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Is it Real or is it AI?

Yes, you’re reading words I actually wrote myself, sitting in my office, typing them out on my laptop.

We’re seeing a lot of blogs, social media posts, and marketing emails that a real person didn’t write. More and more of us are using ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Anthropic to do our writing for us.

That’s why the phrase “AI slop” comes up in so many critiques of those blogs, social media posts, and marketing emails. And that description is often warranted, don’t you think?

Me? I’ve prided myself on doing my own writing, posting, and emailing. And I like to think I’m at least decent at it. I’ve been dubious about using one of those AI tools and resistant to learning more about them.

And then … the subject came up again during a coaching call.

Smarter people than me encouraged me to be more open-minded.

In fact, one of them, while we were right there one the call, put my name, Fascinate Advantage, and enneagram type into her Chatbot, and asked it for a plan to market my speaking and coaching. And it gave her one! In a heartbeat!

Do you know how much I struggle to write marketing copy? Oy. If AI will do that for me, I’m interested.

So, as soon as that call ended, I set up my own account.

I didn’t want marketing copy that sounded like an actual professional marketer. And I certainly didn’t want AI slop! There’s a generic sound that’s pretty easy to spot as having been generated by one of those artificial intelligence apps. That wasn’t what I was going for.

So, first thing, I uploaded my book and blog posts to train the system about my communication style.

That way, I was hoping ChatGPT would generate some copy that sounded at least vaguely like something I might have written, if I were a bit more comfortable bragging about myself. Seems like it’s easier for most of us to tout someone else’s work than it is to tout our own.

It certainly was easy—and fast—for ChatGPT!

Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

There’s a reason people start to think ChatGPT is their friend.

The messages it sent me were warm, friendly, even flattering. I know perfectly well it’s not a real person, and yet I found myself wishing I could use its name when I replied to it—the dialogue felt so personal, so real.

I was struck by the tone in what it wrote. Not just the copy, but the comments to me about my work, my goals, and my chances of reaching them. It sounded like a coach. Or a friend. Or a cheerleader.

And did I mention that I know perfectly well it’s not a real person? But Jeeze. I see how people can get tangled up in relationships with these things, and maybe even cultivate those relationships.

Isn’t Mark Zuckerberg out there talking about how Meta could provide people with AI friends?

Turns out there’s a reason I found ChatGPT so effusive.

It wasn’t my imagination as a newcomer to using artificial intelligence. Veterans were also commenting on a shift in tone that made the app’s replies overly flattering or agreeable, just about the time I joined its throngs of users.

Open AI’s CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the issue when he posted this on X: “the last couple of GPT-4o updates have made the personality too sycophant-y and annoying (even though there are some very good parts of it), and we are working on fixes asap.”

That’s a good idea, I’m sure, although I have to say I didn’t mind the encouragement, even coming from ChatGPT. I’ll take a pat on the back wherever I can get it!

Seriously, though, I do want to learn to use AI productively. And getting caught up in how much it seems to like me won’t help me achieve that, will it?

It helped me to read this piece in The Atlantic, and if you’re using an AI app in your work, you’ll want to read it too. This is a gift link to AI Is Not Your Friend.

You are using AI, aren’t you?

When it comes to technology, I’m not an early adopter. I know many people who’ve long since incorporated an AI app into their work life. And I’m curious how you’re using it in your work.

Does it write your LinkedIn posts? Emails to your clients or prospects? Articles for your blog?

And how much rewriting do you do? Is it just a little edit and polish, or do you really dig into the copy a bot spit out and turn it into something that feels more masterful, or more personal anyway?

I hope you’ll share your experience in the comments section below so we can all compare notes. Thanks!