AI Will Bury You for This

My messaging has been feeling flat for a while.

More than I'd like to admit.

The content is important, but the audience is too broad for it to really hit.

Builder. Operator. Engineer. Founder. Strategist. AI guy. Systems guy. Content guy. Product guy.

All true. All me.

By being all these things and speaking to many different people, I'm actually speaking to no one.

Not really. Not in a way the person I want is felt seen.

There may have been a point (maybe it's now) when you have felt this in your own business.

If you are talking to too many people, you are probably landing cleanly for none of them.

This has always been true.

But now…

AI is exposing that faster than a human ever would.

A human might give you the benefit of the doubt.

An AI system will not.

It will take your words at face value, pattern-match what it sees, and send back whatever your own vagueness invited.

That has been hitting me hard lately.

I have been reworking my own messaging. Tightening it. Cutting the parts that sound smart but do not actually help someone know if I am for them.

And yes... I have been running a lot of iterations through my own skills and workflows while doing it.

Trying different hooks, angles, and ways of saying the same thing…

What I keep coming back to is this:

AI rewards clarity.

And the market is starting to do the same.

Today I want to show you why that matters, what the data is saying, and what I am changing in my own messaging because of it.

😃 Early PS - I have a gift for you, it's free, find it at the bottom of this newsletter when we're done :) 

🧠 Clear Messaging Matters More Than Ever

AI is becoming the layer between you and the buyer. If your message is vague, broad, or trying too hard to sound clever, that layer will bury you.

Key Facts

• 🤖 AI is the new normal - Pew found that 31% of Americans interact with AI several times a day, and 21% of U.S. workers say at least some of their work is done with AI
• 🔍 Discovery is shifting fast - Deloitte says more than 50% of consumers are already experimenting with or regularly using generative AI tools, and brand visibility now depends on how well information is understood, not just clicked
• 🛒 AI is affecting buying decisions - BCG found shopping-related GenAI use grew 35% in 2025, and more than 60% of consumers in its survey expressed high trust in AI results during purchase journeys

So no... this is not some niche copywriting debate.

This is about how people find you, how AI describes you, and whether your words survive contact with a system that has zero patience for fuzzy thinking.

😬 The Part I’m Seeing in Myself

I realized something recently…

By talking to too many people, I am trying to preserve optionality.

And optionality feels smart right up until your message gets soft.

You start writing for the founder, the creator, the operator, the CMO, the agency owner, the person who wants AI help, the person who wants business strategy, the person who wants systems, the person who wants content.

Again... all technically true.

But truth without priority can still be confusing.

⚠️ That is where I think a lot of smart people are going to get stuck this year.

They will use AI to produce more content, more offers, more angles…

Without ever deciding what they actually want to be known for.

And AI will happily help them scale the confusion.

That’s the real trap.

If you cannot clearly say:

• who this is for
• what problem you solve
• what outcome you create
• why your approach is different

...then AI is just a faster way to multiply blur.

🔍 Optimizing for Understanding > Optimizing for Clicks

One line from Deloitte stuck.

They said we are moving from optimizing for clicks to optimizing for understanding.

For years, a lot of online messaging was built for attention first.

We were taught to hook people, create curiosity gaps, and focus on our CTRs.

And look, some of that still matters. 

Personally, I love a strong hook. I love copy that is a little bold and actually has a pulse.

But if your positioning depends on people doing extra work to figure out what you mean...

That is becoming expensive.

AI systems are scanning, summarizing, recommending, comparing, and answering.

They need your information to be clear, current, and structured if you want to show up correctly.

That means your website copy, your bio, your offer page, your case studies, your newsletter intro, your social profile, even the way you describe yourself in one sentence...

All of it matters more now.

Because it's AI, not humans, that are becoming the interpreter.

Here Is My Blunt Take: Cute messaging had a good run.

We went through the aesthetic stage of Instagram.

The vague one-liner.

Bios that sound really cool but tell you absolutely nothing.

That stuff worked better when a human was doing all the interpretation because humans can infer, read tone, and fill gaps. 

They can read something and think, "I’m not fully sure what this means, but I like the vibe."

AI takes a clear approach.

And in that environment, the brands and people who win are the ones who can be understood fast.

BCG found that people like AI in shopping because it gives direct answers without clutter.

That line matters wayyyyyy beyond e-commerce.

Because that is what people want from you now too.

Direct answers. No clutter.

Ask yourself again:

• What do you do?
• Who do you help?
• What changes after working with you?
• Why should I trust you?

If your message cannot survive those four questions, it is weak.

Mine was, and I'm evolving.

🧪 What My Own Iteration Looks Like Right Now

I am not writing this from some hilltop where I figured it all out.

We are in the trenches together. 

I am actively cutting back the number of people I speak to, rewriting lines, & I am asking a much simpler question than I used to ask:

Could the right person tell in 10 seconds that this is for them?

That is a harder standard. But it is a better one.

Simple messaging ≠ easy

A lot of content sounds good and still does nothing.

I think many of us started by using AI to make content faster, and now we need to use it to make our thinking cleaner. 

Those are very different jobs.

One creates volume. The other creates signal. And signal is what the market pays for. 💸

The New Rule I’m Using

If a sentence makes me sound interesting but less understandable...

it goes. ✌🏻

If a phrase broadens the audience but weakens the fit...

it's out.

If a hook gets attention but attracts people I do not actually want to work with...

BYE. 

👉 Questions worth sitting with this week

• If AI summarized your homepage, would it describe you the way you want to be known?
• If someone landed on your profile for 3 seconds, would they know exactly who you help and why it matters?
• What words are you using because they are true... but too broad to be useful?
• Where are you still trying to be liked by too many people instead of clear to the right ones?
• And if your message got cut in half today, what would you keep?

⚙️ Try This This Week

Open your homepage, bio, or offer page and answer these three prompts in plain English:

1. This is for...
2. This helps you...
3. This is different because...

Then run one more pass.

Delete every line that sounds clever but does not sharpen one of those 3 answers.

That exercise alone will tell you where your message is clean...

and where it is hiding.

🤖 A Prompt Skill You Can Run Today

Normally I like sharing prompts, and even prepped one for this newsletter. Then I realized we've got an even better option. 

 👉🏻  I have something for you.

My last newsletter on Skills, I Know Kung Fu 🔗 got massive traction, and I realized this is what people want (go figure, the time I speak directly to those who are looking for it..)

Those in my world want clear actionable tools.

So I’m spent time with my agent last week and built out The Creator AI Scorecard along with a Skills Pack - start with the scorecard and I'll tell you more about this later.

It will help you become CRYSTAL CLEAR on your message that's easy for AI (and the right humans - aka your people) to interpret.

In 10 minutes or less, this interactive Skill will run you through the Three-Level system I've been using with my clients.

It gives you a real no-BS read on where you're at with your messaging and systems.. AND show you what it could look like to tune up your messaging. 

Totally free, just click here and I'll trigger the download email for you and follow up with instructions.

Seriously, I love this stuff. 

And I love getting better with you. 

Thanks for being here, and thanks for your commitment to grow. 

Try the Creator AI Scorecard - totally free, and let me know how it works for you. 

I can't WAIT to hear your feedback.

— Jim 😎

P.S. right now I'm building in a track to my VIP days that will launch and train AN ENTIRE AGENTIC SERVICE in a day. Because more people are applying and asking for this than ever before. Naturally - what used to take weeks - now is no longer about time - it's about your outcome.

I only take 2 max per month right now. Apply here: https://vip.jimcarter.me/apply