Final Article - Less AI, More Human

Substack came out with a new feature this week. It lets users see how much of an article is AI-generated. There is even a publisher feature that lets authors describe HOW they make their articles - whether it’s all human, some AI, or both.

For this newsletter, I always tried to be very deliberate about what was AI-generated and what was not, even before this feature came out. I built a system that reads my favorite AI newsletters and communities every week and distills the most useful advice. Frankly, I thought many of the tips were quite good, and used some of them myself.

However, as useful as I think the information was, I grew less and less interested in producing content I was not a part of. I was contributing to the AI generation of content that even I rue. The irony lies in the fact that my own newsletter told me a few weeks ago that “AI writing without you turns to mush.”

So I’m changing how this newsletter is written.

1. I’m going to move it over to my blog at joemozden.com. I used substack because I didn’t really have my name attached to this. It was just one specific biweekly blog with a very specific output.

2. I’m going to keep my pipeline of information, but I’m going to just read it myself each week. Then, when I find information I like AND I can personally attest to, I will write about it. The point remains the same - AI tips you can use practically - but now with a bit more personal judgement.

3. It will be written when I feel like I have enough good content per issue. No more specific cadence.

I don’t think this model - AI-generated content that’s useful to people, and clear about what it is - is inherently bad. It just doesn’t work for me anymore. The shift has been interesting: a few months ago, I had no issue with posting AI-generated content that I thought was valuable. Now I want no part of it - at least for creative things like writing. I think there’s an AI pullback coming (maybe it’s already begun) and I’ll write more about that on my blog.

Substack’s new feature - which brings clarity to something I was already trying to be clear about - is evidence for my decision to stop. Not an alternative to it.

Thanks for reading and hopefully see you at joemozden.com.