What AI Can—and Can’t—Do for Your Messaging
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“Hey ChatGPT, make this sound better.”
It feels like a small prompt, but it points to a much bigger pattern.
AI is always standing by—ready to rewrite, summarize, or rephrase on command. A short-order cook for words.
On the surface, that looks impressive.
But it’s also dangerous.
Because it makes it far too easy to skip the most important step: actually clarifying what needs to be said.
Instead of sharpening the idea, people ask for smoother words. And when the output looks polished, it feels finished.
But if the thinking is unclear, the message is still unclear.
Here’s what AI cannot do:
-> Think for us
-> Decide what matters most to an audience
-> Turn a half-baked idea into a sharp point of view
-> Create structure, framing, or hierarchy unless one already exists
-> Transform a list of features into a story without a story in place
That’s why so many people still end up saying: “It doesn’t sound right.”
But AI can be powerful...when used the right way.
Not as a replacement, but as a thought partner.
At Motive3, we use AI as a challenger and mirror, never as the author. We treat it like a sharp colleague who tests whether our strategy is showing up clearly in the words.
Here’s how we use it:
- Pressure-test clarity. Prompt: “What’s confusing or vague about this paragraph?” → If AI flags jargon or a fuzzy payoff, it reveals where our thinking wasn’t sharp enough.
- Sharpen the angle. Prompt: “Rewrite this as before/after. Now as problem/solution. Now as a one-liner.” → Different frames surface different possibilities—useful across exec briefings, sales decks, or social posts.
- Trim the fat. Prompt: “Cut this by 50% while keeping only what the buyer cares about.” → A ruthless edit that kills fluff audiences don’t need.
- Challenge assumptions. Prompt: “What’s missing that would make this more credible or urgent?” → Forces blind spots into the open.
Here’s the broader process we follow when creating with AI:
Step 1: Expand the world — ask for research, science, raw material.
Step 2: Connect that material to the real domain—messaging strategy, storytelling, high-stakes presentations.
Step 3: Draft an outline for the specific audience, tied to what they need to walk away with.
Step 4: Refine the outline by hand—layer in expertise, strip out noise.
Step 5: Only then, let AI draft. By this point it’s 80–90% accurate—because human thinking is in the driver’s seat.
That’s where the human layer comes in: stories, client examples, unique perspective.
🎧 This episode of The Storyteller’s Edge is your guide to using AI as a clarity tool—not a crutch.
Try the prompts. Make your next message sharper than ever.
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