Storytellers wanted: Why brands are betting on humans again

Brands are hiring "storytellers," according to a WSJ story. And even OpenAI is looking for human writers to "roll up their sleeves to write, edit, and publish."

I've written daily on LinkedIn for almost 1,000 days now. This UnfilteredFriday, let's talk about why companies are on the prowl for human storytellers in the age of AI.

AI slop everywhere

Generative AI promises to produce quality written content at machine speed. Indeed, the evidence is aplenty that demand for writers has dipped precipitously in the last 18 months.

Certainly, AI-written content has exploded on LinkedIn. But is the quality really there? I was once berated by a marketing leader when I privately enquired about a copied post he rewrote with AI. He further modified it within the hour.

Interestingly, OpenAI doesn't write its blogs solely using AI, based on a dozen checks I ran with Pangram. Instead, it uses a mix of AI-written, AI-edited, and human-written content.

Human storytellers wanted

It turns out human storytellers are still very much in demand, according to the WSJ. In a recent report, it noted that LinkedIn job postings in the U.S. with the term "storyteller" have doubled over the last year.

But why?

AI slop has created distrust, and brands that are pulling ahead are those seen as being the most human, authentic, and relatable. The result is a renewed focus on storytelling.

Personally, I don't think AI is inherently undesirable. Rather, I believe it reflects the importance of having humans lead the storytelling, be it blogs, podcasts, or other types of branded content.

Interestingly, even OpenAI is ensuring that its content is not purely AI generated. In a report on The Free Press earlier this week, Elizabeth Wilner, who leads OpenAI's editorial team, said: "I can tell you that we won't be producing any content on our team that people are not involved in before it goes out the door." Why? Because using AI-generated content is "the fastest way to tell people that you don't respect their time."

What next?

As I've shared previously, I plan to keep telling stories about technology in the areas of AI, cybersecurity, cloud, data centres, sustainability, and gadgets.

While I do use AI as a tool, everything I write is typed out by hand. Because your time is important, and I believe it comes out better. Because writing is thinking.

Does it matter to you if a piece of content is fully human written, edited by AI, or completely generated using a prompt?