ChatGPT is making your content boring (but it’s fixable!)

Everyone’s using ChatGPT for content now… and it shows.

I can spot AI-generated content from a mile away. It’s got this weird, overly polished tone that sounds like a corporate press release had a baby with a motivational speaker. Everything is “game-changing” and “revolutionary” and starts with “In today’s digital landscape…” (well maybe back when AI first started gaining popularity – I think people caught up to this one already 😆). 

The point is no human talks like that.

But AI isn’t inherently bad for content creation. The problem is how most people are using it. They’re treating it like a magic content machine instead of what it actually is: a research assistant that needs serious supervision. A content intern, if you will. 

Your audience isn’t following you for perfectly optimized, SEO-friendly content that sounds like everyone else’s. They’re following you because of how YOU think about problems, how YOU explain solutions, and how YOU make them feel understood. AI can’t BE you.

As a teen, I fell in love with this Oscar Wilde quote, “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.” And I think this sentiment is more important now than ever before. 

Why most AI content sucks

When you ask ChatGPT to “write a blog post about email marketing,” it’s going to give you the most generic, middle-of-the-road advice that exists on the internet. It’s not pulling from your unique experience, your client stories, or your actual voice.

It’s essentially giving you the Wikipedia version of the topic, sprinkled with a bit of your “personality” if you ask it to. But it never sounds like you actually giving someone advice on email marketing.

Some may even argue that it’s a form of plagiarism because it’s taking inspiration from everything that’s ever been posted on the internet, which includes other people’s work. 

This results in content that sounds like everyone else’s content. And when you sound like everyone else, you disappear into the digital void. No one will bother reading your stuff. 

Red flags that scream “this was written by AI”

ChatGPT loves certain phrases that immediately out your content as AI-generated. If your content has these elements, people will probably think you didn’t write it:

• The following sentence structures or phrases (just to name a few. If you want an extensive list, go check out one of the million ‘how to spot AI’ posts on LinkedIn):
  • “It’s not X, it’s Y”
  • “But here’s the thing”
  • “Chef’s kiss”
  • “Let’s delve into…”
  • The rocketship emoji 🚀
• Overly formal language that you’d never use in real life
• Failed attempt at sounding poetic or deep 
• Generic examples that could apply to any business
• Conclusions that sound like they’re wrapping up a high school essay
• Overuse of the em dash (most people don’t use em dashes THAT often) 
• Weird, robotic, soulless vibe (you just know when something’s off) 

The smart way to use AI for content

Here’s how I actually use ChatGPT and Claude AI without losing my personality or voice:

Use it for brainstorming, not writing. Ask it to pull together statistics, explain concepts you’re not familiar with, or give you different angles on a topic. This is good to get a general sense of content direction or new ideas. Then write the actual content yourself.

Fact-check everything. ChatGPT loves to hallucinate and makes stuff up. It’ll give you statistics that don’t exist and quote studies that never happened. Always verify anything that sounds too convenient. Or just verify everything, period. Get in the habit of it. 

Feed it your voice first. Give ChatGPT (or your AI of choice)  examples of your writing and ask it to analyze your style. Then when you do use it for drafts, you can say “write this in the style of [paste your sample content].” Then edit for accuracy, clarity, and voice. Even with thorough instructions, it tends to slip back into AI-mode. 

Use it for structure, not sentences. Ask for outlines, headline variations, or content frameworks. The strategic stuff. Then fill in the blanks with your own words and stories. This works especially well when you’re experiencing writers’ block. 

Edit ruthlessly. If you do use AI-generated text, go through and remove all the corporate-speak or any other tell-tale signs of AI (basically anything that you would never actually say in a meeting or when talking to a client). Replace generic examples with your own stories. Cut out unnecessary transition phrases.

⚡️ You don’t need another AI prompt, you need a strategy that brings your voice back. Let’s make your content magnetic again in one Power Hour session.

Examples of how to use AI for your content 

Here are the tasks where AI genuinely makes my content creation faster and better:

Brainstorming headlines. I’ll give it my topic and ask for 20 different headline approaches. Then I pick the one that fits my voice and refine it.

Research assistance. “What are the current statistics on email open rates?” or “Explain the difference between these two marketing strategies.”

Content repurposing. Taking a long blog post and asking for social media post ideas or email newsletter angles.

Editing support. “Make this paragraph clearer but keep my conversational tone” (though I still review everything).

Thought organizer. I use voice-to-text to ramble on about my ideas and I’ll then ask AI to repeat my message, formatted as a list or outline, organizing my thoughts and streamlining my brainstorming session without losing my ideas as they come in.

How to add your voice back into AI-generated content

If you’ve already created a bunch of AI content and want to humanize it:

Include your actual opinions. AI gives you safe, middle-ground takes. What do you actually think? What would you tell a friend over coffee? Give us your hot takes! (For example, I believe you can use astrology to find your brand personality and I’m not afraid to say it!)

Use your natural speech patterns. Do you use sentence fragments? Side thoughts in parenthesis? Casual profanity? Specific slang or industry terms? Put that back in.

Tell real stories. Replace generic examples with actual client situations (with permission) or your own business experiences. Basically, back up what you’re saying with examples and anecdotes of your lived experience.

Remove the fluff. AI loves unnecessary words and phrases. A lot of words to say a whole lot of nothing. Cut anything that doesn’t add value or personality.

So what now? 

I want you to remember AI is a tool which should be used to enhance your smarts and expertise, not replace it.

Use it to help with the research and administrative parts of content creation so you can focus on the stuff only you can do – the insights, stories, and perspectives that make people want to work with YOU specifically.

Just to be clear: I’m not anti-AI. I love AI and use it daily. I used it to work on this article! (Email me and let me know if you could tell or not). But you need to be careful in how you use it because it can end up becoming a crutch and essentially ruin your brand if you let it. 

Your voice is your competitive advantage. Don’t let a robot steal it.

Ready to make your content feel like you again?

If you’ve been relying on AI and your content feels generic, it might be time to rediscover what makes your message unique. In my Brand + Content Power Hour, we’ll identify your natural communication style and create a content strategy that sounds authentically you (no robots welcome, but not required).

Because at the end of the day, people don’t want to hear from ChatGPT. They want to hear from you. 🩷