Why Are Blogs Left Entirely to AI So Boring?

Lately, I have been organizing blog posts that I wrote in the past.

I am rereading old articles and rewriting every poor one I find.

As I continued, however, I noticed a common pattern.

Without exception, the boring articles were the ones I had left almost entirely to AI.

They were articles I had mass-produced for business purposes at the time.

I would give AI a topic with little thought and say, “Write a blog post about this.” AI would then produce something that looked like a proper article.

The writing was polished. The logic made sense. There were almost no typos.

But it was not interesting.

It was astonishingly uninteresting.

When even the person who wrote an article does not want to finish reading it, that is quite an achievement.

The Same Thing Is Happening on YouTube

These days, I also encounter YouTube videos that appear to have been left entirely to AI.

I can tell within about ten seconds.

The structure is strangely polished. The AI narration has little emotional variation. The explanation sounds like something I have heard somewhere before.

Technically, both the visuals and the audio are well made.

But the video is boring.

Even after watching to the end, I cannot tell what the creator found interesting, what made them angry, or what they wanted to communicate.

Information simply arrives in sequence.

Of course, some people use AI to make excellent videos.

The difference is clear.

Interesting videos contain the creator’s own perspective.

AI is used as a tool to express that perspective.

Boring videos, by contrast, ask AI to invent the perspective itself.

If the creator has thought about nothing, the viewer is left with nothing to think about either.

This Is Not an Argument Against Using AI

I am not going to conclude that humans should return to writing everything themselves.

I make extensive use of AI when writing blog posts.

At this point, I have no desire to write without it.

But I have changed how I use it.

First, I decide what I want to write, what I find interesting, and what feels wrong or strange to me.

Then I ask AI to organize the writing.

I read the result and ask for a rewrite if the argument has become weaker.

If it contains unnecessary hedging, I remove it.

If I cannot think of a sharp piece of irony, I ask AI to generate several candidates.

In the end, I decide which one to use.

In other words, I let AI write the text, but I do not let it decide what I am going to say.

That difference is enormous.

AI Is an Excellent Subordinate, but It Should Not Be the Editor-in-Chief

When you think about it, this resembles work inside a company.

You tell a subordinate, “Come up with some interesting project and take care of it however you like.”

Then you complain that the result is boring.

At that point, it is difficult to tell who is at fault.

AI is the same.

If we provide only vague instructions, AI moves in the safest possible direction.

It has no basis for deciding what is interesting, what should be emphasized, or how far it is allowed to go.

When our own thinking is clear, however, AI becomes extremely reliable.

It can organize the writing, remove redundant sections, suggest alternative expressions, and identify gaps in the logic.

It will respond to revision requests that a human might resent, as many times as necessary.

It is an exceptionally capable subordinate.

Its one flaw is that it occasionally begins delivering moral lectures no one requested.

It does excellent work, but occasionally tries to instruct its boss on what to believe.

It can be a rather troublesome subordinate.

Good Writing and Interesting Writing Are Not the Same Thing

As AI improves, the value of producing polished prose by itself will probably decline.

We have entered an era in which anyone can create a respectable article in seconds.

But writing well and being interesting are not the same thing.

Two people can see the same news. One feels nothing, while the other gets caught on some peculiar detail and begins a conversation no one else would have imagined.

That sense of discomfort and idiosyncratic perspective is what gives content its individuality.

AI can help turn it into writing.

But if we outsource even that first sense of discomfort to AI, the result will be a generic piece of commentary.

I feel this more strongly than ever as I rewrite my old articles.

Leave everything to AI, and anyone can easily produce impressive writing.

And every day, impressive writing that no one wants to read is being mass-produced.