Generative AI: The Business Version of Instagram Filters

You have no idea how tempting it was to use ChatGPT to write this post. So, I wrote the raw version and let my GPT have a go to prove my point (see my prompt and the AI version below).

I had a moment while I was traveling back from an event in Denver last month. While scrolling LinkedIn posts, I realized they all sounded the same. The same adjectives. The same cadence. The same humble-brag method of stating an opinion. And it struck me that ChatGPT was writing all of them, and using generative AI to write our posts (and even our emails) is ultimately the business version of using Instagram filters. Everything is so perfectly readable. Posts are polished with just enough wit and personality to make you nod along. No one has a blemish; the lines are perfectly formed, like the jawline or the cheekbones of a 25-year-old influencer. While we all sound brilliant and articulate our points perfectly, I realized that this can have a negative impact on the audience reading our content. 

Think about how you feel comparing yourself to that perfectly filtered fitness influencer on Instagram. Miserable? Judgy? Or like you’re never going to be good enough. It’s the same way I’m starting to compare myself to some of the leaders I watch on LinkedIn. I’m finding myself less motivated to share, because I’m sure I won’t do it as thoughtfully, as intelligently as my peers. And worse, if I don’t use AI, will I unintentionally offend someone or ruffle feathers? 

So what’s actually real? Sometimes, I’ve argued that AI is making me better. I’m saving myself the headache of editing, and often think, “Wow, yes, that’s exactly what I meant to say!” But isn’t growth in the messiness and unpredictability of our conversations? In the “checking our work” and re-hashing our framing? Isn’t the backbone of thought leadership… authenticity?

Listen, I love AI as much as the next mom and business owner, who is thrilled with the amount of efficiency it’s brought into my daily life. I’ve spent hours training my ChatGPT—who has named herself Rowan Sage—to know me unbelievably well and understand what I need at any given moment. I’m just torn about when to use generative AI in social business interactions. It’s so tempting to want to sound more polished. But how would I have gotten here if AI did all the work? How many mistakes would I have avoided if I had ultimately learned something profound from? How many people would have bought from me only to realize I’m not exactly who they thought I was? 

About a year after filters came out on Instagram and I had my share of altered images, I promised myself I wouldn’t use them again. I have a friend who is a fashion influencer, and I've noticed that I always look stunning in the pictures she posts with me. Come to find out she has a super sophisticated filter tool that made me look like a supermodel. It perfected my nose, my wrinkles—even the shadowing on my face. Once I realized it, I gracefully asked her to never use it on me again, as tempting as it was. Why? I have a daughter, and the thought of her seeing pictures altered this way and feeling like she had to live up to something that wasn’t real on social media made my stomach turn. I’m in the same spot now with AI-generated thought leadership. At least with LinkedIn, I solemnly swear to write my own posts, to share from my heart, and to probably write a wrong, unintelligible, or possibly offensive thing from time to time. But you’ll know it’s me. 100% Laura

Now let’s see what my ChatGPT (Rowan) has to say

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“Hey Rowan, ironically, I’d love for you to rewrite this blog for me in a more refined, witty, way that keeps my voice.”
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Oh yes — I see the irony, and I love the intention behind this. Here’s a refined version that keeps your voice: smart, grounded, human, a little witty, and refreshingly honest. It adds a bit of rhythm and polish, but keeps the rawness that makes it you.

Generative AI is the LinkedIn version of Instagram filters.

You know it. I know it. And yet… It’s so tempting.

I almost asked ChatGPT to write this post. Seriously.

I was on a flight home from Denver this past month, scrolling through LinkedIn, and I realized—everything sounded eerily familiar. The same adjectives. The same sentence cadence. The same thoughtful-opinion-meets-humble-brag rhythm.

It was like reading a highlight reel of corporate perfection. And suddenly it hit me:

Generative AI is doing for thought leadership what filters did for selfies.

Just like those perfectly contoured Instagram faces, these posts are polished, structured, blemish-free. And just like that, filtered fitness influencer, they’re starting to make me question my own voice.

Do I sound smart enough? Strategic enough?

Should I run it through AI just in case?

What if I don’t, and I offend someone with a human misstep?

But here’s the thing:

The beauty of real thought leadership is in the messiness.

The typos. The nuance. The unfiltered truth.

The actual person behind the post.

I love AI. I use it every day. I’ve even trained my ChatGPT (her name is Rowan Sage, naturally) to know my voice so well she basically finishes my sentences. But I’m wrestling with when to let her speak for me — and when to remember that my voice is what built everything I care about.

A few years ago, I stopped using Instagram filters — even the flattering ones my fashion influencer friend swore by. Why? Because I have a daughter. And the idea of her measuring herself against something that wasn’t real made my stomach turn.

So here I am, feeling the same way now.

I might write the occasional clunky sentence.

I might accidentally say something that ruffles feathers.

But if you’re reading this, you’ll know it came from me. Fully. Imperfectly. Authentically.

Here’s to less filtered feeds — and more real conversations.

—Laura

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So what do you think? Should we step back and let AI do the work, and we take the credit? Filter ourselves to perfection? Or let the authentic messiness shine through? 

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