When people say they can spot AI writing from a mile, what do they actually mean? Excessive em dashes? Short paragraphs? Words like "delve" and "meticulous"? LinkedIn was full of cringe long before ChatGPT. AI didn't invent buzzwords or performative prose. The algorithm simply picked what went viral. We're pretending that before ChatGPT, all writing flowed from pure creativity. As if "On Writing Well" and "The Elements of Style" never existed. We always followed rules. But our inability to follow them perfectly made our writing unique. AI follows rules perfectly. That's the problem. I explore this paradox in this essay.
The Great Resume Paradox: How AI Broke the Job Market
AI in hiring has accidentally brought back the "sifarish" culture from 1970s & 80s Hindi movies, where referrals open the doors. I call it the Great Resume Paradox: tools designed to help you stand out made everyone identical instead.
Why AI Made Marketing Generalists Unstoppable
"Pick a lane and stay in it." For decades, this was our career insurance policy. Specialize. Build your moats. Become indispensable. But AI just bulldozed those barriers. Now synthesis matters more than specialization. AI accidentally brought back the Renaissance generalist. Leonardo da Vinci would dominate today's marketing world. The ability to synthesize, not specialize, is the new competitive edge.
Reports of Content Marketer’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
"๐ช๐ฒ'๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐..." Sounds like any generic job posting, right? Except this one's for ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐๐๐ฃ๐ง โ the juggernaut that was supposedly eliminating content jobs. Delicious irony, this. The very company poised to make content marketers obsolete... needs content marketers.
Deception by Design: India’s Crackdown on Dark Patterns
Let me paint a picture you're familiar with. You're booking that weekend getaway. "Only 2 seats left!" the website screams. Then comes the guilt trip: "No thanks, I don't want to save money." Finally, the sting: โน500 "convenience fee" appears at checkout. Sound familiar? You've just been played by "dark patterns." India just banned 13 of these psychological tricks. And, companies have 3 months to do a self-audit and comply. Here's what they don't want you to know.. but, you must anyhow.
The Agentic AI Wake-Up Call: 4 Takeaways from McKinsey’s Report
About 80% of companies use GenAI. 80% of them report ZERO bottom-line impact. McKinseyโs latest report calls this the GenAI paradox. Whatโs the way out then? AI agents that automate complex business processes. Today, weโre at a moment of strategic divergence. Companies that figure AI out first won't just gain efficiencyโthey'll redefine their industries.
The Nayara Wake-Up Call: Cloud Colonialism and the Case for Digital Sovereignty
On July 22, Nayara Energy lost access to its Microsoft-hosted services. All without a warning. Why? Because a 49% Russian stake triggered EU sanctions, and Microsoft complied. Indiaโs data may sit within its borders, but the kill switch still lies abroad. This is about national resilience, not just private businesses. What happens when foreign tech giants control critical infrastructure? What if itโs public sector next?
Beyond the AI Hype: Why Human Oversight Remains Non-Negotiable
While researching a topic recently, a GenAI tool presented several relevant statistics. I asked it to fact-check the numbers and cite sources. With a confidence that might inspire envy, it assured me they were all correct, even providing citations with a precision rivaling scientific journals. Except it was confidently wrong. When I dug deeper, a... Continue Reading →
Forget AI Imitating Us, We Are Imitating AI
Ever feel like LinkedIn posts sound... a bit too perfect these days? Or like certain words are suddenly everywhere? You're not imagining it. I dive into a fascinating and unsettling trend: we might be starting to sound like AI, not the other way around. Drawing on insights from the Max Planck Institute and literary critics, I explore how platforms and AI tools are subtly reshaping our language, making it more uniform and less uniquely human. It's not just about what we write, but how it impacts trust and authenticity in communication.
When Struggle Was the Signal: AI’s Challenge to Creative Worth
Is the ease of AI fast-tracking the commodification of the human spirit, as Nick Cave eloquently argues? Does a flawlessly AI-written letter of recommendation devalue the genuine effort of a professor, as Ethan Mollick discovered? What happens when the struggle fades, when AI can conjure prose with effortless speed?
Musings by Madhav 