Is AI Causing Content Overload and Fatigue?

If you’re like a lot of other marketers right now, you’re probably feeling pressure to pump out more content.

Content is still critical for traditional SEO, but it’s also proving to be a core component of success in AI search. More content can help you earn citations, boost brand visibility, and support discovery across LLM-driven experiences.

And like many businesses, the solution seems obvious: AI.

You use a platform like ChatGPT or Perplexity, input your information, ask for a blog post, publish it on your site, and move on.

But as more businesses take this approach, an important question comes up: is AI-driven content creation causing overload and fatigue for audiences?

In my opinion, yes — and here’s why.

The barrier to content creation is gone

Before AI, content creation had a real barrier to entry.

If you wanted content on your website, you typically had to hire a skilled writer. That writer would learn about your products, services, messaging, and brand, then compile everything into a thoughtful blog post.

If you didn’t have the budget for that, you were probably behind in the content game. Now, because of AI, anyone can create content.

You can input your specs into ChatGPT and ask it to generate a blog post almost instantly. Because there’s no longer a barrier to entry, businesses can create content much faster.

A business that once published one piece of content per week might now publish four. Multiply that across dozens or hundreds of businesses, and the result is an ecosystem flooded with new content.

The real issue isn’t volume — it’s generic content

The problem isn’t the quantity of content — it’s that much of it is generic, flat, and unremarkable.

The key issues with generic AI content are:

• Businesses often rely on LLMs without strong prompts
• Output is rarely reviewed for human connection or audience resonance
• Resulting content is repetitive and lacks differentiation
• Audiences are inundated with content that doesn’t pull them in or keep their attention

When a hundred businesses do this, all the content ends up saying the same thing, further contributing to audience fatigue.

Why generic AI content fails in search and AI experiences

This problem aligns closely with Google’s push around information gain.

Google has signaled that content can’t just repeat what already exists. It needs to be helpful and add something new to the conversation.

Expert insights and unique perspectives are what differentiate content. If you rely solely on AI to produce your content, you and dozens of competitors will publish pages that all sound the same.

When that happens, you’re not creating a reason for users — or LLMs — to choose you over a competitor. If everyone says the same thing, there’s no incentive to cite one page instead of another.

How to use AI intentionally and practically for content creation

Content overload doesn’t mean AI is the enemy — it just needs to be used strategically.

Here are some tips for intentional AI use:

• Pull back from volume-driven content production
• Focus on quality over quantity — depth, clarity, and usefulness matter
• Review AI-generated content carefully for resonance and human touch
• Avoid thin content — it won’t drive traffic or earn citations

Additionally, keep these two things in mind when leveraging AI for content:

Focus on quality

It’s also important to remember that content isn’t created only for LLMs.

Traditional search is still strong, and content still needs to rank well in search results. You can’t get so focused on AI visibility that you forget SEO fundamentals.

Your goal should be to create a resource so complete and helpful that someone could read it and feel like they got everything they needed. That’s how you become the go-to authority and build topical authority in your space.

Take a different perspective

One effective way to break through content fatigue is to take a different perspective.

That doesn’t mean forcing a stance if it doesn’t align with your brand. You shouldn’t pretend to believe something just to be unique.

But if 99 businesses are taking the same angle on a topic and you take a different one, that differentiation matters. You’re more likely to stand out, get cited, and be pulled into AI-generated responses.

If everyone says the same thing, LLMs have no incentive to choose one source over another. A different angle also helps build authenticity by showing there are real humans behind your brand — not just a content factory.

AI should assist, not drive your content strategy

AI should help your content process, not run it.

It shouldn’t be the driver getting you from point A to point B. It’s more like the passenger — helping you navigate, holding the snacks, and adjusting the radio.

When AI does everything, the result is usually generic and uninteresting. But when AI is used as a partner, it can help you move faster while still leaving room for human insight and originality.

AI can help with outlining, drafting sections, or thinking through how to explain a concept. It can even help brainstorm stories or examples. But there always needs to be oversight.

Someone needs to review the content, refine it, and ensure it resonates with the audience. That’s how you create content people actually want to read — and content that performs in both traditional and AI-driven search.

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