A friend of mine @Tommy Gan recently raised some REALLY important questions about the use of AI. A recent Adobe Creators' Toolkit Survey showed that 86% of global content creators (16K sample size) are using some form of AI in their content creation workflows. It's my personal belief that those other 14% might not be telling the truth about using these tools, but that’s a topic for another conversation 😉 Here’s what he asked: "If I put things in to train the AI to be putting out content that isn't really me, will my audience think this is disingenuous? And if I disclose it, will it put them off?" He went further - he's started unfollowing creators he's followed for years (Anik Singal) because they're openly talking about AI clones. He notices himself skimming past posts that feel AI-written. YouTube shorts and reels that look or feel AI-generated get an instant scroll-past. And he asked the question that actually matters: "Is this really a viable path, and will there be longevity in it?" These are VERY serious questions for content creators because he's not wrong ... about most of it. ----------------------------------------------------- Most AI Content IS Garbage. Tommy's Right. 💯 The reason people scroll past AI content is because most of it deserves to be scrolled past. Same generic phrases. Same safe structures. Same "In today's fast-paced world..." energy. It's AI writing as AI. No wonder people tune out. I tune out too. 👉🙄👈 So when he says "putting out content that isn't really me" - I hear him, loud and clear. That IS what happens with most AI tools. You give GPT a topic, it writes something in GPT's voice, and you slap your name on it. Your audience can smell it. 👃 You can smell it. 😷 Everyone can smell it. 🫢 That's the problem I set out to solve with SelfScale ----------------------------------------------------- The Difference Between a Clone 🤖 and a Mirror🪞 Tommy mentioned unfollowing people who are openly talking about creating AI clones. I get it. A clone replaces the creator. It produces content the creator never actually thought, from perspectives they don't hold, using examples they don't have. That feels disingenuous because it IS disingenuous.

Here’s the raw truth: I got swept up in the promise of effortless 'scaling.' ⚖️ Feed AI my ideas, let it churn out posts - more content, less sweat, bigger audience, right? 🫂 It felt like freedom. But then I looked at the moments that actually mattered - the DMs that said, “This hit me exactly when I needed it,” the conversations that kept going for days, the quiet nods of “I feel seen.” None of them came from polished, optimized, AI-first content. ZERO. They came from all of those uncomfortable, unfiltered, messy places: - My failures ALWAYS land heavier than any of those polished wins. - The questions I'm still wrestling with always spark deeper replies than my tidy little responses. - The posts I almost deleted out of that hesitating fear are ALWAYS the ones that resonate most. The real temptation wasn’t gaining efficiency. It was outsourcing my own authenticity - handing over the messy, human core of my voice because I was scared the “real me” wasn’t enough on its own. That fear wears a clever disguise 🥸: productivity hacks, viral templates, endless automation, less work? But connection doesn’t scale through shortcuts ✂️ Connection scales through clarity - knowing exactly who you are, how you sound, how you think out loud, what only YOU can say 💪 AI isn’t here to replace your voice. But it can amplify it IF you use it correctly. A truly powerful shift happens when you flip the script: 1. Identify your voice first - Capture what makes you distinct: your cadence, your humor (or lack of it), your obsessions, the way you curse when you’re passionate, the stories only you carry. Write it raw. Speak it into memos. Let it be unmistakably yours. 2. Use AI to deepen and curate, not invent - Feed it your real thoughts, your drafts, your voice samples. Let it surface sharper hooks, tighter structures, proven patterns that make your ideas travel farther - but always in your tone, never in some generic ChatGPT bullshit polish. 3. Amplify to connect - Turn that lever to reach more people without diluting what’s true. Your perspective stays the irreplaceable core; AI becomes the megaphone that carries it to ears that need to hear it.