Social media was already noisy — and then ChatGPT came along.
Now platforms like LinkedIn are full of AI-generated posts that all sound vaguely similar in tone and echo the same opinions — and entrepreneurs are among the biggest contributors to the noise.
It makes sense that founders have to churn out empty LinkedIn content multiple times a week to get noticed, as capturing the attention of the media is harder than ever. Traditional news outlets are downsizing and getting a journalist excited about your company is a hard-won task. These days, some founders choose to bypass legacy media to publish news on their own channels.
Entrepreneurs are under pressure to represent their companies online and become a brand themselves as a way to hire the best talent, draw in investors and fuel sales and growth. Some are more natural at it than others.
Lovable’s Anton Osika, who has over 100k followers, enjoys a kind of celebrity status on LinkedIn. Meanwhile, Helene Guillaume Pabis, founder of longevity platform for women Wild.AI, has grown her LinkedIn following to over 68k people speaking about leadership, entrepreneurship and womanhood. “My life mission: to think it’s great to be a woman,” reads her ‘About’ section.
Some founders employ human ghostwriters to create content for them — and pay a premium for it. Paypal is currently hiring for a “Head of CEO Content,” offering a salary of over $200k to build up Alex Chriss’s online presence.
Investors are also encouraging founders to be LinkedIn influencers to build credibility, and some founders don’t think it’s such a bad thing.
“From my personal experience, nobody wanted to talk to me before I had the reach that I’ve built. It just opens so many doors,” says Lilli Vogelsang, founder of social networking platform Sentou who has built up a following of over 200k people across TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.
But as many founders turn to ChatGPT to author their posts, authenticity on the platform is fading, and people are tired of seeing the same old AI-generated slop. Thomas Otter, general partner at Acadian Ventures, lamented on LinkedIn that few people write full sentences anymore, and posts on the platform read more like poems or books for early readers. “I never thought I would miss the long rambling sentences that lose track of what they were up to, but then recover, but I do.”
The problem with AI-written content is that it makes everything sound average. Sentences are structured in a formulaic, polished way with less of the messy humanness embedded in our expression. ChatGPT in particular leans heavily into cliché and makes everything sound like lines from a cheesy romcom or action movie. It also gets things wrong — though not every founder fact-checks before posting.
“The biggest risk of using AI to post average or mediocre content is that you will be ignored. People's brains switch off,” says Eleanor Warnock, an advisor to global VC Bek Ventures who has worked with early to late stage founders on marketing and communications. “The best writing and the best marketing come when you dare to stand out. That's even more true in a world overflowing with AI slop.”
Research shows that humans get less enjoyment out of stories they know are written by AI. A 2024 study by the University of Florida found that participants were unable to be “transported” by AI content in the same way one might be while reading a novel. Other studies show people perceive content to be less trustworthy when AI is involved in its creation. Not great if you’re a founder trying to build strong customer relationships.
Human: the premium experience
Some think the AI-generated content sweeping platforms will cause users to scream for more authentic, human-sounding content.
Vogelsang says we are all "intrinsically so curious about other humans” that we want to read juicy insights and thoughtful commentary that is shaped by our experience of living in the world. ChatGPT can’t replicate that.
“If I look at what went viral on Linkedin the past month, it was always super personal opinions, where people either supported them or felt enraged by them, but it was always about the core of human emotions,” she says. “I don’t think a ChatGPT-written post has ever gotten viral.”
The LinkedIn algorithm doesn’t just favour regular posting, it also values engagement — how many people interact with your posts by liking, commenting or resharing. Using AI to just-post-anything will not necessarily help you gain the attention of your network.
If your connections aren’t interacting with your content, their connections have no chance of seeing your content either, explains Jessica Guzik, a content strategist and writer who works with founders and senior tech leaders.
“What you need to do to stand out is be vulnerable and share your stories”, while injecting some of your own personality into your content, she says. “If you tend to text friends with a lot of emojis or all caps, start to introduce that in your posts.”
But if capturing attention on LinkedIn means having a “personality”, will founders have to be ever more bold and provocative in what they post to capture attention? Maybe. But as with all good writing, a great LinkedIn post can articulate something another person may struggle to express themselves: whether it’s about mental health, imposter syndrome or parenthood. While the platform has its share of slop, it also has moments of true connection and community.
Perhaps the “perfect antidote” to the ChatGPT-curated LinkedIn feed is to be as human as possible, says Vogelsang. “Even if it is a bit wacky, even if it’s a bit cringy. That’s what people actually crave, and what they will resonate with.”
And if you do use AI, use it thoughtfully — to enhance your voice, not displace it.
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