Just a quick one from me today to share these images which really tickled me when I was creating my own personal brand content this week! As you can probably imagine, I am in the 'organic, authentic, created by humans' camp when it comes to blog writing, social media captions, photography and illustration. And so are my clients.
However, as they say, it can be good to 'know your enemy'. (I don't actually see AI as an enemy, I think there are many things it can be useful for, but I don't rate it as a way to create content, and you're about to see why...)
Whilst writing my own post about self-forgiveness this week, I played with the little 'Create AI Image' button, and this is what happened:
See what I mean?
Even without the spelling (and basic letter formation) mistakes, they are pretty tacky and not at all the style I would want for my brand. It would have been ten times quicker to write 'I forgive you' in my own handwriting on a piece of paper, capture it on my phone, and upload it to the blog.
Stay with me if you want things to get a little weirder...
My curiosity was piqued by this point and I wanted to see what would happen if I asked for some Yin Yoga photos. These take me a lot longer to stage and photograph myself, and finding exactly the right stock images to illustrate certain poses can be more challenging.
Maybe AI would be good at making some quickly?! Look at what happened:
How many splinched limbs can you spot!? Very unnerving. Not at all the vibe I was going for with my earthy, natural yin content. But, potentially very easy to miss if you were scrolling through fast and not actually paying attention. If someone had employed an AI-using agency to write a blog post for them, they might give it the simple instructions: 'write a post about yin yoga with original images', skim read the result, and end up with this.
This is already happening with both copywriting and photography, but I really do believe it is just a way to separate the wheat from the chaff. For bulk, low-quality content, AI is useful and saves a lot of time. However, if you want quality, care, and finesse associated with your brand, then I think AI still has a very long way to go.
For me, this is yet another reassurance towards slow, intentional living where we double check things and actually read the content that we write. Consider how it will land with our audience. Take time to see how it looks on both desktop and mobile.
If you're with me in the slow lane, hi! It's nice to have you here. I think we're gonna be okay...