29 Apr 2026
AI-generated UGC — authenticity rant
"let's use AI to generate user-generated content"
read that back to yourself. slowly.
the USER is the GENERATOR. that is the whole concept. the entire reason UGC became a thing was because a real human chose, unprompted, to make something about your product. that's the magic ingredient. that's why it converts.
now it's being pitched as a service. "AI-powered UGC at scale." mate that's just an advert. you've described an advert - with worse lighting, and a fake accent to boot.
and for the record: I use AI every single day, love it, couldn't function without it. but when I make something with it, I just call it content - because that's what it is.
the whole point of UGC was the authenticity premium. you cannot synthesise authenticity. the second you try, you've made something else, and that something else needs its own honest name.
call it synthetic. call it AI-generated. call it a creative asset.
just stop pretending there's a user in there.