The "Beige" Problem: Why AI Content Sounds Like Nothing (And How to Fix It)
We’ve all read it.
You open a LinkedIn post or a blog article, and within three seconds, you know. You spot words like "delve," "landscape," "unleash," or "tapestry." The sentences are perfectly structured but completely empty. It feels… smooth. Too smooth.
It feels "Beige."
This is the biggest criticism of AI in business: "It sounds robotic."
But here is the uncomfortable truth: It usually sounds robotic because you didn't give it enough human material to work with.
The "Garbage In, Beige Out" Rule
In Part 2 of this series, we talked about talking to AI like a person. Today, we’re going to talk about feeding it.
The reason AI defaults to generic, corporate-speak is that it is a prediction engine. If you ask it to "Write an email apologizing to a client," it predicts the most average apology email based on the millions it has read. The result? A perfectly polite, perfectly boring email that sounds like a template.
But what if you gave it details?
"Write an email apologizing to a client. Tell them I am so sorry I missed the Zoom call because my dog actually ate my internet cable (true story). Tell them I’ve already overnighted the samples to make up for it. Make the tone mortified but lighthearted."
Suddenly, the AI isn't guessing. It’s working with your reality. The output won't be beige; it will be specific.
The Secret Weapon: The "Messy Brain Dump"
This brings us to the golden rule of high-quality AI content: The more information you give, the better the result.
You cannot overshare with an AI (within privacy limits, of course). It doesn't get bored. It doesn't get overwhelmed.
My favorite way to generate authentic content is the Voice Memo Workflow:
1. I open the voice dictation on my phone.
2. I ramble for 3 minutes about a topic. I stutter. I go on tangents. I tell a specific story about a client interaction. I mention a specific stat I read.
3. I take that messy, chaotic transcript and paste it into the AI with the instruction: "Turn this messy brain dump into a structured blog post. Keep my specific stories. Keep the tone conversational."
Because I gave the AI the details (the stories, the opinions, the weird analogies), it doesn't have to invent generic ones. It just acts as the editor, polishing my real thoughts into a readable format.
The "Human Edit" (The Final Polish)
Even with all the details in the world, the AI will still slip up. It loves to use passive voice. It loves to over-summarize.
This is where you, the Creative Director, step in.
• Cut the Fluff: If a sentence doesn't add value, delete it.
• Kill the Adverbs: AI loves words like "undoubtedly" and "seamlessly." diverse them.
• Check the Facts: AI can hallucinate. Never post a stat you haven't verified.
The Bottom Line
If your AI content sounds boring, it’s likely because you’re asking it to write from scratch instead of writing from your notes.
Don't starve the robot. Feed it your messy, complicated, detailed thoughts. The more you give it, the less robotic it becomes.