The AI Feedback Loop: A Call for Human Touch in Writing

By Jeffrey Mangus, CEO and Founder, Mangus Media Group

Have you ever wondered what happens when the machines start feeding on their own tails, churning out content that’s nothing more than regurgitated digital slop from the very algorithms that birthed it?

It’s a question that’s keeping me up at night, not because I’m afraid of AI, but because I see the writing on the wall for an industry about to implode under its own artificial weight.

As the founder of Mangus Media Group, I’ve spent over a decade ghostwriting, copywriting, and crafting narratives that cut through the noise. I’ve seen trends come and go: the rise of SEO farms, the blog explosion, and now this AI frenzy with its tailspin of devaluation of the writing industry. But let’s be direct—this isn’t just another tech wave; it’s a tidal wave that threatens to drown the authenticity out of publishing and content creation.

 We’re on the cusp of massive overlap, where AI-generated books and articles pull from the same finite pool of trained data, mostly scraped from human-created works. It’s like a snake eating itself, and the result?

A rapid deterioration in quality, originality, and trust that could break the entire ecosystem.

Think about it: AI models like GPT-whatever are trained on vast datasets culled from the internet—books, articles, forums, you name it. But as more content is generated by these same models and floods back online, the training data for future iterations becomes increasingly polluted. It’s a feedback loop of mediocrity.

The first users already noticed the problems: bland writing, fabricated facts, and a strange uniformity that gives everything a mass-produced, sterile, and flat feel. According to a 2024 Pew Research Center report, 52% of Americans initially find it difficult to distinguish between AI-generated and human-written content. Trust diminishes rapidly, with only 28% finding it reliable for complex topics. That’s not progress; that’s a warning sign.

It is not just a theory. Take the self-publishing boom on Amazon. In 2023, an author named Alex, who preferred to remain anonymous, used AI to try to increase his writing production. Using tools, he wrote a series of digital marketing how-to books, based on prompts gathered from popular online sources. The product was an immediate success, with sales soaring by 300% in the opening quarter due to reduced expenses and efficient production.

However, by mid-2024, the reviews had plummeted. People said the writing was boring, the advice was old news, and there were even mistakes, like suggesting tools that don't exist anymore or strategies the AI just made up. The market got swamped with AI copycats, which made the niche less special. Alex's rankings plummeted, and he lost most of his audience because they no longer trusted him. This isn’t an outlier; it’s the future if we don’t pivot.

 Just last week, during a team training session at Mangus Media Group, my partner and publisher, Tim Jacobs, and I were discussing this very issue with our team. Tim brought to the meeting the reality of AI usage relying on the same AI and how soon, tilt, and implode like a shrinking black hole. It was a powerful reminder that while AI can mimic, it cannot empathize. It simply cannot capture the essence of real life.

 That's our secret weapon: the human touch that can see and feel beyond the data.

This is why the human element matters so much. In a sea of AI sludge, authenticity becomes the ultimate differentiator. Human writing isn’t just words on a page; it’s empathy, nuance, spirit, and the ability to adapt to cultural shifts in real-time. AI might mimic patterns, but it can’t feel the pulse of a reader’s life, hurt, pain, tragedy, frustration, or the thrill of a breakthrough insight.

At Mangus Media Group, we prioritize this “human touch”—vetting every word that leaves our doors through multiple human eyes, minds, all trained and experienced with hundreds of years of writing, drawing from diverse backgrounds to ensure authentic, real, engaging, resonating, sensitive, and original. We’ve helped clients in tech, finance, and wellness avoid the AI trap, building books and brands that stand out because they’re genuine, not generated.

Now, don't get me wrong. It’s a call to arms for creators, businesses, and readers to demand better. AI content is gonna hit a wall soon, becoming worthless like an empty ocean. Expect lawsuits over data scraping, readers getting upset about hidden AI, and a market for genuine human content. Mangus Media Group is ahead of the curve because we’ve never strayed from our roots. We’re not chasing volume; we’re crafting human-touch books focused on authority and legacy.

 So, if you’re staring down the barrel of this AI overlap and wondering how to preserve your voice in the noise, consider this: What if the key to standing out isn’t more tech, but more humanity? If that resonates, please contact our team. We'd be happy to speak with you about how we can help you navigate this shift without compromising your values in the algorithm-driven landscape.

(Click here to speak with our team)