Antidote

Did AI ruin the Internet? Or was it us?

There’s so much AI-made slop everywhere, from LinkedIn to YouTube, that people have started reading actual books again. I mean real books, written before LLMs were largely available to the masses.

Earlier today, I got pissed off because AI ruined my morning routine.

Normally, I’d have my coffee and watch YouTube for half an hour. But lately, I find myself desperately scrolling for something that doesn’t scream AI. And then, a few seconds in, I realize I’ve been tricked. The thumbnail and the title seemed original, but the revealing, obvious signs start to pop up almost immediately: “not only this…but that,” short staccato sentences, bullet points, emojis, b-rolls with dead-fish-eyed people… This sh#t was clearly generated with AI! Annoyed, I switch off the TV.

Even well-known influencers are doing this. But why? I understand, to some extent, the wannabe YouTubers trying to make a few AdSense bucks. But why have so many veteran creators become this lazy and uninspired? Luckily, there are still exceptions. And hopefully, you are one of them.

Actually, keeping your genuine voice and avoiding becoming an AI-slop creator is not that complicated.

Let’s start at the beginning of the creative process: brainstorming and planning. Outsourcing this phase to AI is a grave mistake. If you let AI come up with your ideas, your structure, your angle, you’re already on rails. You might polish the output, but the core won’t be yours.

Don’t have an idea? No problem. Let it sit. When something clicks, write it down and start digging into it. The first draft won’t be perfect, and that’s fine. At least you know it’s not perfect.

In contrast, what AI produces may seem great at first glance. What you might not realize is that hundreds of people may have entered a similar prompt into ChatGPT at the same time and received almost identical results. Whether it’s a Medium article, a LinkedIn post, or a YouTube video script, you risk publishing the same polished, empty content as the remaining ~1425 people who typed the same generic prompt. This has been going on for a while now, and the sludge is starting to bury everything.

You’re better off publishing your own first draft. It may not be perfect, and you probably wouldn’t get a straight A in English class for it, but people’s internal AI detector won’t light up instantly.

The second best way to avoid sounding like a cheap robot is to stop consuming AI slop. Grab a book instead. Read something that challenges or inspires you. If you haven’t been reading since high school, you may find it hard at first. That’s your brain craving cheap TikTok dopamine. But once the new habit forms, reading becomes incredibly refreshing.

One of the side effects of slowing down and reading books is that you become more creative. You think in longer arcs again. Coming up with new ideas and writing becomes easier, especially if you used to be a creative person. It’s like muscle memory: your strength comes back faster than expected, even if you haven’t hit the gym for quite a while.

You don’t have to believe me. Just try this: come up with your own ideas, start writing without using AI, and get back into the habit of reading books. See what happens.

Why am I sharing this? I have a selfish agenda: I want AI-slop gone, and more original content on LinkedIn, YouTube, and everywhere else.

So I can have my morning ritual back.