Wednesday Kin #87

🎶…”This is what dreamsssss are made of” 🎶

I have been deep in a reflective state since I left the Lizzie Mcguire Hilary Duff concert and if I’m being really honest right now, I’ve been spiraling about how to put all of my thoughts into 1 email. 

But, I came across an IG post from my copywriting friend, Maddy where she shared about what the actual benefit of owning your business is and the main takeaway for me was this: I get to make the rules. 

Soooo, we’re turning this reflection into a mini series where I break down my thoughts, Y2K mems, and grieve the ending of said Hilary Duff concert.  

ON THAT NOTE

SAY LESS, I’M IN

Now, I’m not gonna leave y’all hanging on this fine Wednesday morning (or whenever you’re reading this) without a copy tip, reflection, or action. So, let’s get to werk. 

One of the BIGGEST struggles that I’ve been seeing lately in the business world is…drumroll please

AI tags in copy/posts being marked as AI/AI checkers/whole ass LAWS?!?

So, we must talk about it. 

At the root of Kinfolk is community—you know this. I am a therapist afterall. With that comes having very hard conversations that evoke a sense of depthness that maybe you haven’t tapped into yet. Sometimes it’s conversations that you’ve been biting your tongue during because it wasn’t safe to share your thoughts/opinions. 

Annnd, other times it’s because dammit, you’re tired. And trust me when I say that I’m tired of talking about AI, too. However, it’s not going anywhere and is continuing to impact our work as business owners whether we want to face very-real-reality of it or not. 

Quick Detour

I have my opinions about Substack, and I also have favorite creators that I absolutely LOVE reading from each week. One of my favorite creators spoke out about AI checkers/verifiers and it’s use in the Substack landscape and it obvi captivated my little squirrely brain to do some research—which honestly, sent both Zach and I down a rabbit hole. 

Nonetheless, we came across some interesting articles, IG posts, and more during our research, hit reply if you’re interested and I’ll share them with ya! 

The common thread amongst them all was this: we want transparency related to AI use. That’s it. 

It. Is. Really. That. Simple. 

And, ironically, it’s a problem we have always experienced as creatives in the online space. 

Do you remember Tumblr?! (Yes, I was a Tumblr girl)

• Do you also remember users copying other popular users?!? Same. 

Do you remember the blogging era of 2010-2019? (R.I.P to my lifestyle & travel blog, The Carolina Peach)

• Do you remember the ick you got when you’d click on 3 different posts and they would practically say the same thing? Me too. 

Do you remember the iconic era of makeup tutorials, GRWM, room tour, back to school backpack Youtube videos? (I was a big fan of Meredith Foster, Aspyn Ovard, and Bethany Mota)

• Do you also remember the gazillion other videos that were basically the same idea, just different creators?! Yep. 

Notice a theme?! Now, let’s get back to this whole AI conversation.

At its core, AI is a computer designed to produce tasks that we can actually do ourselves— and many of us are only utilizing the language model feature (Yes, I’m talking to chatty about GF recipes on the daily). 

But I think the conversation that needs to be had is the difference between wanting to know who the author of content is rather than the tool? As the nuance-girl, there are a lot of incredibly talented creators within the space that utilize AI to speed up their processes, brainstorm, transcribe, fix grammar, etc. How are we going to disqualify the work creatives invest their resources in as a result of a watermark that doesn’t reflect the full story? 

For example, let’s look at this process from the outside

Creator #1: “Help me brainstorm 52 blogs ideas” → this is very clearly using AI as a tool

Creator #2: “Here’s my blog draft, help me understand where it gets confusing, messy, or discombobulated” → this is a good example of using AI as a writing assistant

Creator #3: “Rewrite this paragraph so that it flows better” → Entering grey-territory imo

Creator #4: “Write a 1,500 word blog about x topic in my brand voice” → 100% AI-generated

So, I’ll leave you with this. If someone asked you about your content, could you walk them through your process confidently and clearly. What if they asked if the content was 100% your thoughts, could you explain how you landed there? 

I don’t think the controversy of this topic is related so much to the laws requiring transparency, but more so the folks who couldn’t produce content tomorrow if AI disappeared. 

At the end of the day, the common thread that continues to reign true is the idea that no matter what you create, if you are creating from a place of your unique perspective, nuanced thoughts & opinions, and have something to add to the conversation—that’s worthy content. 

I teach this week after week in my blogging membership when reviewing blog drafts every Friday related to the E.E.A.T principles. Google does not care if your blog is perfectly SEO optimized, and written for the bots. It’s going to prioritize content that has something that has not already been said before. 

So, let this be your reminder that if you’re going to write anything this week, allow it to come from a place of your unique experience because that’s what your ideal client wants to read anyways.