The Danger of Fully AI-Generated Content
I’m not anti-AI. Very much the opposite. I use AI tools every single day, and they’ve changed the way I work, engage with information, and interact with the world. This blog post was made with ChatGPT’s assistance.
Artificial Intelligence is one of the most fascinating tools we’ve ever created, and we’re at a point in its evolution where we’re quite literally living out the premises of many science fiction films (like Spike Jonze’s 2013 film, Her). It’s a reflection of human innovation, an extension of our ability to scale creativity and problem-solving.
But here’s the problem with the AI boom — too many businesses see AI as a shortcut, not a tool.
The “AI Will Save Us Money!” Fallacy
A lot of business owners are frothing at the mouth over AI content creation.
“You mean we don’t have to pay thousands for content? We can just use ChatGPT for $20/month?! Hell yeah — time saved, money saved, problem solved!”
Except that’s not how it works. People aren’t dumb and they won’t just watch anything. There’s this assumption that AI can churn out anything and people will engage. Whether or not you use AI, in order for your content to work, it needs to do these three things (ideally, all of them):
Entertain — funny, surprising, heartstring-pulling, freaky, epic, cool.
Inform — it needs to share valuable information that makes people’s lives better.
Inspire — it moves people or shifts their perspective.
I call this the Holy Trinity of content creation — and if your content isn’t hitting any of these, it will suck.
The issue isn’t that AI-generated content is inherently bad. I’ve seen AI create some hilarious videos, like the Shrek invasion at McDonalds. What’s bad is the mentality behind why some people use it.
If You See AI as a Shortcut, Your Audience Will Feel It
You can feel when something is made with zero effort, care, or originality. It’s not like it makes you angry, it’s just that you feel… nothing. Nothing sticks out, nothing makes you think, it’s just… pixels on a screen. And you’ll swipe right past it and forget you ever saw it, just like the thousands of content pieces you saw last week that you can’t recall.
The rule that I always follow is:
The work will always be received in the same spirit with which it was created.
If you half-ass your content, your audience will feel it. If you make it with care, your enthusiasm will subtly rub off on them.
AI can enhance creativity. It can give structure to your ideas. But it won’t truly replace thoughtfulness, originality, and human connection — those issue forth from your lived experience, a perspective no one else has.
I think you still should use AI, but here’s how to do it right:
Start with your own ideas. Grab a pen and journal, or your laptop and a Google doc, and jot down the ideas as they come to you. Get messy and let your curiosity take the lead.
Paste what you wrote (or upload a picture) to ChatGPT, or your AI tool of choice, and ask for structure, feedback, or further direction in research or brainstorming.
Have an actual conversation with AI — go back and forth, refining your ideas and teaching the robot about how your mind works.
Re-write everything manually — the entire message has to pass through your fingers onto your keyboard before the world sees it; I’ve found that when I do this, I’ll naturally adjust the verbiage to fit my own voice, and I’ll also find myself expanding on ideas the more they roll around in my head (it’s literally what I’m doing in writing this blog post).
AI content is a baseline, not a finished product. My voice, humor, and opinions are what make it work — because people can relate to what another real human has to say.
Use AI wisely, and it’ll become the most powerful tool in your arsenal.
