“The CEO Diaries” star Stephen Bartlett enthusiastically embraces AI, with one big exception.
His media company, FlightStory, stopped using AI for posts on LinkedIn after noticing a lot of AI “looseness” on the platform. His team thought that human writing would resonate more emotionally and cut through the noise.
Christiana Brenton, CRO and co-founder of FlightStory, told Business Insider in a recent interview: “What Stephen realized very early on, and has done for all of us as creators, is that opportunities arise when the world tilts to the left. What’s going to break through more than ever at LinkedIn right now? Actual human written words. So he now has individuals and teams writing all of the social copy and content that goes out into the world.”
Human-generated posts take longer to write, but perform better than AI-generated posts, Brenton said.
“If you follow Stephen, you’ll still notice that there are misspellings and mistakes that he doesn’t intentionally correct,” she said. “When we are flooded with AI content, we lose our humanity.”
LinkedIn said in a recent blog post that it has taken steps to protect the authenticity of users’ feeds and cracked down on artificially boosted posts and automated comments.
FlightStory’s large-scale AI push began last year when Bartlett challenged his staff to a two-month competition to use AI agents in their work. Since then, FlightStory, a division of his holding company Steven.com, has implemented AI across its operations, including an AI content initiative dubbed “Project Gutenberg,” in honor of the inventor of the printing press.
LinkedIn isn’t the only part of the company’s operations that still relies on humans. For example, staff will also perform the final editing stages of AI-produced content, such as the upcoming animated show “Steven’s World.”
“The flow, the dynamics, the pacing, the emotional elements that draw you in, what’s inside that stage can’t be replicated, especially right now,” said Isaac Martin, director of innovation at FlightStory.
FlightStory is also exploring other ways to leverage the value of human touch. The company is considering creating new content in the style of Bartlett’s “Behind The Diary” series. He walks the field in minimally produced videos, sharing business lessons and advice.
Brenton said he believes there is an opportunity for more “raw, human” content as AI continues to expand.
