Why Authentic Voice Is Becoming a Competitive Advantage

My favorite Dr. Seuss book as a kid was “The Sneetches.” In the story, the Plain-Belly Sneetches become jealous of the stars decorating the bellies of the Star-Belly Sneetches, so they pay three dollars to go through a bizarre Seuss-style machine that stamps stars onto their stomachs. But once everyone has stars, the Star-Belly Sneetches no longer feel special. 

What follows is a cycle of Sneetches repeatedly marching through the machine, changing themselves again and again to reflect whichever trait happens to be socially desirable at the moment. 

Same old polished stories

The story’s been on my mind lately because of the wave of sameness I’ve seen crash over corporate writing. LinkedIn, in particular, has become a sea of status updates so heavily polished and optimized by AI that they no longer sound like they were written by distinct people, but by one corporate persona represented by different profile pictures. 

Like the Sneetches putting themselves through a machine so that their aesthetics are more pleasing to others, we’re feeding our messaging into AI and what’s getting spit out is stripped of individuality and charm. 

What concerns me is when the telltale signs of AI copy replace a brand’s unique voice. As communications professionals, part of our job is learning how to write in a way that reflects our brand or company’s unique personality, tone and perspective. 

If we run content through AI until all the quirks and character are edited away, what’s really separating one brand from another?

When communication lacks personality, it also loses the clues that audiences use to decide whether to trust the source. Authentic voice signals that a real person or organization is behind the message, someone with actual opinions, history, and skin in the game. Generic copy, on the other hand, feels like it’s produced by no one in particular, for no one in particular. Audiences can sense this, even if they can’t always articulate it.

Journalists can sense this, too. Editors have told me that they can spot AI-assisted pitches almost immediately, and that changes how they evaluate the opportunity. 

There’s also the longer-term brand problem to consider. A consistent, recognizable voice is an asset built over time. Executives who communicate with personality become more quotable, are more influential, and are more trusted. Brands with a distinct tone stand out in crowded inboxes. When AI homogenizes brand identity, it erodes something that took years to build.

Ways to keep AI-aided prose in check

None of this is an argument against AI, but we have to use it more deliberately so as not to lose who we are. A few things I do to keep myself in check:

• Use AI for structure, not substance. Let AI help you organize your thinking, outline a draft, or brainstorm angles. But the opinions, examples and specific language that make something sound human should still come from you. 
• Edit aggressively and read it out loud. If you wouldn’t say it in a conversation, take it out. And if reading the draft feels unnatural, keep editing.
• Remove the filler phrases. Create a personal watch list of overused AI language patterns and do a pass specifically to eliminate them. 
• Train the tools on your own work. If you’re going to use AI regularly, take the time to feed it your best writing. The more context a tool has on how you actually communicate, the more useful it becomes as a collaborator rather than a replacement.
  

The Sneetches, eventually, figured it out. They realized that the scramble to match everyone else had cost them the very thing that made them distinct. The same lesson applies here. 

The strongest communicators are those whose writing is unmistakably their own, and in a world where AI can generate competent text for anyone, that kind of authentic voice becomes a real competitive advantage. 

In the wise words of Dr. Seuss, Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.