So You Want To Hire a Writer That Doesn’t Use AI? Let’s Talk About It.

So, you want to hire a writer that doesn’t use AI. Let’s talk about it.

I’m not going to lie — the super short version of this episode is that, for the most part, hiring a writer who avoids AI in 2026 is expensive, with little to no SEO benefit. And the quality of the output is going to vary widely.

That’s a spicy take for less than 30 seconds into the episode, but it’s how I feel. There’s a lot of nuance. There are plenty of exceptions, situations where I don’t think you should use AI, and cases where it makes more sense to do things manually. That’s why I want to have this conversation.

How Do I Find a Blog Writer Who Doesn’t Just Copy and Paste From ChatGPT?

This episode was sparked by the fact that I keep seeing posts — sometimes I’m even tagged in them — from people saying things like: “I want to hire an SEO blog writer, but not someone who uses AI.” Or “Is it possible to find a marketer who doesn’t deliver AI slop?” Or “How do I find a blog writer who won’t just copy and paste from ChatGPT? I could do that myself.”

I get it. I’m going to explain why these opinions and call-outs miss the mark, for sure, but I also get where they come from because there’s a lot of poor-quality work out there.

So I want to dig into why hiring a writer that doesn’t use AI will cost you significantly more, what you’re actually getting, and whether it helps your SEO at all.

Understanding the Appeal Of Writers That Don’t Use AI (But It’s Expensive)

But first, I want to acknowledge the appeal of “no-AI writers.” I started my blogging business in 2020, and have been blogging since 2017, so I wrote without AI for a long time. As someone who now has a team, I honestly don’t even know if it would be possible to hire writers who have never used AI. And I do think that skill had to develop organically.

It’s just interesting to me to see people who have only written with AI. It’s a different skillset — not bad, hear me on that — just different.

The pool of people who wrote for years without AI is tiny now, so there’s a premium on that. As there should be. But as business owners, we have to look at ROI. If you’re a writer delivering a premium, no-AI service, you deserve premium rates.

But business owners need to ask whether that premium actually delivers a stronger return.

And let me be clear: I don’t think anyone should tolerate AI slop. You shouldn’t publish straight ChatGPT output with your name on it. Even if it ranks on Google or helps with captions on Instagram, it won’t convert and it definitely creates distrust.

We need to hold a high standard online, especially in saturated markets and in this era of low trust.

What You Think You’re Asking For When You Hire a Writer That Doesn’t Use AI Vs. What You’re Actually Getting

Some people are anti-AI for moral, ethical, or environmental reasons — I’m not getting into that today because that could be an eight-hour rabbit hole — but I do want to point out something important: When people post these “no AI” requirements, they seem to believe it guarantees content that sounds uniquely like them, maintains a high standard, protects their SEO, and comes with ethical or creative authenticity. But those things are not tied exclusively to avoiding AI.

Businesses think they’re getting originality, voice, ethics, and Google safety — but the two are not mutually exclusive. And on top of that, some writers market themselves as “no AI” as a badge of honor, which I respect. That’s a positioning and branding choice. But to me, that means you’re paying a premium for an exclusive service.

You’re also paying for slower turnaround, because you’re literally paying someone to stare at a blank screen. As someone who wrote pre-AI, I’m like… why would anyone want to pay for that? Is the output truly so much better that it’s worth four or five times the time investment?

And keep in mind, there are degrees of AI usage. When I say “no AI,” I mean none — no outlines, no research assist, no meta titles or descriptions, zero. Then there are writers who use AI to brainstorm or outline, but not to draft the actual piece. There’s a full spectrum, both in how people are using AI and in what they do with the AI-assisted content: how they prompt, how they edit, how they position it, and how much of their own brain goes into it.

Why Hiring a Writer That Doesn’t Use AI Is So Expensive

When we think about how writers want to be paid, we have to acknowledge that humans only have about three hours of deep focus per day. It would be lovely to imagine we could work solidly for eight, ten, or twelve hours — but most people aren’t robots. In reality, it’s usually three to four hours of true focused work.

If you’re a writer that doesn’t use AI, you have to charge a full day rate for those three to four hours. Otherwise, what’s the point of running your own business or choosing this as a career?

That’s how you end up with writers charging $400–$600 per blog post.

I’m not saying that’s wrong — it’s just a different model than what I chose as a blog writer. One reason I’m able to keep my work high-quality and accessible is because I use AI thoughtfully as part of my process.

Is Human-Written Content Better for SEO?

So now that I’ve talked about why hiring a writer that doesn’t use AI is so expensive, I want to touch on the SEO side. I already mentioned there are moral, ethical, and environmental arguments — which I totally understand — but in terms of SEO, I don’t think using a human writer exclusively gives you much of a benefit.

Google has said they don’t penalize AI content. They’ve said they prioritize what they call “helpful” content and they’ve rolled out a helpful content update. Then there’s EEAT — experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Basically, Google is asking: Does the person writing this have lived experience? Do they have expertise? Are they an authority? Is this content trustworthy? That’s what they’re using to decide what should rank.

Whether I talk out a story, paste it into a tool, and refine it, or I sit down and write it manually from scratch — there’s no SEO benefit purely in the fact that it came from a human who never used AI.

If you’re hiring someone to write your content, or even having a VA draft it, talking your ideas into ChatGPT and shaping the output versus hiring a writer who refuses AI — there’s no meaningful SEO advantage in that distinction.

And I know this firsthand because clients have been hiring me since 2023, when AI became mainstream in content creation, and their blogs are ranking just fine.

AI helps make the writing stronger and frees up time for the things AI can’t do — optimizing images, writing alt text, adjusting meta titles/descriptions, formatting, spacing, and spending more time on strategy. It lets us maintain high standards without burning the whole day on drafting.

We’re not copy-pasting raw outputs. We hold a high bar. And we’re not seeing any issues ranking on Google or ChatGPT.

AI Detection Tools

There’s also no way to prove a piece was written with AI anyway. There are ways you can guess whether something was written with AI — there are tells, there’s edit history, and if a piece was written in two minutes, you can probably assume AI was involved. But AI checkers are very inaccurate, and I genuinely believe AI will advance far faster than any detection tool. I do think AI will need regulation at some point, and we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

You’re Not Hiring an SEO Content Writer To *Literally* Write Without You

When it comes to SEO, I’ve said this before: writing is no longer the main part of what I do, even though it’s my favorite.

Before AI, I would’ve said most of my clients hated writing and hired me to get it off their plate. Now, most of them could probably do the writing themselves — but they still hire me for the SEO results and the strategy behind it, and because they don’t want to manage it.

When To Hire a Writer That Doesn’t Use AI

There are a few situations where I think it makes sense to go human-only, or at least swing the pendulum toward human-heavy. High-stakes or sensitive topics, for example. Fact-checking with ChatGPT and similar tools is still too risky — it’s often confidently wrong. Topics like that should be written by humans.

Brand-heavy storytelling, positioning, and messaging also benefit from humans. You can brainstorm with ChatGPT, but just because something sounds good doesn’t mean it’s unique. It’s hard to get truly original voice and perspective out of AI most of the time.

Same with website copy — kind of. We all use ChatGPT for web copy, I get it. But a highly skilled copywriter will outperform AI 100% of the time. That said, mediocre writers might struggle to justify their fees against AI output. So anything that is a brand investment — not strictly an SEO play — should probably lean heavily human.

Is It Worth Hiring a Writer That Doesn’t Use AI?

This episode is short and sweet because I don’t want to belabor it, but when someone says they don’t use AI for writing, I don’t personally see it as a flex. I don’t think it’s a smart long-term position. Being anti-AI doesn’t serve you strategically, and I think some people hold themselves back trying to be the morality police.

I’m not saying there aren’t real concerns — there absolutely are — and if that’s the reason you’re hesitant, I respect it. But from a business perspective, or if you think human-only content will be dramatically better, I don’t think that’s true unless you’re willing to pay a premium. I don’t think it’ll perform better or rank better.

That’s my honest take. And it’s not because I use AI — I’ve been writing since before AI existed, and I could easily raise my prices and skip AI entirely. I’ve written blog posts in the last six months without AI for specific cases. But most of the time, AI makes me faster and makes the content better. Human writers have off days; it’d be nice if we always produced our best work, but that’s not reality.

So that’s my hot take. Even if you don’t agree, I’d love to have a conversation about it. Hire who you want. There’s a full range of skill levels with AI, and I don’t think anyone should tolerate AI slop in their marketing — not because of purity, but because it’s ineffective.

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