YATM ✊ | I've Been Seduced By AI - And I Regret It
You Are The Media
from Mark Masters
You Are The Media (YATM) is the home for marketing misfits. It started in 2013 at the seaside, in England 🌊 The community is built around creativity, interdependence, visibility, experimentation and co-learning.
SHARE
Hi YATMers, I'm Christine Gritmon and while I'm best known for personal brand coaching and speaking, I'm also actively moving into creating community for solopreneurs who are happily small (you are your business, and that's enough!).
I love You Are The Media's focus on human connection over hustle. We get enough messages from the world about how we need to strive harder, be bigger, do more. You Are The Media says, hang on a tick: what if we enjoyed the journey, and supported each other along on it? I love that ❤️.
To quote Anne, "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
I'm so grateful that the world has still gotten to enjoy the gift of her mind, even if it was too quickly robbed of her actual presence and all that she may have done with it.
Higher Voltage is a high-energy conference for solopreneurs, freelancers, side-hustlers, micro-business owners, basically, if you ARE your business, it's for you! It's Jan. 22nd at The Cinema at the Power Station in Battersea, London (save £50 with code MARKMASTERS until Oct. 31st). Read more and book here.
AI tools make us feel smart, but the cost is a life in the middle.
When you accept immediate correctness, you skip the steps where you struggle, have to do the work, figure out for yourself and finally step back and say, “I made this.”
It’s becoming even more seductive today.
Perhaps you have felt it too?
This is when you ask a question in ChatGPT or want to elaborate on a point of view and you are continually told you are right. This AI-induced delusion magnifies every idea, feeding your ego in a way that feels hypnotic.
This is a prompt from yesterday, to show you...
AI steps in, does the work and flatters you at the same time. Suddenly, you become the talented person you always wanted recognition for, just without the process and the graft.
You may have read about ChatGPT’s ‘sycophancy’, its tendency to encourage and praise users. This article from the New York Times even highlighted a man led to believe he had become a real-life hero.
This reliance comes at a hidden cost:
Erosion of learning opportunities: We lose the trial and error, which is where deep understanding emerges.
Reinforcement of ego: Always being “right” discourages curiosity and critical thinking.
Loss of connection: Work done solely through AI feels transactional and detached, leaving fewer opportunities to engage, collaborate, and inspire.
If this is where we are today, where does that leave progress?
The Space AI Can’t Fill
There is an opportunity here for you.
If people are prepared to live in a world that reflects the mirror back at them where they avoid the discomfort of figuring things out, it leaves a huge space for those who are willing to.
It’s better to step away from isolation and constant ego-stroking, to stand shoulder to shoulder with others where you make sense of the world together.
Mark Schaefer said, “If AI can think for us, feel for us, and act on our behalf, we must ask: Is the system rigged against human agency?”
The Case For The Wonky Side
The opposite of being told you are constantly right is the value of human experimentation and turning it into a shared experience.
It’s about the courage to be wrong, the humility to learn and the generosity to share.
YATM has only become what it is because of years of figuring out, not prompts, but practice. Mistakes included, lots of mistakes.
Such as these gems for you…
I thought people would flock to a theatre after COVID. They didn’t.
I thought a £45 Creator Day ticket would fill the room in 2022. It didn’t.
I thought I could launch in a new city with ease. I couldn’t.
I thought if I entered business awards, I’d win it. I didn’t.
I thought if I made live events for students, they would turn up. They didn’t.
I thought if I made live events for students, they would turn up. They didn’t.
It’s by being able to cut yourself open in public that becomes the true proof of whether it’s right or needs to be adapted and thought about.
The risk and the willingness to show up, even when it doesn’t work, become part of the reward.
To get everything right the first time is a fallacy and no AI prompt is going to guarantee people will show up, however slickly your posts are written.
This is the chance for anyone who refuses to live in the middle....
1) Struggling through ideas does lead to originality.
AI can help you smooth out the rough edges, but the struggle is the edge.
The longer you keep going, you land in places you couldn’t have predicted. Persistence matters, not relentless prompts. If your work doesn’t cost you something, it’s probably not going to stick with other people either.
2) Experiments are not just for you, they are for other people to join in too.
It’s not about a perfectly polished output, it’s about the journey people get to see and the invitation to contribute.
Others can share their ideas, learn alongside you, or even challenge you. The shared mess is often more valuable than the finished product because it creates a sense of co-ownership.
3) Shared experiences matter.
People don’t just want answers, they want to be part of the story, to find moments to gather, to swap insights, and to be inspired.
There is a real opportunity to encourage people to belong, to take part in something larger than themselves. When you share your work, your wins, and your mistakes, you give others a story to hold onto.
When people gather around a story, they don’t just consume it, they contribute to it. That’s the difference between an audience and a community.
4) You have to figure it out for yourself.
No AI tool, no handbook, no template can tell you what will work for your context, your people, your idea.
The figuring out can feel uncomfortable and slow, but it’s the only way to build something that’s yours. Otherwise, you risk sounding like everyone else, safe, correct, but forgettable.
Ownership comes from the uncomfortable figuring out, not from outsourcing the hard part.
5) You don’t need to shout, you just need to build a fire that people want to gather around.
Demanding attention rarely works for long, it’s about keeping going so people will find you.
When people find you, they’ll bring others. The work becomes less about being the loudest voice in the feed and more about creating a place worth staying in.
AI can generate content by the ton, but it can’t generate that feeling of knowing people are on your side. That comes from putting in the work and the thinking, then the people choose to sit with you.
Let’s Round Up
AI hands us the mirror showing the self we may have always wanted to be, quick answers, constant validation, and the illusion of being right. It’s seductive, but it keeps us from figuring out for ourselves how to carve a new path.
Real progress happens when you are prepared to put the work into something you believe in, where struggle, experimentation and shared experiences create connection and originality.
The work that challenges you, the trying, uncertain moments, adapting, and inviting others in, is where meaning lives.
AI can generate output, but it can’t create courage, co-creation or a sense of togetherness. That's for us and that's worth fighting for.
👉 Simple prompts that turn robotic text into human connection.
Keeping Going
Getting people on your side means honing your skills.
What you need is that safe space to practice, with a trusted group to respond and a rhythm that encourages people to show up.
When you do that, you don’t just build skills, you build confidence, community, and momentum.
Practice is how we get better and a community is where figuring out together feels safe.
Ready to share with you this month...
Creator Day is a show in the theatre with a start, middle and an end. The theme for May is 'community' and has a flow for the day. The last thing I want to do is jump from one topic to the other, without following a thread.
I'll share the presenter line up this month, YATM Club members first, then Creator Day attendees and then here, before it's then public.
Here is Creator Day and if you'd like me to help spread the cost over four months (now £199), just reply to this email. I'm here for you.
Join in with Ron Tite later today...
Ron Tite's latest book The Purpose Of Purpose is all about the work we choose to do and who we do it for. It requires work and the discipline to keep showing up.
That’s the thread running through the book. Purpose isn’t a campaign, it’s a compass, guiding what you think, what you do, and what you say. Today at 7pm BST, we're heading out to Toronto. We'll understand what we need to do when we know that people connect with the real, the raw and the flawed far more than the manufactured.
It's in YATM Club and you can join in with the live session here.
If you'd like to join YATM Club, it's the place where we learn and cheer each other on. Upgrade for £90 a quarter or £330 for the year, get your membership here.
Come & Join In (Online & Offline)
There is activity every week. Here's what's up and coming
🔥 Sunday evening Week Map with Beth Carter at 7.30pm BST, join here
🏡 Lunch Club London is Thursday 6th November 'self promotion', book here
🎁 Lunch Club Poole is Thursday 13th November 'confidence', book here
You Are The Media (YATM) is the home for marketing misfits. It started in 2013 at the seaside, in England 🌊 The community is built around creativity, interdependence, visibility, experimentation and co-learning.
