Hello Reader,

Have you seen what's happening to Duolingo? 🫢

In late April, the press got their hands on an email sent by the language app's founder that said the company would be (slowly) replacing contractors with AI when possible. And he said the company is going to be "AI first."

Queue the backlash.

People are NOT happy, and the company that was once the most beloved brand on TikTok is now getting absolutely HOSED in their own comments.

And to be honest... I love to see it.

There's a lot of poetic justice in this story. A language app forgetting how to speak to humans... that's comedy, baby.

But there's a lot more to this story.

There's been so much shock and turmoil since AI came out. We all know AI is here to stay, that it's only going to become more powerful and ubiquitous.

It's easy to feel helpless. But actually, we aren't helpless. We can send a message to companies that proudly use AI to replace their workers, and simply not give them our dollars. It's as easy as uninstalling Duolingo and trying one of the alternatives.

This story is also an excellent example of a phenomenon I've seen over and over in my time as a freelancer. The marketing team is working hard, totally gets their audience, and absolutely crushes their strategy.

And then, like a troll that's just awoken from a drunken slumber, the CEO comes in and trashes everything. Up there on their mountain (or in their troll bed?) they become so out of touch with their own audience that they can quickly undo all the marketing team's hard work with a sling of their club (or the hit of a send button in this case).

But more than anything else, I like what this story tells us about how people feel regarding AI.

Despite what those lofty CEOs and tech bros might think, people don't want AI everywhere. And we definitely don't want AI to start taking jobs---especially jobs that are foundational for young folks just getting into this industry, and jobs for contractors (like me and all my pals in the Freelance Success community).

I get asked this question a lot these days:

How do you make your content stand out in the age of AI?

It's simple: Make it human.

Emotion. Vulnerability. Strong opinions. Personal experience. Creativity.

👆 If you truly want your content to stand out from all the AI stuff that's being generated, then you need to give it the traits that only a human can generate.

That is what people are craving, because if they want AI-generated content, they can quite literally go make it themselves. As someone astutely put it to Duolingo, "If you're AI first, why wouldn't I just ask ChatGPT to help me learn a language?"

People will use AI to get long-form answers to complex questions. It's disappointing, because that's where a lot of opportunity was for SEO and content marketing, and it's drying up pretty quick.

But there is still so much value in content if you can make something that actually stands out.

Yes, optimize your content for search, of course. (And learn from me if you don't know how). But more important, make something that actually speaks to your audience in a human way. Prove to them that you had a human write it, by putting some dang emotion and cleverness and creativity into it.

That's what pays off in a modern content strategy.

- Liam