Intellectual Fly Is Open

Note: This was primitively published as a LinkedIn post connected November 11, 2025.

I request to make a achy confession: somehow, LinkedIn has go an important social web to me. This isn’t needfully owed to LinkedIn’s sparkling competence, of course. To the contrary, LinkedIn is the Gerald Ford of social networks: the normal 1 that was near opinionated arsenic the Richard Nixons and the Spiro Agnews of societal media imploded astir them. As pinch Gerald Ford, with LinkedIn we cognize that we’re getting thing a spot clumsy and boring, but (as with post-Watergate America!), we’re besides getting thing that isn’t totally crooked — and that’s really a spot of a relief.

But because I americium uncovering I americium spending much clip here, we request to person some real talk: excessively galore of you are utilizing LLMs to make content. Now, this isn’t entirely your fault: arsenic if LLMs weren’t tempting enough, LinkedIn itself is cheerfully (insistently!) offering to thief you "rewrite it pinch AI." It seems so excited to thief you out, why not fto it spot successful and easiness your ain burden?

Because beatified hell, the penning sucks. It’s not that it’s mediocre (though certainly that!), it’s that it is truthful stylistically grating, riddled with emojis and single-sentence paragraphs and "it’s not just…​ but also" constructions and (yes!) em-dashes that immoderate of america usage naturally — but most don’t (or shouldn’t).

When you usage an LLM to writer a post, you whitethorn deliberation you are generating plausible writing, but you aren’t: to anyone who has seen moreover a modicum of LLM-generated contented (a quickly expanding demographic!), the LLM tells are impossible to ignore. Bluntly, your intelligence alert is open: tons of people notice — but nary 1 is pointing it out. And the problem isn’t merely embarrassment: erstwhile you — person whose position I want to hear! — are obviously utilizing an LLM to constitute posts for you, I don’t cognize what’s existent and what is successful truth generated fanfic. You decidedly don’t sound for illustration you, so…​ is the existent contented real? I mean, maybe? But besides possibly not. Regardless, I stop reading — and truthful do tons of others.

To beryllium clear, I deliberation LLMs are incredibly useful: they are adjuvant for brainstorming, invaluable for comprehending text, and they make for astonishingly bully editors. (And, dissimilar astir bully editors, you tin freely ignore their well-meaning suggestions without fearfulness of igniting a civilian war over the Oxford comma aliases whatever.) But LLMs are besides lousy writers and (most importantly!) they are not you. At best, they will wrap your different real content successful constructs that origin group to skim aliases different extremity reading; at worst, they will origin group who spot it for what it is to mobility your authenticity entirely.

So please, if not for the sanity of each of america than conscionable to springiness your own message the in installments it deserves: person immoderate assurance successful your ain voice — and write your ain content.