Is it Still Worth Publishing Online in the Age of AI?

It started in 2022 with a text from Kevin, a software engineer I hadn’t spoken to in five years. “Have you heard about LLMs?”

Kevin didn’t hedge his concern. His message was a long, stark warning that AI was about to rush in and ruin my writing business. He didn’t want me to be caught off guard.

Sure enough, within a few months of Kevin’s text, AI went mainstream. My business continued as usual. But personally, I fell into a dark place. I feared for my vocation. I felt angry and lost.

It was months before I admitted why I felt so strongly about AI. It hadn’t made a direct impact like Kevin warned. Demand was still strong. New leads still booked my services. Existing clients continued their retainers. 

So, what was the big deal? If my clients continued to work with me, why should I care that AI exists? 

The air had changed. When people asked about my business, they asked about AI. I felt everything I wrote was being compared against AI outputs. My craft could no longer stand on its own. It would forever be weighed against automation.

The pain was a pain of ego.

Since childhood, friends and family have boasted about my writing. Teachers took me aside to tell me I had a gift. I took their praise to heart and put thousands of hours into mastering my craft. Hitting outcomes for my ghostwriting and copywriting clients further increased my confidence. I carried a deep sense of personal pride knowing others believed I was good at this rare and valuable skill.

When AI had its viral emergence a few years ago, the floor for good writing was raised. Overnight, anyone, even atrocious writers and communicators, could write clearly without practice. Just feed ChatGPT the right prompts. 

Just kick me in the balls.

I still hold a grudge. But at least now I know it’s just my ego talking. If I love writing, then I have the capacity to let my passion exist on its own, irrespective of the existence of AI.

But I wondered for a while if writing as a discipline was still worth honing. It’s one thing to love writing. It’s another to put in the effort to publish, build a readership, and show up online when you’re competing for attention against AI-generated essays and social posts. 

People continue to ask me: Is it still worth publishing online in the age of AI?

Why I publish more than ever in the age of AI

The saddest part about AI’s emergence in my own life was that I struggled to write for myself for a long time afterwards. I continued to deliver work to clients, but I effectively stopped pitching guest posts or publishing blogs here on my website. 

I never made a deliberate decision to stop writing. If I let myself get philosophical about it, I think I stopped writing because writing is an extension of my thinking. And I felt lost. 

I didn’t know what to think. So I didn’t know what to write.

Eventually, I made up my mind. I decided that the craft of writing was more important to me than the confusion, ego hit, or fears I had about AI.

Then, my writing took on a new life. AI forced me to up my game. I saw it as a challenge. If I wanted to be a writer in the age of AI, then I’d better be a damned good one.

I flipped the story I told myself about what AI meant for my craft and career. I didn’t just return to my old writing standards. I raised them. I tightened my previous haphazard writing schedule. I got serious. 

In the past several months, I’ve published more than ever. I’m proud of the work I’m producing. And it’s working.

Some of the strongest responses I’ve ever received to my writing I received in the past few months. 

The foundations of good writing remain rare, even in a world of AI

AI is a peculiar technology because it’s undeniably a good writer in one sense. It’s also an abysmal one in another.

AI writes well insofar as it uses perfect grammatical English and writes at a relatively simple reading level. This puts AI way ahead of the writing abilities of most people. Writing with simple, error-free clarity is uncommon. AI is making it more common.

But that’s where AI’s good writing tops out.

No one follows a newsletter because the content is error-free. We follow great authors and bloggers because we resonate with their thinking, see their personality on the page, and see ourselves in their stories. 

People want to be entertained. They want to read stories that make them think. The more social media and blogs are flooded with AI slop, the more hungry people are for rich ideas and good storytelling. 

AI turned up the dial on mediocre writing. It made communication easier. But it also did something else. By mere volume, AI made truly good writing exceptionally rare.

Of course, AI can be very entertaining. For all my early grudges, I still use AI every day. It’s funny. It’s useful for many tasks. But if you want to write something in your voice, complete with all your personal weirdness and quirks, then you’d better do it yourself. AI won’t be much help unless you want to sound like the average of everyone else.

There’s an argument to be made that good writing will never compete with AI because everyone has their own AI right next to them. Why should I read your AI outputs when I can just read my own AI outputs? 

We follow individuals who tell us stories and share ideas that take us somewhere AI tools can’t. 

There’s always been a hard competition for attention. Our favorite authors don’t merely draft listicles or spell basic adages. To write in cliche is bad writing. 

To me, that’s a higher aspiration than merely “creating content.” If you’re truly trying to find your voice, publish stories, and share wisdom, then no AI can ever compete with you. 

You have a monopoly on your personal experience.

Why I choose to click publish

For a few years, my old writing was still paying the bills. I’d done enough blogging and guest posting that I was able to coast on my previous writing. Then, a few months ago, my wife Sarabeth quit her job. I decided it was time to turn up the dial on my business again.

The way I dial up my business is by doing the same work I do for clients for myself. 

Ryan Holiday once said that the best way to market a book is to write another book. I believe this is true about all forms of writing. People follow people. They want to hear the real stories and ideas from their peers. I believe this wholeheartedly. 

I see it work in my own business. Lately, I’ve turned up the heat on publishing. Already, I’m seeing results. On Thursday, I got a new client in my inbox. Two hours later, a stranger invited me on their podcast. A former client emailed me about the next project. I’ve already gotten two new leads this week. Not to mention, friends bring up my articles in person. I hear from colleagues who tell me my ideas were brought up in company meetings. 

I also see it working for my clients. Recently, one of my ghostwriting clients had a post go viral. Sales calls flooded in, and they had to start turning leads away. I’ve seen it with CEOs hiring the exact talent they need through ghostwritten LinkedIn posts, and also founders connecting with their dream investors.

Putting your message out into the world still works.

People want to follow real people. That means if you continue to show up online, you can outcompete the AI. Why does it matter that some content is AI? If your content is better—more real, entertaining, and thought-provoking—then your content will win out. You’ll gain attention. 

The bet of a lifetime

Here’s what I believe: If you want outcomes, keep publishing.

That’s the essence of my argument here. The single greatest thing I’ve done for my career is regularly publishing online. Publishing has connected me to clients and friends, bought me a house and a BMW, earned me publicity in the print WSJ, Cal Newport’s blog, and many other guest posts, podcasts, radio shows, and more. 

The key to investing is to bet heavily when you have the advantage. In a world drowning in AI slop, people are still hungry for good stories and real ideas. When everyone thinks and writes the same, it’s never been an easier time to stand out as a thinker. 

Now is the chance to put your chips in the center of the table. All in. Show us what you got. I’m making the bet of a lifetime by publishing more today than I’ve published in my life. 

The payoff might be next week or next year. Maybe I won’t see the results of my work for a decade. But I believe in the power of clicking publish. AI hasn’t stolen that. It only removed other would-be publishers from the game.

More for me. More for you—if you’re willing.