Hi Reader,
Every Monday I bring you one thing worth knowing and one thing worth trying.
Let's get into it.
The big thought...
As humans we are energy. Whether we know it or not, we communicate through energy. Written, spoken, video, audio and even body language. Have you ever felt someone staring at you before you saw them? Or perhaps someone walks in a room and you just know they have entered.
That is energy in communication. And it is the one thing AI cannot transfer.
This week as I was reading an article on SubStack and found my mind wandering. I had to force myself to finish it. I was learning, but I was not connecting with the material.
We have all had that experience. Read that article. Watched that video. Scrolled past that post. And thought: meh. You couldn't place why. Nothing landed. You didn't feel seen, or known, or even particularly interested.
Then I read something else, same week, same general topic, and I was almost finished immediately. Not because it was short. Because I couldn’t stop. I was so drawn in to how they framed it and I went looking for everything else that author had written.
Same information. A completely different experience.
Here is what I believe made the difference. The second piece had a real person in it. Someone whose lived experience landed on every word choice. They had a view I could resonate with, an example that was unique and interesting, even a moment I was familiar with from my own life.
That is what AI cannot manufacture. I would like to think not ever.
AI can help you brainstorm. It can spar with you on ideas, build outlines, research what's trending, and give you a strong first draft to push against. I use it that way every day. But when it comes to the actual writing, how you want the other person to feel when they read your words, the lived experience threaded through every sentence, the opinion that is unmistakably yours, that is all you.
Here is the thing about the sea of content of today: volume is not the problem. Sameness is. AI has made it extraordinarily easy to publish. What it hasn't made easy is being worth reading.
One piece of content that truly connects is worth thirty that don't.
We are in the age of information. Everyone now has access to the same information. What makes it valuable is how you interpret it, what you do with it, and how only you could say it.
Your voice. Your examples. Your point of view. That is what people are searching for right now.
Worth your time this week.
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“AI slop” hurts consumers and creators. But high-quality AI could help both.
(Eric Hamilton, University of Florida News)
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In 2026, AI will outwrite humans (Davey Alba, NiemanLab: Predicitions for Journalist 2026)
A sharp, well-written piece from one of the most credible voices in media. The argument: volume is no longer the advantage. What rises above the flood is what matters.
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From the Studio
The most common thing I hear from entrepreneurs who want to use AI for their content: it doesn't sound like me.
That is not an AI problem. That is a set-up problem.
Claude, and any AI tool, can only write in your voice if you have told it what your voice actually is. Not "warm and professional." That tells it nothing. Specific sentences, specific phrases, specific things you never say. That is what trains it.
This week I put together two resources to help you do exactly that.
Building Your Brand Voice with Claude walks you through the five steps to set up Claude so it stops sounding generic and starts sounding like you. Projects, instructions, Skills, all of it, in plain language.
The Brand Voice Quick-Build Playbook gives you the prompts and fill-in-the-blank framework to actually write your brand voice document. No staring at a blank page.
Both are free downloads. [Link] and [Link].
Start with the Playbook. Then bring what you build into Claude. That is the move.
Free PDF's to Get You Started with Claude
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Develop Your Brand Voice (Written by me)
Provides you with the prompts and fill-in-the-blank framework to actually write your brand voice document. No staring at a blank page.
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Building Your Brand Voice with Claude (Written by me)
It will walk you through the five steps to set up Claude so it stops sounding generic and starts sounding like you. Projects, instructions, Skills, all of it, in plain language.
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Prompt of the Week
Before you write anything this week, a caption, an email, a bio update, run this first.
Fill in the brackets, and upload it to your Claude Project. (not sure how to build a Project. Ask Claude. You'll see it's quite easy. )This becomes the foundation that makes everything else sound like you. Need some help picking some adjectives, download the Develop Your Brand Voice PDF above. It can give you the boost to get started.
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MY BRAND VOICE
Tone: [warm + direct / playful + expert / calm + bold]
My audience is: [describe your ideal client in 2–3 sentences]
I always use: [words and phrases you love]
I never use: [words and phrases to avoid]
My sentences are: [short & punchy / longer & explanatory]
I talk about my business like: [a real example of how you describe what you do]
Words I never say: "leverage," "synergy," "game-changer" [add your own]
3 pieces of writing I love: [paste your best email, post, or article here]
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Start there. Just one thing. That is the move.
You've got this. And now you've got the tools to prove it.
Kate Kozak
Kateology AI Studio | Kateology.ca
