I Hired an AI to Write Affiliate Content for Me. It Was a Huge Mistake.
I spend money and I test.
Why?
Because it’s the only way you really know what works for you, so…
I hit ‘publish’ on the affiliate article, and I nearly got sick.
I thought I’d cracked it. My AI was supposed to make content creation easier?
But this one ‘lesson-learned’ moment proved everything was wrong…
And showed me the real trap no one wants to talk about.
The byline had my name, but it wasn’t me.
It was the cleanest, most articulate, most soulless piece of shit content I had ever produced.
I had a cold, cold realization. The machine (let’s call it that) wasn’t just writing my content…
It was erasing my voice, rubbing me out.
You’ve been promised it too…
It’s seductive, isn’t it?
A world without writer’s block, where a constant stream of high-quality content could be generated with a few clicks.
I dove in headfirst…
Subscribed to the tools and followed the playbooks.
I fed the machine my prompts, and it happily got to work, spinning up articles, emails, and social media posts.
(By the way, I’ve been using content producing tools for years, not something new, so this is from experience)
But the time I thought I was saving on creation, I was now spending on editing and repair.
I wasn’t a writer anymore…
I was a glorified editor for a machine that had no soul…
James Brown rolled over in his grave and whispered in my ear…
“It might be smart, baby… but it ain’t got no funk.”
Thing is, with AI, you can’t really inject a point of view into a paragraph that never had one.
You can’t edit your way to authenticity.
This wasn’t the leverage I was promised.
This was a new, more wicked kind of work, a fast descent into a bland digital world of AI mediocrity.
It was the moment I realized the biggest lie of the AI revolution isn’t that the machines are coming for our jobs.
It’s that we’re giving them the wrong ones.
The Myth of the Content Machine
Any of this sound familiar?
You buy tools hoping to save time, and waste more.
You follow playbooks and get stuck at the first decision.
You write, edit, rewrite, and still sound like everyone else.
Most creators, affiliates, entrepreneurs, etc., aren’t struggling because they’re lazy or short on ideas.
They’re overwhelmed.
They’re drowning in a sea of guru-prescribed AI tools, funnels, conflicting advice, and the brain-melting pressure to be everywhere at once.
Even my mate G was going on about Omnipresence Marketing yesterday…
And while a brilliant strategy,
For someone who is stuck, not being able to get their content created to the level they need to, it’s just chaos in action.
This “Creator Chaos Loop” is real…
Whichever way you look at it.
You buy a tool to save time, get overwhelmed by the tool, feel guilty for not using it, and then look for another tool to solve the problem.
AI content tools slot perfectly into this cycle of false hope.
They promise to be the ultimate solution to the content treadmill. They market themselves as a machine you can feed keywords and get finished articles out of…
Even full-blown affiliate content.
But this fundamentally misunderstands the nature of creating valuable work.
Valuable content isn’t just a collection of words… It’s the output of a thought process.
It’s clarity, conviction, and a unique perspective forged through use and experience.
When you outsource the writing of an affiliate article, you outsource the thinking. You skip the most important part of the process.
The result is a mountain of digital crap online.
Technically correct, SEO-optimized, BUT… utterly forgettable reviews and content that says nothing because the author, the AI, has experienced nothing.
It’s a dead end.
Progress isn’t made by generating more words… it’s made by doing the hard work of having a point of view.
Especially with affiliate content.
AI can’t do this… AI can’t fake REAL EXPERIENCE!
Just look at Medium. 99.99% of the content is novelty. Not really actionable systems clarity, you can actually use.
I read an interesting bit of info about vanity metrics a few years ago, which made me realise how much people rely on these ‘not-really-useful’ numbers…
Vanity metrics are metrics that make you look good to others but do not help you understand your own performance in a way that informs future strategies. These metrics are exciting to point to if you want to appear to be improving, but they often aren’t actionable and aren’t related to anything you can control or repeat in a meaningful way.
Source: “Venting out the vanity metrics” by Raghunandh GS
And this is most of what you are learning from… people with vanity metrics, without the backup of a strategy to turn those metrics into income.
Here’s where I see most creators getting it wrong…
Old Belief: AI = faster content
New Truth: AI = better thinking (if used right)
Old Belief: More tools = more leverage
New Truth: Tools without clarity = chaos on autopilot
Old Belief: Content = words on a page
New Truth: Content = captured conviction, earned through experience
This shift alone 4x’d my affiliate income with 1/8 the effort, no new tools, just better use.
Why You’re Still Stuck, Even With AI
I was on a call with a client, a brilliant business coach named Maria. She was on the verge of canceling all her AI subscriptions.
“It’s useless, Ciaran,” she said.
I could feel the frustration.
We were on a video call, and I could see that her kitchen table was covered in notebooks and printouts.
“I ask it to write a post about overcoming fear in business, and it gives me the same five clichés I see on LinkedIn every single day. I cant post this shit, everyone does.”
She had been trying for weeks to use AI as a writer, and it was draining her.
She is a sharp, empathetic coach, but the content felt like it was written by a corporate robot.
I asked her to try something different.
“Maria, for a second, forget about writing. What’s the single biggest lie your clients tell themselves about fear?”
She didn’t hesitate.
“That fear is something to be conquered. They think it’s a monster to be slain, when it’s a compass. It’s data. The fear is pointing you to the exact thing you need to address.”
“Great,” I said.
“Now, open up your AI tool. But don’t ask it to write. Ask this… Act as a skeptical new business owner. What are the three biggest reasons you would disagree with the idea that fear is a compass?”
(NOTE: Steal this prompt)
She typed it in. The AI instantly generated three sharp, insightful objections. They were the exact cynical thoughts a hesitant client would have. I could see the instant change in Maria’s eyes.
She wasn’t looking at a bad writer anymore… she was looking at her perfect sparring partner.
That’s what AI is… that’s where its power lies.
She spent the next hour talking back to the AI (ChatGPT), using its objections to sharpen her arguments.
She didn’t use a single sentence that the AI generated in her final article. But that article (she said) “was the most powerful, authentic thing I’ve written all year.”
She stopped trying to use AI as an author and started using it as her brilliant intern whose only job was to make her thinking sharper.
The Real Problem Isn’t the Tools
The mistake we’re all making is a failure of imagination.
We see a tool that can write, so we ask it to be a writer.
That’s like buying a Formula 1 car and only using it to drive to the grocery store.
The true power of these models isn’t in their ability to generate mediocre content… It’s in their ability to process, synthesize, and simulate at superhuman speed.
You don’t need an AI to write for you. You need a system that leverages AI to help you think better.
Stop thinking of AI as a content engine.
Use This Instead: The Clarity Engine Shift
Start thinking of it as a Clarity Engine.
A Content Engine’s job is to produce volume. It’s a shortcut that often leads to a dead end of soulless, generic work.
A Clarity Engine’s job is to help you find your voice and strengthen your ideas. It’s a lever that multiplies your intelligence.
What does this look like in practice?
Instead of: “Write a blog post about the benefits of email marketing.”
Try: “My core belief is that most email marketing is boring. Act as a devil’s advocate and give me 10 arguments for why a complex, automated funnel is superior to simple, personal emails.”
Instead of: “Write five tweets about productivity.”
Try: “Here’s a story about a time I failed on a project. Pull out the three most important lessons and frame them as advice for a younger version of myself.”
Instead of: “Give me 10 ideas for my niche.”
Try: “Analyze the top 10 articles on [your topic]. What is the one common, underlying assumption they all make that might be wrong?”
This is the shift.
It’s a move from chasing shortcuts to building leverage. It puts you back in the driver’s seat, using the machine to expand your own capabilities, not replace them.
Complexity is a tax on your momentum… this approach simplifies your focus down to what only you can provide… your unique, human insight.
Simple Leverage Starts Here
Stop using AI for pure content creation because your goal isn’t to fill the internet with more noise.
Your goal is to build a business on a foundation of experience, trust, and a real point of view… especially in the affiliate content review arena.
And that’s not something you can delegate to a machine.
The AI didn’t fail me. I failed it by giving it a job beneath its capabilities.
I was asking a world-class strategist to be content junkie.
Today…
I use AI more than ever, or content too, but I never leave AI content on it’s own. Every piece is rewritten, re-edited and made 100% me.
The result in affiliate marketing… more than 4x last year vs my previous year at a time of less than 1/8 of the previous year. (something coming on this soon)
Ask it to challenge you, to research for you, to simulate conversations for you, and to show you the patterns you might have missed.
Treat it as a brilliant, tireless extension of your own mind.
The most powerful creative tool on earth isn’t the AI.
It’s your brain, supercharged by a system that knows how to use AI for what it’s truly good at.
Stop trying to automate your voice and your experience… Start using the tools to amplify it.
Ready to cut the bullshit and build real leverage?
Explore the system-first approach at Simple Leverage.