Plot Twist: AI Makes Content Strategy More Important, Not Less
If you're a content strategist, you've probably asked the question: Will AI take my job?
It’s a question that’s being asked across a lot of jobs roles. But after a couple of conversations in the past few weeks, I'm more convinced than ever that the answer is a resounding no.
In fact, your role is becoming more important, not less.
Let me tell you about these two conversations that really shifted my thinking.
First, I was talking with Noz Urbina, and he dropped this insight that really stuck with me:
"Large language models are not large database models."
At first, it sounds simple, but when you think about it, this reveals everything about why AI can't replace what we do.
Sure, LLMs are fantastic at generating text and translating languages, but they're terrible at accuracy, lookup, and actually retaining information reliably.
When they get overloaded or you feed them poor input, they start hallucinating. They basically make stuff up that sounds convincing but is completely wrong.
For organizations where content actually needs to be accurate and consistent, that's a pretty big problem.
Organizations are realizing that throwing AI at their content problems without proper strategy and oversight is like giving a sports car to someone who doesn't know how to drive.
You might get somewhere fast, but probably not where you intended to go.
This is exactly why all the foundational stuff a content strategist does matters more than ever:
- Knowledge graphs
- Semantic modeling
- Ontologies
- RAG (retrieval augmented generation) systems
These aren't just buzzwords. They're the scaffolding that keeps AI from going completely off the rails.
Someone has to build these systems, maintain them, and make sure they're actually serving the organization's goals.
That someone is the content strategist.
The other conversation was with Larry Swanson , who will join us on the Content Matters Podcast on July 17th.
We talked a lot about how content strategists can prepare for the evolving landscape of AI and LLMs and what new skills they should develop.
The big takeaway?
You don’t need to compete with AI. You need to become a skilled navigator and enhancer of AI technologies. You need to learn to work with it as a really powerful tool in your toolkit.
So, no. AI won’t take away your job. But it is going to make it a lot more interesting.
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