I’m working on a whole new project. Pretty much an entirely new business.
To help me build everything, I’ve been using a Custom GPT, which has a knowledge base of everything I have been doing for the project so far. In other words, it knows as much about the business as I do.
For fun, I asked it to make up an origin story for the company. Something fun, and maybe a little tongue-in-cheek.
Twenty seconds, later I had the full origin story.
It was really, really good. It made me smile, and laugh out loud.
It was entertaining, but not something I could ever use.
I then went back and asked for a “real” and “credible” origin story.
This version wasn’t as entertaining, but it was still very good. I could absolutely use it on the About page of my new website.
The trouble is… it isn’t true.
So I won’t use it.
This points to a serious problem…
When AI-generated content becomes this good, this fast, and this inexpensive, you can make up pretty much anything you want, at scale.
I can use AI to write 100 blog posts a day, under a pen name or a variety of different pen names. I can use it to manage thousands of bots that interact on social media, pretending to be real people.
And yes, people are already doing this.
It’s a problem, because tools like ChatGPT are now capable of writing well enough to fool most people, most of the time.
With words this cheap, authenticity becomes invaluable.
It’s time for us real humans to come out from behind the curtain.
Step out with some real stories, even if they’re not wildly original.
Record yourself on video, even if you’re not that comfortable in front of a camera.
Hold a meeting or webinar on Zoom, and don’t worry if you have a technical issue.
Write something without using Grammarly, or asking Claude to edit it for style.
Get out of the office, go to the employee picnic, say a few words on camera, even if you did spill ketchup on your t-shirt.
In other words, do the things that humans do.
Even the messy things.
Especially the messy things.
In a world of mass-produced, AI-generated content and stories, the value of authenticity goes through the roof.
Your customer or clients will trust you – and buy more from you – not in spite of the ketchup stain, but because of it.
Hi Nick,
I found myself silently saying, “Yes!” after every point you made. But you really got me when you mentioned Grammarly. I am a copyeditor for several authors and have lost count of the number of times Grammarly flags an apparent error, but Grammarly is wrong.
AI may have its place, but, as you say, it is no match for the authenticity that emanates from the human brain.