Is AI Causing Us to Lose Our Soul?featured

I walked into a bookstore the other day and took a deep breath.

Ahh, the smell of books – what a refreshing scent in the age of AI, I thought. But then I got to thinking about the pattern I continue to see with the misuse of AI, and my thoughts took a morbid turn.

How long will we have bookstores with actual books written by actual people?

My heart sank.

Then I realized this was not a far-fetched thought. I was all for AI as it began to really take off. As time has gone by, I continue to see more and more AI slop take over social media, infiltrate business websites, and even spam my inbox via major “Communications and PR” associations.

How can this be? Our professional communicators of the world are setting the example, and this is an example I will not subscribe to.

Marketing is not a terrible AI flyer with too much information to fill a page. That’s just plain slop.

Thoughtful storytelling is not having AI write a generic story for you or have it revise full sections of your book for you. I am watching Marketing and Storytelling lose their soul before my eyes. It pains me. And it keeps me up at night.

Yes, AI can be a game-changer; it can save us hours and help us do things we never thought possible, but it is no replacement for good ol’ Human Creativity, Impactful Storytelling, or Effective Marketing.

I will say this again – AI flyers are not Marketing.

Marketing has a soul, a strategy, consumer psychology, target personas, and a thoughtful plan to be executed across multiple touchpoints.

To all the people out there who think they can bypass true marketing and storytelling and replace it with their handy dandy ChatGPT sidekick:

I am sorry to break it to you, but you will (if you haven’t already) become a brand, a company, a service with no soul.

I am seeing so many soulless companies pop up and companies that once had a soul lose it completely, and I truly wish I could help them all get back to the basics. Writers are allowing AI to write their stories for them. Owners are refusing to look to professional creatives to help them reach their audiences in fresh, new ways.

And guess what?

We can all tell when soul is lacking.

More importantly, the lack of authentic emotion, warmth, and human spirit is infiltrating every part of our everyday lives because there is no movement that is taking charge of bringing soul back in the age of AI.

What have we allowed to happen to the arts?

What have we allowed to take over our digital feeds?

Why is every caption I read saying absolutely nothing in over 500 words?

Why are essays I read sounding like a cluster of empty sentences written by 7-year-olds out of touch with the concept of including a thesis, three supporting paragraphs, and an intro and outro paragraph to bookend it?

As a creative writer, a marketer, a communicator, and a storyteller with a brain full of creative ideas, inspiring stories, convergent thoughts, and strategic plans, I must at least document this tragic moment in time and inform us all, including myself, that we can and must do better.

I will never give up on helping people bring soul back to the world in the age of AI.

If you are feeling like you need a true creative partner/writing coach/editor/writer/master marketer or storyteller by your side, send me a note. I would love to help you get back to the basics and infuse soul into what you are putting out into the world.

Love Deeply and Forever,