it’s the judgement and interpretation aspect of A/I that’s the turnoff. The A/I judging physical world events from its digital perch and middling prose.
I use AI for a lot so I’m not anti-AI. But I can’t count how many posts and emails that I’ve read that were written by AI and not proofread. They have no actual message, and I’m always left with no idea of what it’s trying to say. That’s where I unsubscribe. I don’t want to read a confusing AI rant. I subscribe to read about the person I subscribed to read! The issue for so many of us is the expectations around content output are not practical for solopreneurs. And even if you’re not a solopreneur and you work a normal job the expectations around output are far different than they use to be. Turnaround time for projects is essentially instant these days and if you don’t use AI your nervous system is surely overwhelmed. I wish as a society we would all find a healthy balance for output that allows us to use AI but doesn’t require us to use it in order to keep up. Like I said, I LOVE using AI but I want to also not feel like I’m drowning in keeping up with the marketing tasks that would normally require a team 😂
I get it, you can quickly feel like in a rat race with juggling marketing, content, clients, community, and trying to have a life.
The way I look at AI right now is being able to do more in the same time.
I think when people are trying to cut corner with AI and don’t verify the output, you get the slop, and unimpressed people on the other side of the screen.
100% and the point isn’t to shun AI because it’s a natural part of our technological evolution and it’s not going anywhere. I think as consumers we need to be smarter about how we use it. And about what we need as end users so the technology providers deliver a product that speaks to a very specific problem: how can we do more in the same amount of time without creating AI slop.
I love that you posted this as I posted a note about this a while ago but it wasn’t nearly as articulate. We as users need to be called out on how we use AI so that we can learn how to get better. And as the user demand shifts, so will the technology in the direction of better output.
Gosh I can't scroll linkedin anymore without feeling like the robots are closing in from all sides. There's only a few corners left on that site that feel thoughtful. Amen on using AI to aid not drive.
Well I have been ranting vehemently in my own words for a number of years now, words carefully conflated and cleverpy orchestrated, and expelled from my person with every heartfelt emotion attached.
The trouble is, it's quite exhausting and a lot of work, and most troublingly, no one even listens to me!!!
If I handed over to an AI, and asked it to vent randomly about every 2-4 days on some unrelated subjects, mainly using expletives and m-rules, no one would even notice!!!!! FFS
Love the line "publishing with ownership." One of the toughest things I see is people struggling to know when to leave AI alone. It might have started as making work easier but now most people reply on AI to reply to the most basic things. This was such a thought provoking read.
You're welcome and I'm here for this kind of AI Literacy. I have to admit that I'll end up using "when to leave it the heck alone" more (esp in meetings) but I'll be happy to quote you 😂
You’re right, this is largely an incentives problem rather than a talent one.
Platforms reward frequency and surface polish, so behaviour follows the signal.
Adobe’s 2024 Digital Trends report shows over 65 percent of marketers now use generative AI weekly, which explains why tone and structure are converging so quickly.
As automation rises, judgement, editing, and knowing when not to post become more visible markers of credibility.
Scarcity of output can now signal seriousness of thought.
Do you think platforms will redesign for discernment, or will trust migrate to people who publish less and mean more?
It's a great question Melanie. I really hope that some platforms do design for this. I've been impressed with LinkedIn's recent decision to make it very clear when images are being designed by AI or not. I think this is the way forward.
I read a post somewhere yesterday (can’t remember) saying that if your post can be copy-pasted by someone else and nobody can spot it then there’s no “you” in it. Post things that has something in it that is truly “you”.
This articulates the problem with unusual clarity. What’s broken isn’t AI. It’s the moment where judgement is supposed to enter and too often doesn’t.
The framing around “publishing without ownership” really lands. You can feel when something was produced versus decided, even if the prose is clean. Writing that carries weight almost always includes a moment of exposure, a choice someone was willing to stand behind.
I also appreciate how practical this is. Write first. Decide first. Then use AI to challenge, complicate, and stress-test rather than to generate the point itself. That sequencing feels like a durable norm, not a temporary tactic.
The line about comments being judgement in public is especially timely. Engagement without position is just noise. This pushes toward a healthier, slower culture where responsibility stays with the writer, and AI stays in service of thinking, not in charge of it.
Thanks so much, Mark. You are the gold standard of people who comment with real integrity and judgement. Maybe we could train an AI tool to learn from you! 😉
I love the prompt and the idea of having AI come in only after the first draft. I feel one area where people don't use AI as much is just raw voice journaling. AI can tidy up thoughts and messy voice journals and even help you reflect in a more aligned direction on what you want to write about. Thanks for putting this together Sam and Daniel :)
"LinkedIn is the worst for it. You’ll see a “thought leadership” post that says absolutely nothing, then 50 comments underneath acting like it changed their life… and they all end with a question, funnily enough." this alone is making me dread using LI!
One comment about the commenting... I COMPLETELY agree about the "auto-agreeing" thing. But I also wish more people would consider what a good comment actually IS. So many show up auto-disagreeing on posts, as if they don't know how to do it. They come in and try to poke holes in it, "grade" it like they're a teacher, accuse things of being written by AI, or be an expert in someone else's post comments. It's rude, honestly. I'm not saying you can't *disagree*... what I'm saying is, if you do want to disagree, do it knowing that the author is reading it, start a conversation. It's not black and white (agree or disagree) -- it's *joining a conversation*
Love this line: “If you’re not willing to use judgement, don’t comment. Silence beats auto-agreeing”
Thanks Phil! Kind of the digital equivalent of better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you a fool than open it and remove all doubt. 😅
I can definitely see that and think its sage advice :)
Ha my dad used to say that 😐
it’s the judgement and interpretation aspect of A/I that’s the turnoff. The A/I judging physical world events from its digital perch and middling prose.
I use AI for a lot so I’m not anti-AI. But I can’t count how many posts and emails that I’ve read that were written by AI and not proofread. They have no actual message, and I’m always left with no idea of what it’s trying to say. That’s where I unsubscribe. I don’t want to read a confusing AI rant. I subscribe to read about the person I subscribed to read! The issue for so many of us is the expectations around content output are not practical for solopreneurs. And even if you’re not a solopreneur and you work a normal job the expectations around output are far different than they use to be. Turnaround time for projects is essentially instant these days and if you don’t use AI your nervous system is surely overwhelmed. I wish as a society we would all find a healthy balance for output that allows us to use AI but doesn’t require us to use it in order to keep up. Like I said, I LOVE using AI but I want to also not feel like I’m drowning in keeping up with the marketing tasks that would normally require a team 😂
I get it, you can quickly feel like in a rat race with juggling marketing, content, clients, community, and trying to have a life.
The way I look at AI right now is being able to do more in the same time.
I think when people are trying to cut corner with AI and don’t verify the output, you get the slop, and unimpressed people on the other side of the screen.
100% and the point isn’t to shun AI because it’s a natural part of our technological evolution and it’s not going anywhere. I think as consumers we need to be smarter about how we use it. And about what we need as end users so the technology providers deliver a product that speaks to a very specific problem: how can we do more in the same amount of time without creating AI slop.
I love that you posted this as I posted a note about this a while ago but it wasn’t nearly as articulate. We as users need to be called out on how we use AI so that we can learn how to get better. And as the user demand shifts, so will the technology in the direction of better output.
Gosh I can't scroll linkedin anymore without feeling like the robots are closing in from all sides. There's only a few corners left on that site that feel thoughtful. Amen on using AI to aid not drive.
Soon, we won’t even be able to use A/I for headline generation lest readers, “judge a book by its cover” and never open the email 📧 or post
Well I have been ranting vehemently in my own words for a number of years now, words carefully conflated and cleverpy orchestrated, and expelled from my person with every heartfelt emotion attached.
The trouble is, it's quite exhausting and a lot of work, and most troublingly, no one even listens to me!!!
If I handed over to an AI, and asked it to vent randomly about every 2-4 days on some unrelated subjects, mainly using expletives and m-rules, no one would even notice!!!!! FFS
Hahaha. But I imagine people would realise it lacked your strong sense of morality Alice. 💪
mmmm....
Is anyone going to listen to that message though?
Thanks for the follow bthw. Should immediately update my meeting slides title to "Knowing when to leave it the heck alone.-Sam IIlingworth"
Love the line "publishing with ownership." One of the toughest things I see is people struggling to know when to leave AI alone. It might have started as making work easier but now most people reply on AI to reply to the most basic things. This was such a thought provoking read.
Thanks so much Shi! That for me is true AI literacy, knowing when to use AI and when to leave it the heck alone. 🙏
You're welcome and I'm here for this kind of AI Literacy. I have to admit that I'll end up using "when to leave it the heck alone" more (esp in meetings) but I'll be happy to quote you 😂
Haha. Please do. 🙏
You’re right, this is largely an incentives problem rather than a talent one.
Platforms reward frequency and surface polish, so behaviour follows the signal.
Adobe’s 2024 Digital Trends report shows over 65 percent of marketers now use generative AI weekly, which explains why tone and structure are converging so quickly.
As automation rises, judgement, editing, and knowing when not to post become more visible markers of credibility.
Scarcity of output can now signal seriousness of thought.
Do you think platforms will redesign for discernment, or will trust migrate to people who publish less and mean more?
It's a great question Melanie. I really hope that some platforms do design for this. I've been impressed with LinkedIn's recent decision to make it very clear when images are being designed by AI or not. I think this is the way forward.
I read a post somewhere yesterday (can’t remember) saying that if your post can be copy-pasted by someone else and nobody can spot it then there’s no “you” in it. Post things that has something in it that is truly “you”.
That's a great strategy for posting excellent work.
One mans slop is another mans unlock... 😂
So so true Chris. 😅
This articulates the problem with unusual clarity. What’s broken isn’t AI. It’s the moment where judgement is supposed to enter and too often doesn’t.
The framing around “publishing without ownership” really lands. You can feel when something was produced versus decided, even if the prose is clean. Writing that carries weight almost always includes a moment of exposure, a choice someone was willing to stand behind.
I also appreciate how practical this is. Write first. Decide first. Then use AI to challenge, complicate, and stress-test rather than to generate the point itself. That sequencing feels like a durable norm, not a temporary tactic.
The line about comments being judgement in public is especially timely. Engagement without position is just noise. This pushes toward a healthier, slower culture where responsibility stays with the writer, and AI stays in service of thinking, not in charge of it.
Thanks so much, Mark. You are the gold standard of people who comment with real integrity and judgement. Maybe we could train an AI tool to learn from you! 😉
Maybe! I have an AI chatbot I trained to talk to me like I'm Batman. But it only does so like the Burt Ward Robin from the 1960s TV show.
“Holy binary batarangs, Batman! My brain is basically a Bat-Computer snack pack!”
Super useful and practical!
Thwack! POW!
I love the prompt and the idea of having AI come in only after the first draft. I feel one area where people don't use AI as much is just raw voice journaling. AI can tidy up thoughts and messy voice journals and even help you reflect in a more aligned direction on what you want to write about. Thanks for putting this together Sam and Daniel :)
Yes, Chintan Wispr Flow for the win combined with Gemini. This is exactly how I do a lot of my best work.
Awesome great to hear I am doing something that aligns with your recommendation :)
Good stuff! Told my students something similar this week.
This is great to hear, Jennifer. If they like this, you should get them to sign up to the Slow AI curriculum for critical literacy. 🙏
"LinkedIn is the worst for it. You’ll see a “thought leadership” post that says absolutely nothing, then 50 comments underneath acting like it changed their life… and they all end with a question, funnily enough." this alone is making me dread using LI!
One comment about the commenting... I COMPLETELY agree about the "auto-agreeing" thing. But I also wish more people would consider what a good comment actually IS. So many show up auto-disagreeing on posts, as if they don't know how to do it. They come in and try to poke holes in it, "grade" it like they're a teacher, accuse things of being written by AI, or be an expert in someone else's post comments. It's rude, honestly. I'm not saying you can't *disagree*... what I'm saying is, if you do want to disagree, do it knowing that the author is reading it, start a conversation. It's not black and white (agree or disagree) -- it's *joining a conversation*
This is so true, Tracy. Someone should definitely do a masterclass on how to leave effective, kind, and useful comments on Substack and beyond.
I will steal this idea for a post I think. 😎
Judgment is the part people keep trying to outsource, and it shows.