It’s 9 AM. You crack your laptop open.
That cursor just blinks at you, mocking your lack of progress while you panic about three client deadlines.
You check LinkedIn instead. Big mistake.
There it is. The wall of text.
It looks polished, maybe too polished.
It sounds authoritative, but it feels completely dead. It’s like biting into a wax apple.
It looks real from ten feet away, but it has no taste (and definitely no nutrition).
This is the status quo for writers now. We’re wading neck-deep in what I call "The Slop."
We are swimming in a sea of average, generated, hallucinated content. And it is terrifying.
I talk to writers every day. I hear the same fear in their voices.
"Am I obsolete?"
"Why should a client pay me $100 an hour when they can get this for free?"
"How do I compete with a machine that never sleeps?"
I have an answer for you.
You don’t.
You don’t compete on volume. You don’t compete on speed. You don’t compete on generic polish.
You compete on truth.
In a world of infinite noise, the only scarcity is trust. And for professionals with a reputation to protect, "Verified" is the new "Viral."
Let’s break this down.
The Great Flattening
We need to be honest about what is happening.
The barrier to entry for creating "good enough" content has dropped to zero.
Anyone can type a prompt. Anyone can generate a 1,000-word article in seconds. Anyone can sound like an expert on quantum physics or B2B SaaS marketing without knowing a single thing about either.
This has created a crisis of volume.
Feeds are clogged. Inboxes are overflowing. The signal-to-noise ratio is in the toilet.
But here is the catch.
It all sounds the same.
AI models are trained on the average of the internet. They regress to the mean. They smooth out the edges. They remove the jagged parts of human thought that make writing interesting.
They give you the "Goldilocks" version of reality. Not too hot. Not too cold. Just bland.
And your audience knows it.
They might not be able to articulate why a post feels robotic. But they can feel it.1
They sense the lack of a soul. They sense the absence of a human behind the screen.
This is where the opportunity lies.
Because when everything is fake, reality becomes a premium product.
Think about it.
Why do you read the writers you love?
Is it because they have perfect grammar? Is it because they use the most sophisticated vocabulary?
No.
You read them because you trust them. You read them because you want to know what they think. Not what a statistical model predicts is the most likely next word in a sentence.
You want their scars. You want their bad takes. You want their specific, weird, messy perspective.
That is what I mean by "Verified."
I don’t mean a blue checkmark. I don’t mean a government ID.
I mean the psychological verification that comes from knowing a human being wrote this. A human being who has skin in the game. A human being who could be wrong.
That risk is what makes it valuable.
AI cannot take risks. It can only predict patterns.
But you?
You can take a stand.
The Anxiety of the Feed
Let’s talk about the mental toll of this.
I know you feel it.
The pressure to post. The pressure to be visible. The pressure to feed the beast.
You see other copywriters churning out ten posts a day. You see them using tools to automate their entire existence.
And you panic.
You think, "I need to do that. I need to scale."
So you try it.
You sign up for the tools. You generate the captions. You schedule the tweets.
And then you wait.
And you feel... hollow.
You look at your metrics. Maybe they are up. Maybe you got some likes.
But did you get a client?
Did you get a reply from someone who actually wants to work with you?
Did you feel proud of what you put out into the world?
Probably not.
Because deep down, you know it wasn’t you. You know you are contributing to the noise. You are adding to the Slop.
This is the trap of "Viral."
Viral is a vanity metric. It feeds the ego. It starves the bank account.
Viral is about reach. Verified is about resonance.
Viral is about getting a million people to look at you for one second. Verified is about getting ten people to trust you for a lifetime.
For a Creative Wordsmith, trust is the only currency that matters.
You are not selling words. You are selling confidence.
You are selling the assurance that you understand the client’s problem. That you can fix it. That you are not going to embarrass them.
Can an AI do that?
Can an AI look a client in the eye (over Zoom) and say, "I know this campaign feels risky, but here is why it will work"?
No.
It can’t.5
It can’t replicate human emotion. It can’t replicate the gut feeling of a creative decision.
And that is why you are still here.
That is why you are still valuable.
But only if you lean into it.
Only if you stop trying to be a robot and start being a human.
The Protocol for Verification
So how do we do this?
How do we shift from chasing views to building trust?
How do we prove we are real in a digital world that is increasingly fake?
I have a system for this.
It’s not complicated. But it is hard.
It requires courage. It requires vulnerability. It requires you to do the one thing AI cannot do.
Tell the truth.
1. The "I Was There" Rule
This is the easiest way to beat the bot.
AI has never been anywhere. It has never done anything. It has no physical body. It has no memories.
So use yours.
Every piece of content you write should have a fingerprint. A specific detail that proves you were there.
Don’t write: "Networking is important for career growth."
That is Slop. That is generic. That is boring.
Write this instead:
"I walked into the conference room in Austin. My palms were sweating. I had spilled coffee on my shirt five minutes earlier. I shook hands with the CEO, hoping he wouldn’t notice the stain."
See the difference?
The first sentence could have been written by anyone. Or anything.
The second sentence could only have been written by you.
It anchors the reader in a specific reality. It creates a movie in their mind. It builds immediate trust because it admits imperfection.
AI hates imperfection. It tries to fix it.
You need to flaunt it.
Your messy, chaotic, human life is your greatest asset. Use it.
2. The Opinion Tax
Here is another thing AI is bad at.
Having an opinion.
If you ask ChatGPT, "Is long-form copy dead?" it will give you a balanced answer. It will say, "On one hand, attention spans are short. On the other hand, SEO values depth."
Boring.
Cowardly.
Useless.
Your clients don’t pay you for balance. They pay you for a viewpoint.
They pay you to tell them what to do.
So tell them.
Write: "Long-form copy isn’t dead. Boring copy is dead. If you can’t hold someone’s attention for 2,000 words, it’s not because the format is wrong. It’s because you are boring."
Now we are talking.
Now you have a stance. Now you have a voice.
Some people will disagree with you. Good.
Let them.
You don’t need everyone to like you. You need the right people to love you.
Polarization is proof of life.
If you aren’t making anyone mad, you probably aren’t saying anything true.
3. Show Your Work
We used to hide the process. We wanted the client to think it was magic.
We wanted them to think we just sat down, drank some whiskey, and the headline appeared in a puff of smoke.
Not anymore.
Now, the process is the proof.
Show your drafts. Show your messy notebooks. Show the headline that didn’t work.
Show the struggle.
When you share the behind-the-scenes reality of your work, you are verifying your expertise.3
You are showing that this didn’t come from a prompt. It came from a brain. It came from effort.
People respect effort.
They respect craftsmanship.
In an age of instant generation, the act of labor becomes a status symbol.
"I spent three days on this paragraph."
That is a flex.
That says, "I care about this more than a machine ever could."
The Peace of Mind
This is the part that matters most.
This is about your mental health.
When you stop chasing Viral and start chasing Verified, something shifts inside you.
The anxiety drops.
You stop worrying about the algorithm. You stop worrying about the best time to post. You stop worrying about hashtags.
Because you aren’t playing that game anymore.
You are playing a different game. A better game.
You are playing the game of Reputation.
And Reputation is durable.
Algorithms change. Platforms die. Trends fade.
But Reputation lasts.
If you build a reputation as someone who tells the truth, who writes with soul, who delivers actual insight... you will never be out of work.
You will never be replaced.
Because that is the one thing the machine cannot generate.
It can generate text. It can generate images. It can generate code.
But it cannot generate trust.
Only you can do that.
The New Metric
So here is my challenge to you.
Stop looking at your view count.
Start looking at your "Real" count.
How many real conversations did you have this week?
How many times did someone reply to your email and say, "I needed to hear this"?
How many times did a client thank you for pushing back on a bad idea?
These are the metrics of the Verified professional.
They are harder to track. They don’t give you a dopamine hit every five seconds.
But they build a career.
They build a life.
And they give you the peace of mind to close your laptop at 5:00 PM, knowing that you did something real.
The Tools Are Not the Enemy
I want to be clear.
I am not saying you should smash your computer and write with a quill pen.
I am not a Luddite.
I use AI. You should use AI.
But you must use it correctly.4
You use it as a tool. Not a crutch.
You use it to brainstorm. You use it to organize your messy thoughts. You use it to check your blind spots.
But you never, ever let it drive.
You are the pilot. It is the GPS.
The GPS can tell you where the traffic is. It can suggest a route. But it doesn’t know why you are going there.
It doesn’t know that you are driving to the hospital to see a sick friend. It doesn’t know that you are driving to the beach to clear your head.
It just knows the road.
You bring the purpose. You bring the intent.
And you bring the final polish.
Never copy and paste. Never.
That is the cardinal sin.
That is how you lose your voice. That is how you become part of the Slop.
Read everything aloud. If it sounds like a robot, kill it.
If it sounds like a press release, burn it.
If it doesn’t sound like you—the specific, weird, wonderful you—then it isn’t finished.
The Creative Wordsmith’s Advantage
You have an advantage right now.
Yes, you.
The copywriter. The storyteller. The creative.
You have the advantage because you understand human nature.
You understand fear. You understand desire. You understand the weird, irrational reasons why people buy things.
AI doesn’t understand any of that.
It just understands data.
It knows that "buy now" is a common phrase. It doesn’t know why someone buys.
It doesn’t know the feeling of insecurity that makes someone buy a luxury watch. It doesn’t know the feeling of hope that makes someone buy a diet book.
But you do.
Because you are human.
You have felt those things.
So write from that place.
Write from the gut. Write from the heart. Write from the places that scare you.
That is where the gold is.
That is where the verification happens.
When you expose your own humanity, you invite the reader to do the same.
You create a connection that no algorithm can break.
And that is worth more than a million views.
The Final Test
Before you hit publish on your next post, I want you to do a test.
I call it the "So What?" test.
Read your post. And then ask yourself: "So what?"
Does it matter? Does it help? Does it make someone feel less alone?
If the answer is no, delete it.
If the answer is "it will get likes," delete it.
If the answer is "it fills a slot on the content calendar," delete it.
Only publish the things that pass the test.
Only publish the things that are true.
It might mean you post less. It might mean you disappear for a few days.
That’s okay.
Silence is better than Slop.
When you do come back, when you do speak, people will listen.
Because they know you aren’t just making noise.
They know you are Verified.
And in a world of fakes, that makes you dangerous.
It makes you powerful.
It makes you real.
And that is enough.
It has to be.
References
Pereira M. Why Genuine Voices and Stories Matter in the Age of AI and Algorithmic Feeds. TEAM LEWIS. 2025. Available from: https://www.teamlewis.com/magazine/authenticity-in-content/
StoryChief. Crafting Compelling Social Media Content and Campaigns with AI. StoryChief. 2026. Available from: https://storychief.io/blog/ai-for-social-media-content
Medina L. Authenticity as the Key to Success in Digital Communication and Marketing. Macaws Blog. 2024. Available from: https://www.maufl.edu/en/news-and-events/macaws-blog/authenticity-as-the-key-to-success-in-digital-communication-and-marketing
Aprimo. Use Generative AI for Content Creation Without Losing Brand Authenticity. Aprimo. 2025. Available from: https://www.aprimo.com/blog/use-generative-ai-for-content-creation-without-losing-brand-authenticity
Woods K. The Truth About AI Copywriting: Enhancing Efficiency Or Replacing Human Writers? Content By Kelsey. 2023. Available from: https://www.contentbykelsey.com/blog/the-truth-about-ai-copywriting-enhancing-efficiency-or-replacing-human-writers
Simmonds R. Use AI to win at social media marketing in 2025. Wix.com. 2025. Available from: https://www.wix.com/seo/learn/resource/ai-for-social-media-marketing