Lately, whenever we open Instagram, we get a strange feeling. We recognise accounts by their logo, but we no longer know who is writing what. The tone is the same. The words are the same. The structure is the same. A post about a restaurant sounds just like one about a bicycle giveaway, and almost the same as some institutional posts that, in theory, should sound at least slightly different.
AI has democratised content production. Or so they say.
Everyone has the right to reach more people, even with limited resources. But this also comes with a side effect we are taking too long to name: when everyone uses the same tool with the same prompts, the result is a massive homogenisation of discourse. And the most curious, and worrying, part is that it is not only affecting our texts. It is affecting how we think and speak.
It happens to us, too. No one is immune. We sit down to write something and suddenly realise that the words coming out of us sound like something generated by AI. We are contaminated. And that has real consequences for any person, organisation or company trying to communicate something.
Having your own voice is not an aesthetic whim. It is a strategy.
In a context where everything sounds the same, sounding different becomes a competitive advantage. Not because different is better per se, but because different is remembered. And what is remembered builds trust. And trust is what turns someone who reads you into someone who hires you, recommends you or follows you for years.
A brand’s voice is not its logo or its colour palette. It is the way that the brand thinks: its contradictions, its obsessions, its references, its sense of humour, the things that make it angry. That cannot be fully delegated, because that is precisely what makes you recognisable.
When we delegate our voice to a tool that optimises for the average, we give up the one thing that makes us different: our personality and our point of view.
That is why using AI to communicate is, almost always, counterproductive.
Texts generated entirely by ChatGPT are boring. They are long. They lose the reader’s attention by the second paragraph. And this does not happen because the technology is bad, but because AI writes without experience. It has not lived anything, failed at anything or cared about anything it says. The text may be correct, but it lacks soul.
For example, let’s look at a couple of posts written by ChatGPT for the occasion. We will give you an award if you manage to read both until the end without getting distracted.
📌 Law firm
In an increasingly complex and constantly evolving world, having the right legal support is not a luxury: it is a vital necessity. 💼✨
At [Firm Name], our team of highly qualified professionals works proactively, innovatively and with commitment to provide comprehensive legal solutions, maximising the protection of your interests and aligning every strategy with your specific needs.
Without a doubt, robust and efficient legal advice is the foundation of any sound business or personal decision. It is important to bear in mind that every case is unique, which is why we implement a synergistic and dynamic approach that guarantees optimal results.
As a result, our mission is to transform legal complexity into peace of mind for you. 🤝
Do you have a legal question? Get in touch with no obligation. 👇 #lawyers #legaladvice #trust #professionals #law #innovation #transformation
📌 Hair salon
Did you know that your hair is your calling card to the world? 💇♀️✨
At [Salon Name], we are passionate about transforming not only your image, but also your confidence and overall well-being. Our team of highly specialised stylists uses premium products and innovative techniques to provide a unique, personalised and truly transformative experience.
Without a doubt, taking care of your hair is an invaluable investment in yourself. It is worth noting that, beyond aesthetics, at our salon we maximise your time and highlight the importance of self-care as a pillar of your wellbeing. That is why every visit is a vibrant and uplifting experience. 🌟
Book your appointment now and take the first step towards the best version of yourself. 👇 #hairsalon #beauty #hair #transformation #wellbeing #optimisation #selfcare
Do you recognise them?
Probably. Because you have seen them a thousand times, just with different logos. And that is exactly the problem: the content could belong to anyone. The hair salon sounds like the law firm. The law firm sounds like the hair salon. And both sound like a corporate PowerPoint presentation from 2016.
AI can be useful for structuring ideas, editing, or getting through a creative block. But if you let it write on its own, what you get is a text that could belong to anyone. And in communication, belonging to anyone is exactly the same as belonging to no one.
We could call this phenomenon “the algorithm of one-size-fits-all thinking”. There is now a set of adjectives that has become the involuntary signature of AI-generated texts. “Innovative”. “Transformative”. “Holistic”. “Disruptive”. “Exciting”. Words that, very often, say nothing concrete at all.
AI does not have opinions. It has patterns. And when you ask it to write something, it looks for the most probable pattern for that type of text: the most common, the most applauded, the safest. That is why every Instagram caption seems to follow the same three-act structure. That is why every corporate text sounds as if it were written by the same invisible intern who has never set foot inside the company.
Speed accelerates everything. Before, writing a post required time, intention and judgement. Now, anyone can generate twenty texts in ten minutes. And the problem is not quantity. The problem is that quantity has pushed reflection out of the room. And without reflection, all that remains is a lot of noise with a very polished vocabulary. Or, as we say in Spanish, mucho ruido y pocas nueces: a lot of noise, very little substance. That kind of saying, by the way, is exactly what AI rarely knows how to use properly.
And AI also leaves a footprint.
While we talk about what AI is doing to our language, it is worth remembering what it is doing to the planet. Training a large-scale language model can consume as much water as it takes to manufacture several cars. Every query, every generated text, every image created has a real energy and water cost. The data centres that power these tools are major consumers of water for cooling, at a time when water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource.
We do not say this to create guilt. We say it because we believe that using tools consciously starts with understanding what they cost. Using AI where it truly adds value, and preserving human writing for what only humans can do, is not only a communication decision. It is also a responsible one.
How to find, or recover, your own voice
- Read what you write out loud. If it sounds like a teleshopping pitch, start again. Your written voice should resemble the way you speak when you are explaining something you actually care about.
- Be specific. “We work with medium-sized companies in the industrial sector,” says much more than “we support organisations in their transformation journey”. Specificity is the signature of someone who knows what they are talking about.
- Allow imperfections. A text with an odd phrase, unexpected humour or an uncomfortable opinion is more memorable than one that is perfectly polished and empty.
We have never produced so much content. And we have never communicated so little. That is the paradox: the tool that promised to make us more efficient communicators is turning us into echoes of a pattern no one remembers consciously choosing.
Real communication requires having something to say. And having something to say requires having thought, doubted and taken a position.
And that, for now, is still up to us.