Your ChatGPT is showing

Show of (virtual) hands, when you read someone’s LinkedIn (or other) post, can you immediately tell it was written by GPT (or something similar)? Yup, that’s what I thought.

Here are some of my favorite “tells”:

“And that’s when I realized”

“This became more than just X”

“That’s when it hit me”

“Here’s why it matters”

“It was never just X”

“Because somewhere along the way”

I could go on. And no one is innocent here. Do I use it? Yes (I mean, I am certainly NOT a trained graphic designer that can turn myself into a cartoon Ace Ventura for an article cover photo). Do you use it? Yes. But is it a bad thing? Well… yes and no.

On the positive side, ChatGPT has given a voice to people who were previously quiet. There are plenty of thought leaders who didn’t (or don’t) know how to write what they can easily say out loud. And I genuinely enjoy reading what people have to share… even if I know it wasn’t entirely written by them.

Another win? It’s become a built-in copy editor. Despite being a journalism major and growing up when spelling still mattered (Side note: my 10 year old has not had 1 spelling test, nor spelling class, WTF is up with that?!?), I am a terrible speller and my grammar skills are a solid B- at best. ChatGPT has been very helpful on that front. But when chat takes it upon itself to change my words without bring prompted… Not cool, ChatGPT. Not cool.

Another observation… There are posts where you can still hear the author’s voice and tone, but what you see is the work of chat. I know you’re in there… but the real you is hiding behind the automated edits. For fun, I asked chat to take a previous POV and shorten it for LinkedIn. It responded by asking if I wanted help “optimizing my message to reach the maximum amount of views and reach.” Sure… let’s try it.

And that’s when I realized (see what I did there, lol) where this can go sideways. Chat took my real words, my stories, my voice and turned me into a LinkedIn lemming. (Another show of hands… who remembers the computer game Lemmings?!?!)

But here’s where it actually scares me as a writer and reader. It’s the people who aren’t SMEs using prompts to give advice, lessons, and leadership without the background or experience to back it up. It might be a great post. It might sound smart. But if it didn’t come from a real place… I feel like I’m being fooled. But hey, if that’s the case own it, don’t deny it. Don’t trap me!

You know what else chat doesn’t have? Personal experience. Real moments. Real anecdotes. And genuine humor.

The “you can’t make this up” stories.

This week, I wrote something for a project I’m working on. I asked chat to correct spelling and grammar and help with formatting. The format was great but it completely stripped out my personality. My intentional words. My anecdotes.

Schatzy called me out on it. (And he was right to.) This led us down a path that inspired this week’s POV. Is chat going to completely rot the brain of not just kids and young adults, but also the brilliant, creative and unique minds of generations who grew up writing through research and lived experience?

My first job out of college, I had my first real review. While it was glowing (obviously), one piece of feedback stuck with me: I write like I speak.

(BTW… you know who else was told the same thing? My partner and leader of the Headline, Jimmy. And Jimmy, for the record, is a rare breed who I can confidently say does NOT use ChatGPT to write his articles.)

But back to me and my first performance review. At the time, I was told that while my voice worked for personal writing, I needed to learn how to write in a brand voice for business. Fair. Lesson learned.

But in my recent conversation with Schatzy, I found myself in the opposite situation. My voice had been overrun by chat.

And I was told to bring it back, bring back the Julie who writes like she speaks. And that’s when I realized (again… had to do it 😏)… Chat can have the reverse effect too?!?

Chat can take a good writer with a unique voice and turn them into just another voice in the crowd.

So for all the writers out there using chat, I’ll keep reading what you have to say…as long as I can still hear YOU in your words. And if chat helped you find your voice… amazing, keep it coming. But for those of us who write like we speak, don’t let that slip away.