I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion lately about “AI slop.”
You know what I’m talking about. Generic articles. Endless LinkedIn posts. Blogs that all sound the same.
Some people insist they can spot AI writing a mile away.
Maybe they can.
But I wonder if we’re asking the wrong question.
The question isn’t whether AI wrote it.
The question is whether the person behind it had anything worth saying.
I’ve been in marketing for more than 30+ years. During that time, I’ve watched desktop publishing “destroy” graphic design,
Photoshop “ruin” photography, social media “kill” advertising, and Canva “replace” designers.
None of those things happened.
The tools changed.
The value didn’t.
I’ve never been hired because I knew how to type.
I’ve been hired to solve problems.
To help organizations figure out why their message wasn’t connecting. To recognize patterns they couldn’t see. To ask questions they hadn’t considered.
The writing came after the thinking.
AI can absolutely help write an article.
It can’t replace experience.
It can’t replace judgment.
It can’t replace the conversation that uncovers the real problem before anyone starts talking about solutions.
That’s still the hard part.
So maybe the real question isn’t…
“Was this written with AI?”
Maybe it’s…
“Did I learn something from it?”
“Did it make me think?”
“Did the person behind it have experience worth sharing?”
If the answer is yes, I honestly don’t care what tools they used.
Because tools have never been the point.
Ideas are.