Many content designers feel the pressure of AI rapidly infiltrating their field, often without their say or input. Many of these designers realize sitting back isn’t an option. Content designers know they must help shape how AI is developed and used to ensure high-quality and inclusive digital content.
The real threat to content design jobs isn’t AI itself—it’s companies that don’t understand the true value of content designers.
When content design is seen as nothing more than “word wrangling” or “text generation,” companies might turn to AI, missing the deeper, strategic work content designers do. Content designers aren’t just writers; they’re strategists who ensure that every piece of content—whether for an app, a website, or a crucial user prompt—is crafted with accessibility, clarity, tone, and user experience in mind. Content designers develop content for specific contexts to guide users, enabling it to communicate clearly and integrate seamlessly into the overall experience. While AI can generate words, content designers give those words purpose and precision.
So, if AI is to be part of content design, content designers need to stay deeply involved in its development and use. Their expertise ensures digital experiences remain human-centered, relevant, and ethical.
Here are some key reasons why content designers are irreplaceable.
- Human insight can’t be automated. Content designers have a deep understanding of user behavior. They know how to write content that genuinely resonates with people, something AI just can’t replicate. This human empathy and insight are irreplaceable.
- Content design is more than just text generation. Content designers do so much more than write text—they shape information for accessibility, clarity, tone, style, and context, ensuring that every piece fits the needs of specific users and situations. AI can generate text but can’t tailor content to every context or ensure it integrates smoothly into the overall user experience.
- The human perspective is essential. AI can process vast amounts of data, but it lacks emotional intelligence. Content designers understand the nuances of tone, empathy, and context, which are key to creating messages that actually connect with users.
- AI is just a tool, not a solution. On its own, AI doesn’t understand user needs or how to create content that resonates. Content designers can help fine-tune AI-generated content, ensuing what it generates is valuable and user-focused. Human oversight is essential to making AI work well.
- Collaboration is key. Content designers don’t work in isolation—they’re part of a bigger team, collaborating closely with UX, development, and product teams. AI might assist with content, but it can’t replace the collaborative process that ensures content aligns with a project’s larger goals.
- AI needs great content to perform well. It needs to be trained on high-quality, accessible content to be useful. Content designers play a crucial role in curating and maintaining this content, ensuring that AI produces reliable, accurate and user-focused results.
- AI’s creativity has limits. While AI can be a productivity booster, its reliance on existing data and lack of human insight limit its ability to innovate. And let’s not forget—it still hallucinates, often producing inaccurate or misleading content. That’s where designers step in to catch mistakes and ensure AI adds real value.
- We need to be real about AI. AI is often overhyped as a magical fix, but it’s unpredictable and sometimes unreliable. Honest conversations about what AI can and can’t do help set the right expectations and show why human oversight is still necessary.
- Content needs constant care. Even if an AI model is trained on your content, it requires regular maintenance. Content design standards evolve, user needs change, and information can quickly become outdated. Without regular updates, AI-generated content will lose relevance and accuracy.
- AI can perpetuate biases. If left unchecked, AI can unintentionally reinforce biases in the data it’s trained on. Content designers are essential in catching and fixing these issues, ensuring that AI-generated content is fair, ethical, and free of bias.
Insights from Chelsea Larsson
Chelsea Larsson, Senior Director of Experience Design and Head of Content Design at Expedia, was kind enough to share valuable insights on the intersection of content design and AI. As a creative leader, Chelsea uses language and design to make products feel more human. She builds AI travel tools with a strong content design perspective. She is passionate about model design, content strategy, building high-performing design teams, and fostering ethical, user-centered LLM-based experiences.
In this conversation, Chelsea tackles a few pointed questions about how content designers can navigate and shape the evolving role of AI in content creation.
How do you think content designers and AI can best work together?
Chelsea: For me it falls into three opportunity areas: using LLMs to generate content, designing LLM content through model design, and designing/writing the UI content for genAI product experiences. All three opportunities will yield higher quality outputs if the “maker” has strong content sensibilities.
How do you think content designers can stay involved in shaping AI’s role in content creation, especially in companies that may undervalue their strategic contributions?
Chelsea: I hope CDs who don’t have space to make an impact in their role can find a better role—but that’s not always an option! If you are interested in AI and it’s not on your roadmap, what’s the next best action you can take? Befriend a machine learning scientist at your company. Explore the AI strategy plan to see if there’s an emergent content design opportunity. Talk to your manager about testing internal LLM tools in your design work. Find a way, basically.
What are the biggest risks you see if AI is allowed to generate content without the involvement of content designers?
Chelsea: In general, a content tool built without the input of content experts is going to be a sub-par tool. Content Designers aren’t the only content experts out there, but we are readily available in the tech companies where AI is being developed. We are familiar with the user groups, use cases, evaluation criteria for high-quality content, content challenges at scale, and risks of non-compliant non-inclusive content. You could do a lot worse than include a content designer in your core genAI product team.
As AI continues to impact content design, it’s clear that machines can’t replace content designers. Designers’ unique value lies in their ability to create content that’s functional, accessible, ethical, and aligned with real user needs. Without their expertise, AI risks producing content that lacks nuance, empathy, or even fairness, leading to experiences that feel disconnected from what users truly need. Content designers provide the human touch that makes the final product thoughtful, impactful, and, well, human.
