Following my cartoon last month on the content firehose, I was struck by this comment from Albi Pagenstert, head of brand for BMW North America:
“Authenticity is the new disruption. At a time when everyone’s using AI to simulate something that looks and feels real, being genuine actually stands out.”
Albi was describing the brief behind their new ad that makes fun of the glut of “AI slop,” a buzzword for low quality, high volume AI-generated content. Polaroid similarly tapped into this insight in a recent billboard campaign with headlines like “AI can’t generate sand between your toes.”
This stretches far beyond advertising. WIRED shared research late last year that over 54% of longer English-language posts on LinkedIn were likely AI-generated. Google, YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest are starting to grapple with AI slop using different degrees of labeling, detection, and filtering. Google is now using the term “human-first” to describe what it prioritizes in AI overviews.
I love how my friend Ann Handley has been writing and talking about the benefits of another type of AI: “Analog Intelligence.” Ann is no luddite, but she describes Analog as an essential complement to Artificial Intelligence:
“I’m convinced that in the Age of Artificial, Analog is a power move.”
Ann also warns about the dangers of what she calls “Thoughtstipation,” which I think is a watch-out in all forms of communication and creativity:
“Thoughtstipation happens when we skip the messy, human part of creativity—the part where we meander, doodle, ramble, reflect, and debate the use of an Oxford comma just because we love thinking about sentences.
“AI is useful. OF COURSE it is.
“But if you invite it in too early, before you’ve even heard your own voice and explored for yourself, you risk overriding your natural thinking process. Over time, that leads to chronic blockage. You literally can’t think without AI in the wings; you’ve offloaded your own brain and its power.”
Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years:
