616 - Why I Believe CEOs Need a Real Voice in the Age of AI Content

Why I Believe CEOs Need a Real Voice in the Age of AI Content

In this episode of The Daily Hint with Jens Heitland, I talk about something I see more and more often. With AI, everyone can produce content. That is exactly what is happening right now. On platforms like LinkedIn, people everywhere are using ChatGPT and other tools to generate posts, articles, and ideas at speed.

On the surface, that looks like progress. Content is being published more often. Teams are moving faster. Leaders are more visible. But there is a problem inside that shift, and it is becoming harder to ignore.

A lot of this content sounds the same.

That is the tricky part. People are copy pasting, reworking the same formats, using the same prompts, and ending up with the same tone of voice. What should feel personal starts to feel generic. And when that happens, the person behind the content starts to disappear.

I see this especially with CEOs.

I want to be clear that I am not against AI. Quite the opposite. I think everyone should use AI to process data, organize thinking, and speed up parts of the workflow. Used well, it can be incredibly valuable. But I also believe there is a line that should not be crossed.

The origin of the content must stay with the person.

That is the part I care about most. A CEO cannot afford to lose their own way of thinking in the process of becoming more efficient. Their perspective, judgment, tone of voice, and way of seeing the world are not details to smooth over. That is the substance. That is what people respond to.

This is where many executive content strategies start to break down. The intention is usually good. The company wants the CEO to become more visible. The content team wants to scale production. The tools make that easier than ever before. But if the final output no longer sounds like the leader, visibility may increase while trust weakens.

That is not a good trade.

When someone reads a post from a CEO, they are not only looking for information. They are looking for signal. They want to understand how this person thinks, what they notice, what they believe, and how they communicate. That is what builds credibility over time. If AI is doing too much of the thinking, the signal gets diluted.

That is why I believe leaders need to be very cautious. AI can support the writing afterward, but the voice and the thinking need to come through clearly. The CEO has to remain visible inside the content. Otherwise, what gets published may be clean and consistent, but it will not be memorable.

At Heitland Media Group, this is exactly why we always look at video first.

I do that because video is still the most authentic version of a person, closest to real life. When someone speaks on camera, you capture more than words. You capture rhythm, conviction, emphasis, personality, and the small imperfections that make communication feel real. That gives you something far more valuable than a polished draft. It gives you the source.

From there, content can be shaped into many formats. AI can help with that process. But the important thing is that the raw input came from the person first. That is what keeps the content grounded in something real.

Because in a world where everyone can produce content, the leaders who stand out will not be the ones who publish the most. They will be the ones who still sound like themselves.

Highlights:
00:00 AI Content Everywhere
00:13 Copy Paste Problem
00:31 Keep Human Origin
00:35 CEO Voice Matters
00:47 Video First Authenticity
00:51 Closing Edge With Video

Links:

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