Flawsome: How perfectly imperfect is your edge in an AI world
Vulnerable authenticity isn’t a liability, it’s your superpower. Here’s how being human wins in the age of machine-made everything.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room, shall we? Generative AI - whether your feelings about it are good, bad or indifferent - is here to stay. To say that it’s transforming the way we live, work and play, would be the understatement of the millennia. From research to copy writing, data analysis to complex problem solving, automations to artistic design, its impact is prolific and can be seen and felt everywhere. We’re in a time where “prompt engineers” are in high demand, and hiring managers are filtering for AI literacy in resumes. The question is no longer whether to use AI or not, because its pervasiveness makes that entirely a non-option.
Of the many questions being asked about AI, there’s one that I’d like to explore today that I think should be on the mind of every business owner, solopreneur, and even just people looking for work. The questions is: If everyone is using AI and everyone has the same access to speed, efficiency, productivity and creativity, what happens to competitive advantage?
Said differently, how do you stand out from the crowd? Let’s say we’re all applying for the same job, and we’ve all used AI to create and optimize our resumes … how does anyone get noticed? Or how about all those small business owners and solopreneurs out there, trying to build traction around their product or service? A quick look at Instagram these days will have you feeling like you’re drinking from a fire hose with the number of videos, offers, and messages. And if you’re feeling like everything is starting to look eerily similar, you’re right, they are.
The thing that many people don’t realize is that all the AI tools out there, (ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, etc.) base what they produce on information, images and data that already exists in the ether. The ideas already exist, they’re not new, and they’re not unique thinking. The power behind these AI tools lies in their ability and speed to synthesize vast amounts of information and produce a variation. Even generative AI is based on something that’s historical, meaning it’s already happened. Every idea, design, plan, etc. produced by AI is based on whatever it’s been fed – either publicly available online or directly user-inputted.
Now add the multitude of “digital twins”, or synthetic avatars, that are cropping up online, and the opportunity to pump out content at scale builds exponentially … but so does the noise. To be clear, a “digital twin” is an AI version of a human. Sometimes they’re a mash up of multiple people to create someone new, or they’re a synthetic, talking, walking avatar version of you that lives in the digital world. If you haven’t seen a digital twin yet, guaranteed you will. The convenience of digital agents is too great and the application for having a body double of yourself (who doesn’t need to eat or sleep and can work 24-7) is massive.
If you’re feeling uneasy, I get it. There are a whole host of ethical questions that synthetic twins raise, and they warrant a whole other exploration. For now, though, let’s focus on the tidal wave of content that’s coming at us.
Welcome to the sea of sameness.
Truly one of the most terrifying places anyone could find themselves. Whether you’ve been writing a book, providing a service, or applying for jobs, for the most part you hope that whatever you’re creating, producing or working on will in some way be different than what’s already out in the world. Otherwise, why do it if nobody cares to pay attention to it?
That’s one of the issues with the proliferation of AI generated outputs: everyone’s doing it. Ten years ago, movie trailers caught our attention because the story and the production value was so riveting. Today, anyone can create high production film trailers for their book club using a couple of AI tools. A few short years ago, only big companies ran ads that cost millions of dollars to create and distributed them in a few select media channels. Today, anyone can buy Facebook ads for a couple of dollars.
But what are we really seeing?
We see perfectly designed products, amidst a backdrop of perfectly orchestrated scenery, with perfectly maneuvered synthetic-twin versions of people speaking perfectly optimized messages, formatted perfectly for the specific communication platform.
Now I ask you, what does a world flooded with flawless messaging and shiny people optimized for engagement become?
It becomes perfectly average and painfully ignorable.
Image: science.anu.edu.au
So, what can you do? How do you avoid getting lost in the sea of sameness?
Do we stop using AI? No, not necessarily. But what you need to do is this: Stop thinking about AI as a replacement for you, because it can’t replace you.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make as you navigate using AI, is thinking and acting like AI is a replacement for you. Yes, AI can perform functional tasks and problem solve, but it can never be you. Even if you train your synthetic twin to talk and act like you, it will never be you. God created you uniquely: “For we are His workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10); we are God’s master work, His work of art. And like a work of art, each piece is individual, one of a kind. Think of AI as a really great copier, taking the original masterpiece (the idea, research, design, etc.), making variations and expanding it into hundreds and thousands of different formats in an instant. The key to keep mind is that duplicates of you are not you.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10
And therein lies the truth: In a world increasingly flooded with the synthetic, the real is what will stand out. And what makes something real? It’s flaws and imperfections.
I get it, it’s not easy. Writing from the heart about your failures is painful, but it’s what makes you human. The fact that AI can write a song about a breakup and then have your digital twin singing it on a beach in Belize sounding like Adele is incredible, but it’s 100% fake. AI has no ability to experience the pain of heartbreak or the feeling of the sand under its feet. AI can’t feel; it can only imitate something you feed it information about.
You showing up as you, with all your frailties and imperfections, sharing your human story, your journey, your ups and downs, your failures and victories - that’s what will break through and draw others to you.
The saddest thing is that while many people feverishly work to create the perfect AI version of themselves to share with the world, they’re losing the very thing that makes them stand out: their flaws, weirdness, quirks, and imperfections. Humans don’t connect with perfect messaging or flawless design, we connect with others we relate to, and that relating usually happens through our weaknesses, our struggles, and our imperfections.
So, here’s the deal: your biggest competitive advantage in an increasingly synthetic world is to be the real, original, handcrafted, one of a kind, authentic you that God created you to be on and off screen.
Real is relatable, and imperfection is magnetic.
The future will belong to those who dare to be their “real” human selves in an AI generated world. So go ahead, dare to be the real you, the you that God created … the one that’s flawsome!
#TGIM
