Death by a Thousand Shortcuts

The most dangerous thing about generative AI isn't that it’s taking our jobs. It's that it’s slowly making us all sound the same.

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Look, I get it.

The board wants better ROI every quarter.

Your c-suite is demanding more pipeline faster.

Your team is stretched thin, you’re on a tight budget, and here comes AI, promising to grant your wildest content wishes with a push of the button.

Of course you're tempted. Who wouldn't be?

And to be clear, those AI outputs are pretty good. They're grammatically perfect, they hit the right keywords, they follow best practices. They're...fine.

This isn’t to knock you if you’re using AI. I use it every day.

But if you lean too heavily on AI-generated content to communicate, it can slowly erode all the wonderful quirks and qualities that make content unique and different, leaving your brand and your competitors’ swimming in the same muddy puddle of mediocrity.

Once you spot this AI-driven sameness, you can't unsee it. It's like noticing a glitch in the Matrix—and trust me, this rabbit hole goes deep.

The Uncanny Valley of Content

You can see this happening already.

Scroll through LinkedIn these days and you'll feel it—that nagging sense that something's off.

The posts are well-written, they’re structurally sound, but they feel...hollow. You can't quite put your finger on it, but it's there.

This is what robotics professor Masahiro Mori called the Uncanny Valley. It describes people’s emotional response to things that appear almost (but not quite) human. His theory suggests that as artificial creations become too humanlike in appearance, it makes us uncomfortable.

It creeps us out.

And that's exactly what's happening with AI-generated content today. It sounds technically perfect but it’s emotionally empty.

Think people don't notice?

Watch how quickly people pounce on anything that smells like AI. They're eagerly calling out every em dash, parallel structure, and any hint of robotic rhythm.

We get an eery feeling about AI—even if we can't explain why.

A Slow Fade to Black

Here's where this gets really problematic for brands.

First, you start using AI to write your social posts because, hey, who has time to craft original LinkedIn content every day? Then you use it for your blog posts because your editorial calendar is packed and your writers are overwhelmed. Soon you're using it for email campaigns, sales enablement, and maybe even your core brand messaging.

You end up with content that sounds almost human, but just artificial enough to make your audience uncomfortable. And while your CEO celebrates the short-term metrics bump, your audience slowly starts to pull away.

Every small shortcut makes perfect sense in the moment. But your brand's voice—that sharp point of view that makes people pay attention—starts to dull.

With every AI-generated piece, you trade a piece of your identity for convenience. And instead of being a brand people seek out, it becomes another voice in the corporate choir, singing the same tired hymns.

Think about it: When every company in your industry uses AI to generate their communications, they're all drawing from the same well.

Everyone's messaging slowly blends together.

The impact isn't just external. When you regularly defer to AI to think and write, you get less practice developing and defending your point of view. You spend less time finding compelling ways to express complex ideas.

And you can bet your leadership team will sense the shift. They can tell when you're recycling safe, dull advice instead of bringing sharp, original insights.

Death by a thousand shortcuts. It happens so gradually you might not even notice.

Like the story of the boiling frog, you might not realize you're in trouble until your brand’s already cooked.

Reclaim Your Creativity

Before everyone brings out their pitchforks, let me be clear:

I'm not suggesting you abandon AI tools.

Just be intentional about when and how you use them.

Use AI as a thought partner, not a thought leader. Use it to pressure test ideas, flesh out your thinking, and spark inspiration. Let it handle routine tasks while you focus on what matters—developing a point of view that makes people think, telling stories that make them feel, and building a brand that makes them care.

Will it take more time? You bet. Will it make you squirm sometimes? Like a long overdue workout.

But that discomfort you're feeling?

That's your creative muscles waking up from their AI-induced nap.

Don’t shy away from the friction of wrestling with new ideas, pushing against conventional wisdom, and articulating a truly distinct point of view—that's not inefficiency. That's what takes you from forgettable filler to a brand worth following.

Choose your shortcuts wisely. Don’t outsource your thinking to AI.