Automation Is the Fast Food of AI

AI automation is tempting. It’s fast, efficient, and gives you an immediate sense of accomplishment. But like fast food, it’s a cheap thrill — satisfying in the moment, but lacking in long-term substance. The initial excitement around automating everything from email copy to meeting attendance is quickly being replaced by a growing unease: Are we just producing more content, more noise, more output — without any deeper value?

We’re already seeing signs of backlash. Amazon and other publishing platforms are beginning to block AI-generated books due to a flood of low-quality submissions. Readers are overwhelmed. The volume of automated content is making it harder for truly thoughtful, meaningful work to stand out. Even AI-generated meeting summaries — created without a person ever attending — are starting to feel hollow. In automating presence, we risk automating away our perspective.

Automation promises scale, but it often comes at the expense of resonance. It removes friction, but it can also remove depth. And as the market becomes saturated with AI-generated everything, the novelty wears off. What once felt like a shortcut now feels like sameness.

So how do we get out of the automation trap?

1. Start with Purpose

Before automating anything, ask why it matters. Are you automating for convenience, or because it helps you deliver something of real value? Not everything that can be automated should be.

2. Use AI to Support, Not Replace, Human Insight

Let AI handle repetitive tasks, but don’t outsource thinking, reflection, or presence. If AI can generate your content without your perspective, it probably shouldn’t be published.

3. Prioritize Quality Over Speed

The goal isn’t to produce more. It’s to produce what matters. Use AI to deepen your thinking and sharpen your voice — not to dilute it.

4. Protect What Makes You Human

Attending meetings, writing, reflecting — these are opportunities for connection and insight. Automating them away might save time, but it often erodes trust, intuition, and real influence.

Automation has a role, but it isn’t the point. When used without intention, it becomes a form of creative and intellectual laziness. When used with care, it can be a powerful amplifier.

The challenge is discernment: choosing when automation adds value and when it strips it away.