Does Ai leave you feeling cheated?

As a house of Stranger Things fans, I was gutted when my son told me there were online rumours that the Stranger Things Finale (Season 5) may have been part-written by AI.

I felt cheated, and my son was furious. He's been very critical of those final episodes. The lack of loose ends resolved, inconsistencies, unrealistic plot arcs.

BUT the AI evidence is flaky: it's claimed that ChatGPT tabs were spotted open on the Duffer Brothers' laptops in "The Making of Stranger Things" documentary. With viewers jumping to the conclusion that AI was used to help with brainstorming, writing or outlining final episodes.

The Directors robustly denied claims, suggesting AI was used for research rather than scriptwriting.

True or not, it sparks the question: how do you feel when you find out something was written by AI?

As a copywriter, I’m not anti-AI. It’s a powerful ally. Great for brainstorming, idea generation and exploring concepts etc.

But writing for marketing material is all about creating a feeling of human connection and trust in one another. And most client briefs include the request for an "authentic" voice.

If your audience suspects your words aren’t really yours, it's bound to have an impact on how authentic or trustworthy you seem.

Does your audience lean in… or switch off?

Maybe the question isn’t “Can AI write this?”

But “Should AI write this?"

"And at what cost to the relationship with your reader?”

What do you think?