The Death of Polish: Why Your Brand Needs More Grit and Fewer Prompts
- Neil Moore
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
AI vs human content
As a big fan of AI, I’d like to make a case for authenticity. Sure, this sounds contradictory, but the honeymoon phase is over – for doctored photos, fake video, and machine-written content – with increasing pushback against what a few short months ago was seen as a novelty.
You may now be wondering, did he write this piece using his favourite LLM (large language module)? Already I’ve hit you with a couple of “en dashes” (because the em dash is just too ugly), and I’m about to lean on AI’s favourite rhetorical crutch – parallelism.
After all, it’s not about deception, it’s about coming clean on a technology that is both useful, and alarming in the way it has taken over so much of what informs and entertains us. And it’s poised to wipe out even more.
Beyond the six-fingered rescuer
I have seen far too many animal rescues and otherwise heartwarming videos that were faked using AI. A few months ago, the telltale signs would have been obvious: subjects moving through solid objects, extra fingers, bystanders gliding rather than walking.
You get the idea.
Today’s fakes, using the current crop of AI tools, are much harder to spot – but you can still detect the subtle cues. Complexions that are too perfect and kind of waxy. Micro expressions that are absent (ie the eye crinkle when someone smiles). And speakers who maintain a perfectly consistent volume and tone without pausing to breathe.
The pros and cons of machine prose
In writing, the fakery is just as prevalent. And I’m of two minds on this. The negatives are that pieces tend to be more general, more obvious, and less engaging when they’re devoid of sensory details (sights, smells, and sounds), specific names and places, not to mention personal observations and anecdotes.
The positives are that good prompting can fix some (but not all) of this, and not everything requires a skilled writer’s touch. AI is great at making sense of a “brain dump,” transcribing a meeting, building a set of FAQs, creating instructions or operating procedures, and many other tasks where clarity is the primary or only concern.
And face it, not everybody can write. I’ve seen many instances where the sender of butchered prose would have been well served by leaning on their AI assistant.
Not unexpectedly, LLMs are getting better, and they are sounding more “human” as these platforms evolve. But don’t mistake this friendlier, more collaborative AI for a conscious being – at least not yet. Will there be a day when these LLMs become “sentient”? Who knows? But in the meantime (and to paraphrase newscaster Kent Brockman from the Simpsons) “I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords!”
The epidemic of “GPT-speak”
The irony is deepening. While the machines are working hard to sound like us, we are increasingly starting to sound like them. If you spend enough time with your LLM, you may find its linguistic tics bleeding into your own language. I recently listened to a TED Talk where etymologist Adam Aleksic spoke about how ChatGPT is influencing our word choices. Researchers are also noting a surge in "GPT-speak" – an epidemic of people overusing words like “delve”, “underscore”, and “vibrant.”
Ask yourself this: are your emails starting to read like a sanitized LinkedIn "thought leader" post? If so, perhaps this has infected you too.
Embracing the grit
In reaction to this flood of synthetic perfection, there’s a growing appetite for the unpolished. I’ve heard advice like embracing a little camera shake in your videos or leaving in a few of those “um” and “ah” filler words to let people know you’re not an AI avatar.
Embracing the occasional stumble or controversial opinion is now proof of life.
Indeed, authenticity is quickly becoming a marketing asset. People are frustrated with the polish of AI and now prefer a little grit. They want real stories, complete with messy emotions, odd perspectives, quirks, and humour.
Whether or not the search and social media algorithms have a bias in the debate over AI vs human content, your audience certainly does. Feel free to use AI for research, as your intern, while crafting the final, polished copy with your own, unique voice. It may take a little longer, but no bot can ever win the war for trust.
p.s. No, this post was not written by AI!
Every message has two jobs: get noticed and get remembered. That’s where I come in – helping businesses turn everyday communication into something clear, compelling, and built to last. If you’re ready to sharpen your story, let’s talk.
Neil Moore is a communications specialist, freelance journalist, masters athlete, and family man who believes that excellence has no expiry date.
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