Original video in Chinese.
Key Takeaway
- Avoid mass AI content: using AI workflows to generate secondhand, stitched-together content is a fool’s errand and a dead end; it lacks real human trust and cannot convert. It was an early shortcut, but now it’s flooded and ineffective.
- Ecosystem restructuring: after AI content floods the market, signal value gets amplified; audiences seek proof of humanity and vertical communities, while platforms force watermarks and reward depth; creators become stratified (bottom-level operators vs. top-level integrators).
- The way out: focus on human traits (firsthand information, experiences, aesthetics, communities), amplify unique value into scarce nodes; share thinking and practice within the community.
I don’t recommend using AI to mass-produce content and then post it to social media accounts. This kind of account-building and content-making approach will ultimately turn you into a Content Farmer, producing a pile of trash content and wasting a huge amount of time and energy for nothing.
Right now, there’s a lot of content on the market about “one-click generation, mass production, and rapid account growth.”
For example, you can use n8n to build an AI workflow: enter an article link, and AI will analyze the content and automatically generate a Xiaohongshu caption; or enter a video link, and AI will break down the content and then imitate that video to generate a brand-new script. Some workflows even go a step further and can handle automatic publishing across multiple platforms.
A lot of people are attracted by this and think it’s a shortcut. But have you ever thought that this shortcut might actually be a dead end.
The essence of this approach is gambling on fools — betting that there are enough fools in the market willing to consume your content, and then willing to pay, and be converted by you.
The content generated by your AI workflow may look impressive at first glance. But once you see enough of it, you realize that all of it is just a retelling and patchwork of secondhand information. And audiences will find that behind this content and this account, there is no real person, no genuine emotion, so naturally it’s impossible to build any deep trust. And without trust, how can you possibly do business conversion?
This is not something current AI technology can solve. No matter how complex or sophisticated your AI workflow is, you’re still doing “information transport,” not “value creation.”
In the early days, yes, some people really did quickly grow accounts this way. That was because they started early, AI-generated content was still relatively scarce, and audiences hadn’t caught on yet. But by today, you wouldn’t think only a handful of people, including you, are thinking about this, right?
Those who moved fast already made their move. On top of that, today agent capabilities are already strong enough, so AI-generated content is definitely going to flood the market. Maybe it already has.
Over the next year or two, audience thresholds and tolerance will definitely rise quickly. Platforms will definitely take action too. On the one hand, platforms will restrict this kind of content flood to protect the ecosystem; on the other hand, platforms will hold this capability in their own hands, produce it themselves, and distribute it in an orderly way.
So in the end, this will definitely become a fool’s game where “there aren’t enough fools to go around” — only fools can tolerate this kind of trash content. And the number of fools in the market will only keep shrinking, while everyone is fighting to get them.
So in the AI era, where is the way forward for making content and building IP?
We are standing at the starting point of an AI content flood. We’re going to see massive amounts of AI-generated “canned knowledge” and “synthetic opinions.” The phenomenon of “the bad money driving out the good” will appear.
At this point, I suggest everyone hold back and absolutely not become that “bad money.” Take a slightly longer view: after the period of flooding passes, the restructuring phase will definitely arrive.
When noise overwhelms everything, the value of “signal” will be magnified infinitely.
All roles in the ecosystem, including audiences, platforms, and creators, will be forced to evolve and seek out and create scarce “signals.”
Audience behavior will undergo a fundamental shift, from “searching for information” to “following trustworthy people.”
“Proof of Human” will become a necessity. Audiences will instinctively look for “proof of humanity” within content. For example: details of personal experience, non-mainstream viewpoints, photos and videos shot on site, and authentic emotional interaction.
A considerable number of audiences will leave mass media and retreat into smaller, more vertical communities to get information.
People will be willing to pay for “authenticity” and “reliability,” whether through subscriptions, consulting, or buying products.
Platforms will change too.
The ranking logic of algorithms will undergo fundamental changes. Watermarks and labels on AI-generated content will become mandatory standards. And platforms may adjust their incentive mechanisms, no longer rewarding only “views” and “likes,” but instead rewarding content that sparks deep discussion, brings long-term value, and makes users “spend time thinking.”
Once both audiences and platforms change, creators will change too. They will be divided into two camps.
One camp is AI operators, and they make up the majority, at the bottom.
Their job is to use AI to transport, retell, and rewrite information. They will fall into endless “algorithmic involution” and “cost competition.” In the process of constantly competing, their personal value trends toward zero, which is extremely painful.
The other camp is value integrators, and they are few in number, sitting at the top.
These people use AI as the ultimate lever to amplify their irreplaceable value. They will create “firsthand information” that even large models still don’t know, and they will share their own unique life experiences and professional experience; they have their own aesthetics and taste, and they create communities to organize, connect, and inspire people who share the same values.
So the content ecosystem of the future will be like a world washed by an AI flood:
On one side is a huge amount of generic content generated by AI.
On the other side are “value islands” built by a small number of creators.
If you can’t provide unique value beyond AI, you will be drowned.
If you can focus on developing human traits that AI cannot replace, you can become the rarest and most valuable node in the AI era.
This is my advice to everyone, and it is also my own standard. My thinking and practice are continuously shared within the community. What I’ve talked about today is essentially a summary of scattered viewpoints from the past period.
OK, that’s it for this episode. If you want to understand AI, want to become a super individual, and want to find like-minded people, come join our newtype community. See you next time!