For the love of the work.

Despite my moral reservations, I’ve been tinkering with an AI tool to turn my approach to strategic planning—specifically, the research—into an automated online experience while learning how the tool works.

The deeper I went into the programming, the more I realized I was training the machine to do the learning and critical thinking for me, which would sacrifice not only my favorite part of this process but the part that generates longstanding, impactful, actionable insights about a client, their landscape, and their brand.

I laughed at my computer screen when it came time to sign up for the AI service I might select to run my little AI program. Why would I pay this machine to do the work I love when I struggle to generate money to do it myself?

I don’t believe clients are more willing to pay a machine than a consultant—not the good ones. They may jump to AI for a quick answer, an easy (albeit generic) headline, or a sentence of copy, but those are shallow solutions to simple challenges.

The value of in-depth brand and campaign planning conducted by a human brain exists in what we learn throughout the research process, flipping the insights into marketing opportunities when the time comes, from everything to content ideas, channel strategies, and PR plays.

I’ve decided I won’t be launching the AI tool I’ve been tinkering with these past few weeks. Call me a dinosaur, but I’m going to keep my strategic planning work organic. If for nothing else, for the love of the work.