Don’t be “weird”: avoid raw AI in your marketing

“Here’s the weird thing” about AI writing, Nicholas Thompson says in a recent installement of his “Most Interesting Thing in Tech” video series.

Thompson, former editor in chief at WIRED and current CEO of the Atlantic, explains that LLMs produce content that’s simultaneously middle-of-the road and off-kilter. They push your voice into a homogenous, “AI-optimized” state that’s sharp and clear and sounds good to LLMs—but is “actually not a familiar human state.”

It looks right but feels wrong. “You should be really careful if you’re going to use these things, even for writing emails, because you’ll end up both generic and kind of weird,” Thompson says.

That’s not a good place to be, especially for brands. People now can spot that “generic and kind of weird” content and they don’t like it. Gartner reports that half of consumers balk at companies whose marketing copy is clearly AI and two-thirds wonder if what they’re reading is even true.

This is risky in general and downright dangerous for brands that are “information-dependent” (like health, finance, legal services) or “high-trust” (like organic food, designer labels, baby products).

We founded Fluent Partners to fix this problem. We’re not anti-AI. We use it, so should you. But you shouldn’t leave it there. Work with us to make sure your AI content isn’t generic and weird. Leverage AI’s efficiency while preserving your brand’s unique personality.