AI can write the notes but it can’t bring the soul

Humans have had 80/20 rules for, like, ever. And now we have one for AI.

It’s this. AI can do the 80% of a task that’s hard (the perspiration) but it can’t do the 20% that makes a difference (the inspiration).

Which isn’t bad. A lot of people (maybe you, definitely me) would be creating way less without that 80% assist. Like, I built my website at Squarespace with help from Gemini and without it I’d’ve torn out what hair I have left and bailed way before the finish line.

That’s who I am. You might be different, you might have the tech skills and the patience to make a website from scratch, I don’t. So, shout out to Gemini. (I know, Gemini isn’t the app cool kids use but whatever.)

Anyway, getting back to that 80/20 rule. AI helped me with about 80% of the site--the groundwork, the process, the glitch-solving. The 20% that makes it different--the photos, the fonts, the colors--that was me.

And it looks pretty good. Whereas if I’d relied 100% on AI to build the site (as ads on this platform relentlessly urge me to do) it wouldn’t look good, it’d look like a SaaS PowerPoint. You know the kind of thing: stock photos, stiff copy, color choices like...what!?

So yeah. What I’m getting at is, AI can help with the framing but the human finish, the individuality--the soul--all the inputs that make the final product say, “I did this, me!” That’s on you.

The groundwork, great. The 80%, go for it. But don’t leave it there. Put a human in the loop and add that 20% extra that makes your content complete--and completely you.