Authenticity Is More Valuable Than AI-Generated Perfection
Authenticity is a hot-button topic right now. In fact, Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2023 is authentic.
To be cheeky, I asked the AI Assistant in my Buffer app to create a post about “authenticity” and here’s what I got:
Authenticity is key. In a world full of filters and facades, staying true to yourself is more important than ever. Embrace your uniqueness and let your genuine self shine. #BeAuthentic #StayTrue
????????????Yes! This IS an AI-generated Twitter/X post about the importance of being authentic. The irony is thick.
Twenty nine words plus two hashtags, yet these sentences manage to say virtually nothing. It’s astounding.
AI can convey information. It can emulate various styles and tones. And it can certainly facilitate the process of researching, writing, and editing content.
But authenticity cannot be AI-generated because it’s the product of the human soul. AI copies. It regurgitates. But it does not create new thoughts, ideas, and perspectives. It is, by its very definition, artificial. It is the opposite of real and authentic.
AI tools, like Chat GPT, make it ridiculously easy to churn out mindless bits of nonsense – like that silly Twitter/X post. But they’re really just tools. WE decide how and when to use them.
And that’s why…
The main enemy of authenticity isn’t technology, it’s psychology.
We have been taught to crave perfection, which is the real problem. Because creativity and authentic expression defy perfection.
We each have areas of expertise – subjects we’ve studied in school and knowledge we’ve acquired through the years. And we each possess our own unique combination of personality, feelings, and perspectives.
Our authenticity is a gorgeous, messy blend of all these fine ingredients.
Perfectionism drives us to tidy up that messiness. It’s the critical inner voice that nibbles at your confidence and whispers that your authentic words are not good enough.
We reach for AI because we want our writing to be perfect… but perfect is boring.
Don’t be fooled by the sales pitches. AI is NOT UPPING your writing game. It’s just absorbing your authentic thoughts into the collective and replacing uniqueness with banal sameness. It’s erasing the YOU from your writing.
So stay true to yourself. Write more – and edit your words on your own. The more you write, the more confident you will become. And confidence is magical!
Repeat this mantra as often as required:
???? My words don’t need to be perfect. They need to be meaningful.
With that in mind, I must share the most lovely poem about the beauty of simply being YOU…
Imagine if the sun refused to shine,
because the moon was shinier.
if streams ceased to flow,
because rivers were flowier.
if snow didn’t dare to fall,
because rain was fallier.
if stars did not glow,
because planets were glowier.
what a world it would be if nature compared,
if flowers didn’t flower,
because their neighbours were flowerier.
You, my friend, must stop all that folly,
no one can be more you,
you are youier.
❤️Be YOU. Stay authentic and weird and wild. Play with your words and let them run amok. Abandon perfection. It’s over-rated!
