Now that the AI frenzy has been overheating for a couple of years, everyone is quietly thinking about the same thing: Which skills remain valuable in a post-AI world?
There are mixed signals. Experts are predicting significant shifts in the job market. Leaders are racing to harness the projected productivity gains (with dubious success rate). Everyone has an opinion, but few have evidence. Trying to predict how this will all play out might be futile. However, having spent a great deal of time exploring both the abilities and the limits of these models, I’m convinced that some things will remain unshakably human.
My top pick? A certain sense of style.
This is kind of abstract, and it shows up in many forms, so let’s focus on one: a writer’s voice.
Don't Let an AI Ruin Your Voice! Audiences are becoming adept at recognizing AI-generated language. To give an example, Sam Altman recently lamented the spread of LLM way of talking (a little ironic, don’t you think). People are also intrinsically biased against AI generated content. What this amounts to is the following: Post AI slop, and your audience will notice. This, in turn, will actively hurt your brand.
The allure of fully automated content is easy to understand: Instant articles, endless posts, and seemingly infinite productivity. A single LLM-wielding person can produce practically infinite material. Now, of course, the internet has been flooded with it. Many of us have noticed the endless posts devoid of any human touch. And it's also easy to understand why. From a naive KPI perspective this makes a lot of commercial sense: Why spend time and effort on something you get for free?
This analysis, however misses the gist of the matter: people don’t really care about content. What they care about are thoughts and connection. Content is a mere medium that transmits those things. When the writer is an AI, there is nothing to transmit. And people will notice. This will put you among the rest of the authors posting AI-slop: bottom of the barrel.
Here’s the thing, though: This is not a binary issue, it's a matter of strategy. It's 100% not smart to use AI at all; the productivity gains are simply too great. Strategy is key. Ideally, one finds a deliberate, consistent approach that lets them harness AI’s efficiency while maintaining an authentic voice.
