativity. Detection tools analyze the flow, structure, and written style of content to identify telltale patterns.
• Consistency and coherence. Machine-generated content sometimes fails to maintain context or coherence. It repeats points or fails to adequately develop ideas.
• Common phrases. AI models often use certain phrases more frequently than a human writer would, including certain types of conjunctions and transition phrases.
• Sentence and paragraph structure. AI text generators often optimize for readability, which can result in a similarity of paragraph and sentence structure.
• Semantics. AI-generated content may reflect a lack of deep semantic understanding or common sense reasoning.
• Statistical deviations. Detection tools can identify anomalies in punctuation, sentence length, and word repetition and distribution.

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The sophistication of detection tools varies, and they are constantly evolving. Of course, so are AI content generation tools. As AI systems continue to improve and learn from human feedback, distinguishing between AI-generated and human-written content will likely become more challenging.

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How Accurate Are AI Content Detectors?

The accuracy of AI content detection tools varies widely. It's influenced by several factors, including the complexity of the algorithm, the training data used, the nature of the content being analyzed, the context understanding, and the update frequency.

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There are several types of AI content detection tools:

• Statistical analysis tools analyze the distribution of words and phrases.
• Stylometric analysis tools assess the writing style, including syntax, grammar, and usage patterns.
• Machine learning-based detectors identify patterns that differentiate AI-generated content from human-written content.
• Hybrid tools combine techniques such as linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC), n-gram analysis, and machine learning.

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Which tool is better? Well, it depends on the specific use case and the sophistication of the AI-written content being assessed. In practical terms, AI content detection tools are useful for flagging material that might be AI-generated. It can then be reviewed by a real human.

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Your Secret Weapon for AI Content Detection

Despite the increasing sophistication of AI, the fundamentals of what constitutes valuable online content remain unchanged. The gold standard continues to be quality content that is relevant, clear, and crafted with the reader in mind. It is both personable and search engine friendly.

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Rellify is at the forefront of producing content that meets these criteria. Book your personal demo today.