You know that moment when you’re listening to someone give a moving speech.

Then you notice they’re reading from a teleprompter and it breaks the weight of the moment.

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Or you’re listening to a podcaster tell a personal story.

Then you realize it’s a script for an ad and tune it out.

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These are buzzkill moments.

They had you, then they lost you.

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This happens in our world too, when you see a post or pretty infographic in your feed.

And then get that ‘whiff’ that it was auto-gen’d out of ChatGPT, so you flush it out of mind and keep scrolling.

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It’s funny, there’s this spectrum of authentic to artificial.

Analog to automated.

Human to machine.

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And increasingly, creators (that includes you) are looking for the resting point in the middle.

A way to leverage the incredible capabilities of our new tools.

While still maintaining proof of a human fingerprint, so our audience won't throw us out.

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So you see behaviors like, “make me an image that conveys [xx] but make it look hand-drawn” — harmless, right?

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What about, “write me a LI post, but include some typos”

Is this duplicitous? Is this “wrong”?

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It really depends on motive.

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Are you artificially generating insights to build an aura of false authority?

Then yes, that’s not great for the overall discourse, and it won’t do you any favors in the long-run either.

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But if you’re taking an original insight, and making it more shareable and digestible using new tools at your disposal, then that seems like a proper use of the tech.

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Besides, if that politician ditches the teleprompter, then flubs the message of their speech, who wins?

Or if the podcaster skips the personal story altogether, and loses the listener even earlier, wouldn’t you sorta wish they’d even tried to make the ad entertaining or relatable?

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Here’s a simple litmus test for AI-assist with your content:

“Is the insight I’m trying to get across mine?”

Only you can answer that.

If it is, then find the best way to convey that message to your (very human) audience, with or without a digital crutch.

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💡

-Wes