I’ve been thinking about AI-generated writing and how it’s changing things. One thing that swims in my head: How do you define yourself in an age of AI-generated material?

Let’s do a thought experiment involving doctors on LinkedIn. Consider a scenario where each one of the tens of thousands of doctors here begin creating posts twice a day — 750 word creations that analyze or break down a timely event or research article. We’ll assume that they individually conceive and outline these posts, but that they’re heavily augmented by ChatGPT or Claude. And let’s go ahead and push this beyond doctors and on to nurses, health care leaders, and patients. Actually, how about everyone.

What happens then? We’ll have tens of thousands of ChatGPT generated, long-form summaries floating across our feeds — All somehow similar. All with clever summary points. Because when everyone uses the same tool, everything starts to sound alike. And when everyone is suddenly creative, the stuff we create is dimished in value. The thoughtful analysis that once marked the insightful thinker becomes a commodity.

So how do you define yourself as someone who makes things? The quick solution is to use the tool differently, or use a different tool. But that’s short-lived.

The real answer is to make the thing that’s scarce. Time will tell what that is or what it looks like. I suspect it will be found in some form of unique human connection or experience between a creator and their audience, or followers.