It's a choose-your-own-adventure kind of email today! :)

Hiya Reader.

Ever get that feeling like something just isn't quite right, but you can't put your finger on it exactly?

Like when something is just a little too perfect.

Maybe it's that lush lounge space that stuttered your scroll a moment ago. The one with just a few too many plants, impossibly high ceilings, or a bizarre fireplace placement...the longer you look, the more you can't look away, right?

(images: @lizgilbertdesign)

Or maybe it's happening in your inbox, too 😱

Dull and lifeless messages from lists you've been subscribed to for a while have lost their personality. Their voice. The tone is a bit too flat and formulaic.

It's an uncanny valley in my inbox some days, and I'm not sure I like it...even as a marketer that uses AI nearly EVERY. DAY. for both work and in my personal life—it's a time-saver and a first-step in any brainstorm—we even used it to plan a roadtrip through Italy last summer!

But there's still part of me that's stuck in the old school.

When I was planning this email, for example, I asked ChatGPT to help me refine the questions I hear most often in discovery calls with clients to create a quick quiz...was the logic sound? Did the questions flow from one to the next? Where could I edit and combine ideas to keep the quiz brief and interesting?

Then I used Lucidchart GPT to help me map it out in a diagram form....which I had fully planned to use, until, I stared just a little too long.

I realized that in its perfection—a flawless diagram with orthogonal shapes, evenly spaced clusters of information, and pleasing line hierarchy—it was simply boring.

It lacked the energy, the spontaneity, the personality that my hand-drawn sketch held. That somewhere in my hastily drawn lines, scribbled handwriting, and emojis there was a layer of story that AI couldn't yet replicate.

You tell me...

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Here are some additional resources on AI...

• ​Filterworld - this book is making the rounds, and makes for a V interesting conversation starter. Are algorithms flattening our culture and perspective on, well, everything? Let's discuss.
• Two great articles by Fred Nicolaus in Business of Home on AI here and here​
• I'm also excited to share that Jenna Gaidusek (AI for Interior Designers™) is one of our amazing Guest Instructors in the upcoming cohort of Marketing School for Creatives starting February 12...sign up for the waitlist here and get priority registration and a discount when we open early bird registration this Friday 💥

Are you using AI in your business? How has it helped your writing, visualizing, organizing?

Reply to this message and let me know what's working for you, I read every email.

Ericka

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PS. My friend and industry insider Molly Schoneveld with The Storied Group just launched a new PR membership called The Library Card which looks like a cool new way to connect with press for your business. Check it out!

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