The Human Touch in an AI World

My introduction to video games was a single bouncing pixel called Pong that my dad bought in an attempt to keep us kids happy. While that didn't spark my interest in gaming, it accidentally led me to something better - writing.

I found my creative outlet in Armstrong High School's typing lab, surrounded by IBM Selectrics. The rhythmic clacking of those machines, with their golf ball elements dancing across pages like the opposite of Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemount High.

Between the whirs and clicks, I'd channel my inner John Cleese, attempting to capture the absurd brilliance of Monty Python in my stories. My early masterpieces included a philosophical piece about Batman and Robin, and other questionable works about beings from other planets.

Those solitary hours in the typing lab, surrounded by the smell of White-Out and mechanical precision, taught me something crucial - sometimes the best ideas come when you're just letting your fingers do the walking across the keys, not overthinking every word.

College brought a new writing chapter. My dad would bring home a Toshiba laptop from work, introducing me to Word Perfect - my first taste of digital freedom. No more blue books and pen-written essays. The PC gave me the power to edit, a skill that would prove invaluable later.

After eight years of university (and 200+ credits in all the wrong places), I jumped into entrepreneurship. I went from selling PC hardware to programming, eventually running an agency called Wagento. None of this required much creative writing.

When I sold Wagento in 2021, I finally had space to explore what's next. Through connections in the AI space, including my friend Kate Bradley Chernis at Lately.ai, I discovered various content generation systems. Six months before ChatGPT launched, I was captivated by the possibility of automated content creation.

But here's what I learned: AI-generated content was like eating plain tofu - technically food, but missing something essential. It needed human touch, a bit of Marmite, creativity, and most importantly, editing. This realization led me to an unexpected parallel - my adventure with cricket powder.

The Cricket Powder Revelation

The breakthrough came during a podcast interview with Kalen Jordan , a tech entrepreneur who never fails to impress me with his ideas and execution. We were joking about potential sponsors when one of us tossed out the idea of cricket powder protein. It was meant to be funny. Instead, it became my accidental masterclass in content creation.

I decided to write an article about cricket powder, but not the usual AI-generated fluff floating around the internet. I wanted to create something worth reading. When I posted the article, something unexpected happened - the views started climbing. So I wrote more. And more. Six months later, I owned 80% of the top keywords for cricket powder.

This bizarre journey from protein powder to digital success taught me something important: good content, even about ground-up insects, needs a human touch. Who knew that crickets would teach me more about content strategy than any AI system could?

Birth of Content Basis

I exited Wagento in 2023 and launched ContentBasis LLC Basis with a clear vision. While everyone was racing to build self-serve AI platforms, I saw a different opportunity. The market was flooded with tools creating mediocre content - did we really need another one?

The real gap in the content space isn't technology - it's human insight. My biggest challenge today isn't teaching machines; it's convincing people that humans need to stay in the content creation loop. Whether you're working with a writer or AI, you need to invest time teaching them your voice, your brand, and your vision. There's no shortcut around this step.

I knew there had to be a sweet spot between machine efficiency and human creativity. That's why I'm building Content Basis as a platform that doesn't just generate content - it captures and preserves a brand's unique voice while enabling meaningful collaboration between humans and AI.

The journey hasn't been simple. It's a constant balance of ideas, content quality, and timing. But these challenges led us to develop something valuable - our four-pillar approach to content creation.

The Content Basis Approach: Four Pillars in Action

My cricket powder adventure taught me that dominating a content space isn't about gaming the system - it's about having the right framework. When I launched Content Basis, I thought I had it figured out: create great content, and SEO would naturally follow. But 18 months in the trenches taught me something different. Here's what works:

1. Human Creativity: The Spark

AI can string words together, but it can't replicate those quirky 2 AM connections. Like connecting cricket powder to content strategy (yeah, that happened). Human creativity brings those unexpected angles and "I didn't see that coming" moments that keep readers engaged.

2. AI Assistance: The Power Tools

Think of AI as your content production power tools - they make the job easier, but you still need a skilled carpenter. It's like having a really eager intern who's read every book ever written but doesn't quite get human humor. I use AI to expand thinking, not replace it.

Remember when I dreamed of building a "set it and forget it" content system? That's like expecting a robot to cook a gourmet meal - it might follow the recipe perfectly, but it'll miss those crucial adjustments that make the dish exceptional.

3. Human Refinement: Where Magic Happens

Raw AI content is like uncooked haggis - technically edible, but not something you'd serve guests. This is where human editing transforms raw material into something worth consuming. When we started, we thought AI would instantly master brand voice - yeah, that was optimistic. The editing load surprised everyone.

Different AI models produced wildly different tones, like a brand with multiple personality disorder. One day your content sounds like Shakespeare, the next like a teenager's Twitter feed. That's why we're building Content Basis 2.0 with persona building at its core - think of it as creating a digital DNA profile for your brand.

4. Data-Driven Strategy: The Compass

Numbers don't lie, but they do tell stories. When my cricket powder content started gaining traction, I didn't just celebrate - I dug into the data. Which articles resonated? What questions were people asking? This informed every next step.

But I kept losing customers to SEO specialists and marketing agencies. They'd say "Great content, but we need help with [insert marketing tactic here]." That's when it hit me - content doesn't exist in a vacuum. Customers don't want content in one corner, SEO in another, and email marketing somewhere else. They want solutions that connect all these dots.

The sweet spot is where these four elements converge - human creativity guided by data, powered by AI, and refined by human insight. It's not about replacing writers with robots; it's about giving writers superpowers while ensuring every piece of content serves a clear purpose in your overall strategy.

The Struggles and What I Learned

Running Content Basis has been like conducting experiments in a live laboratory. While I've covered some challenges earlier, here are the critical lessons that shaped our evolution:

The AI Learning Curve Myth

We thought AI would instantly master your brand voice? Yeah, that was optimistic. The editing load surprised many clients - we needed to be clearer about this being a journey, not a sprint.

Missing the Feedback Loop

We were sitting on gold mines of feedback in Google Doc comments and never mining them properly. Each edit, each comment, each revision could have been training data to make our AI smarter. That's a mistake we won't repeat.

The Content Overload Trap

I started by offering daily content packages because more is better, right? Wrong. Most clients don't have time to review two blog posts a week, let alone daily content plus social media. It's like serving a ten-course meal to someone who just wanted a satisfying dinner.

I'll share how we're fixing these issues in the solutions section, but here's the key takeaway: sometimes, you need to fail at the obvious to find what actually works.

What's Next for Content Basis

While wrestling with these challenges taught me valuable lessons, it also sparked two innovations I'm excited about:

Dynamic Voice Injection

Remember that orchestra problem - balancing personal and brand voices? We're solving this with dynamic voice injection in Content Basis 2.0. Think of it as a sophisticated DJ booth for your brand's voice, mixing your unique tone, data, and style patterns into every piece of content. No more Jekyll and Hyde content syndromes.

The Shopify Content Generator

Here's where things get interesting. We've built a Shopify app that marries your product data with Google search insights to automatically generate relevant blog posts. It's like having a marketing team that never sleeps, creating content that connects your products with what your customers are actually searching for.

Full-Service e-commerce Marketing

Remember when I kept losing clients because they needed more than just content? That taught me something crucial. Now we're offering comprehensive e-commerce marketing solutions that connect all the dots - content, SEO, email marketing, social media, the works. Because creating great content is only half the battle; you need to make sure it reaches the right people, at the right time, through the right channels. It's like having a Jack Russell Terrier - energetic, focused, and determined to get results. They might be small, but they'll chase down every opportunity, dig up hidden insights, and never lose sight of the goal. (Except for those pesky squirrels)

These aren't just new features - they're solutions born from real problems we've faced alongside our clients. Because sometimes the best innovations come from stubbing your toe a few times in the dark.

The Future of Content: Where Humans and AI Meet

My journey from typing class to cricket powder to Content Basis has taught me something important: the future of writing isn't about replacing humans - it's about finding the sweet spot where technology amplifies human creativity.

We've gone from worrying about the machines taking over writing to realizing that AI is more like having a very enthusiastic research assistant who occasionally needs to be reminded that dad jokes don't always land. The real magic happens when we let AI handle the heavy lifting while humans focus on what they do best - being creative, understanding nuance, and knowing when

to break

the rules.

The content landscape is shifting, but not in the way many predicted. Instead of a robot writing revolution, we're seeing a renaissance of human creativity, powered by AI but guided by human insight. Writers aren't becoming obsolete; they're becoming brewers of fantastic beer, blending human creativity with machine efficiency.

For the next generation of writers, this means learning to dance with AI rather than fearing it. It's about understanding that technology is just another tool in our creative toolkit, like spell-check was for previous generations - just a lot more talkative.

As for me? I'm excited to keep experimenting, failing forward, and finding new ways to make content creation both more efficient and more human. Because at the end of the day, whether it's writing about cricket powder or building content systems, the goal remains the same: creating something worth reading.

And hey, if a Jack Russell Terrier can master agility courses, we can definitely master this human-AI collaboration thing.