Human Creativity Stages a Comeback as AI’s Shine Fades

With Google down-ranking spammy, unoriginal content churned out by AI chatbots, organizations are rethinking how they create, publish & share information.

Few would argue with the power of artificial intelligence in the business world, where it’s analyzing datasets in seconds, identifying patterns and handling certain repetitive tasks. But I interviewed an owner from Dale Carnegie the other day who pointed out that while AI can do a lot of stuff, it can’t be creative and it has no social emotional intelligence.

So ChatGPT may be able to churn out an inordinate amount of content that it learned how to develop based on published (and copyrighted, I might add) works, but it can’t reason things out, innovate or deliver anything that’s truly original or engaging.

Of course any of the AI chatbots can be seductive mistresses: just key in whatever’s on your mind, ask them to generate an article on the topic and voilà, you’ve got something to publish on your website, socials or other outlets right?

Not so fast, says Google. Famous for turning content marketing models on end with just a few algorithm tweaks, the world’s largest search engine is down-ranking unoriginal, spammy content meant to “game” its search algorithm (read: AI-generated content or “slop” as some people like to call it). 

This started last year, but just in case you missed it: within one month of rolling out its core update in early-2024, Google was promising its users that they “would now see 45% less low-quality, unoriginal content in search results.”

With Google now down-ranking unoriginal AI content, sites like Freelancer have already been tracking increased demand for writers and other content producers. In fact, a recent press release proclaims that “human creativity is staging a comeback.”

During the first quarter of 2025, for example, Freelancer tracked a 25% increase in communications jobs, with demand for blog writing, internet research and Instagram content creation also on the rise.

“In a world drowning in AI-generated content, humanity hungers for authenticity. Deep down, we're all starving for something else,” said Matt Barrie, chief executive at Freelancer. “We don't crave perfection, we crave connection. The raw edge that reminds us we're alive. The illusion is lost when you see an em dash.” (And with that, Barrie is poking fun at the fact that ChatGPT overuses the now much-maligned em dash).

So what’s the takeaway here? Well, AI has its place but it can’t replace the human spark that makes content worth reading. For those of us who write for a living, that’s a reminder that real connection still wins.