The Pros and Cons of Using AI to Build Your Personal Brand (Part Two)
Artificial Intelligence is coming at us so quickly and forcefully, pretty soon we won’t be able to remember a world in which we didn’t use it. It can analyze medical images for early detection of cancer. It’s revolutionizing transportation through self-driving cars, and it’s being used to personalize learning and improve educational outcomes for students.
And so, it’s not really a question of whether we should use AI, but how to use AI ethically and responsibly.
But if personal branding is all about showing up authentically online, does using AI to create and edit our content compromise this authenticity? Is it possible to use AI while preserving the unique style and personality of our brands?
These are the questions we'll tackle in today's issue, keep reading.
The first day I heard about Chat GPT, I didn’t think much of it. I just knew people seemed to be raving about it on TikTok. It wasn’t until Notion integrated AI into their platform that I saw, firsthand, the power of this new tool.
And, wow, did it change things for me.
I began using it to help me improve my writing, come up with subject lines, and simplify my marketing copy. (To be clear, I am not using it to write my book Lonely Girl. But for technical writing, email marketing, and other copy relating to my business). The bottom line is, I enjoy being able to make progress and check tasks off my list more quickly.
Benefits of Using AI in Personal Branding:
Makes it easier to start! This is the #1 pro I see. Suddenly, writing email sequences, blog posts, or website copy doesn't seem so overwhelming. AI can provide a template to work with, a good starting point for your content creation journey.
Reduces the need for an editor! I used to have many eyes on my work before I would publish anything. This would really slow the process down and make it harder to produce content more rapidly. Now, I still have an editor review my work, but I rely less on them, knowing that I can use AI to check for spelling errors, grammar issues, etc.
Saves loads of time! What used to take me weeks, now takes me hours. This frees me up to do the other things in my business that I love, like creating content, working 1:1 with my clients in person, and focusing on my creative writing for Substack.
Cons for using AI for personal branding:
While there are so many benefits to using AI to build your personal brand, there's another aspect to consider. Sometimes, AI can overly edit our work, causing it to lose personal inflection. Our writing may lose the quirks, mistakes, and run-on sentences that make our work uniquely ours and, sometimes, more endearing. If people yearn to see themselves in the bodies of work they consume, what happens when this becomes more and more impossible to find? Here are some of the potential downsides of using AI for personal branding:
There's a risk of losing your unique voice and style by relying too heavily on AI for editing, creating, and writing. (I’ve already begun to see this happen with my students. Sometimes, a client/student will send content to me, and I’m like, this isn’t you. This literally does not sound like you! I know what your voice sounds like, and this ain’t’ it 😆).
If you depend on AI to shape your thoughts, it may influence your opinions based on untrustworthy information or information that doesn’t align with your values. For those who have a strong core and sense of personal values, this will be less of a threat. But for those who look to outside sources to help them define who they are and what they believe in, I fear this will be damaging.
Another downside is our attempt to present these thoughts and ideas as our own, to project them outward with our name attached to them. It creates a false depiction of reality. If you share a blog post credited to you as the writer, but you didn't write that post, it undermines your integrity and the credibility of the article.
Personal Branding Tip
We all have different ways in which we see the world and our place in it. So, consider what feels right for you.
Here is my standard: I want to embrace AI. But I also want to be transparent about when I am using it. For instance, if AI writes a post for me, it's important that I disclose that to others, or else it wouldn't be authentic. I also note when I have created a post but have relied heavily on AI to edit that post. Doing these two things ensures that I can release content honestly and genuinely.
Personal Question
When it comes to using AI for personal branding, what feels right for you? To what extent do you believe using AI is ethical, and why?
