There’s more content today than anyone can possibly consume. Every minute, people upload 500 hours of video to YouTube, publish millions of blog posts, and send countless newsletters.
AI is making it worse. The same tools that promise to make content creation easier are also flooding the internet with generic, repetitive content.
But AI isn’t just the problem. It can also be the solution. Used the right way, it can help audiences filter out the noise, reduce content fatigue, and make the experience of consuming information feel more personal and valuable.
The key is understanding where AI helps and where it hurts.
AI Has Made Content Fatigue Worse
AI-generated content is everywhere. The problem isn’t that AI is writing for us—it’s that it’s writing the same thing for everyone.
Many AI writing tools are trained on massive datasets, which means they pull from the same pool of existing knowledge. The result is content that looks polished but lacks originality.
If you’ve spent time on LinkedIn lately, you’ve probably noticed this. Every other post sounds the same: motivational business lessons, reworded startup advice, and generic takes on industry trends.
This flood of AI-generated content creates a few problems.
First, it makes it harder for real, unique voices to stand out. If thousands of people post slightly different versions of the same AI-assisted article, the value of each individual piece drops.
Second, it overwhelms audiences. 80% of respondents already experience information overload. People aren’t looking for more content—they’re looking for the right content.
When their feeds, inboxes, and search results are full of near-identical pieces, engagement drops. People aren’t just tuning out low-quality content; they’re tuning out entirely.
Where AI Can Help Reduce Content Fatigue
The irony is that AI can also fix the mess it’s creating. The same technology that’s flooding the internet with content can help filter and personalize what we see.
AI-powered recommendation engines already do this on platforms like Spotify and Netflix, but the real opportunity is in written and professional content.
Personalized content feeds, for example, can reduce fatigue by showing people only what’s relevant to them. Instead of scrolling through endless LinkedIn posts, AI can curate the most useful ones based on past engagement.
News aggregators like Pocket and Feedly are already using AI to recommend articles tailored to user preferences. If AI is used to help people consume less but better content, the entire experience improves. This is just as well, since a Reuters study found that more and more people are already consuming less news.
Another promising area is AI-assisted editing. AI shouldn’t replace human writers, but it can improve efficiency by helping refine ideas, structure arguments, and eliminate fluff.
Tools like Grammarly and Hemingway help writers tighten their work, making it more readable and engaging. Instead of generating mass content, AI should be used to make existing content better.
Then there’s content summarization. The average person doesn’t have time to read every whitepaper, newsletter, or blog post that comes their way. AI-driven tools like TLDR newsletters, Perplexity AI, and SMMRY condense articles into key takeaways.
Instead of forcing people to sift through another 2,000-word blog post, these tools extract the most important insights in seconds.
AI Won’t Replace Real Thought Leaders
There’s a reason people still follow specific creators, subscribe to trusted newsletters, and pay attention to certain experts. Real insight comes from experience, pattern recognition, and deep thinking—things AI isn’t great at.
AI can summarize, suggest, and optimize, but if you want to build authority and trust, you need to contribute original thinking, not just repackage what’s already out there. Audiences can tell the difference between someone who understands a topic and someone who is just remixing it.
How to Use AI Without Contributing to Content Fatigue
If you’re creating content, the goal should be to make it useful, engaging, and different from what’s already out there. AI can help with that if you use it the right way.
First, don’t rely on AI to write full articles or posts for you. Use it for outlining, summarizing, or cleaning up language, but make sure the core ideas come from you. If you don’t have a strong opinion on something, AI won’t give you one—it will just regurgitate what’s already been said.
Second, focus on depth over volume. Instead of just posting more often, aim to create content that is well thought out and actually adds value.
Many brands are now adopting a “slow content” approach, prioritizing quality over frequency. This is a direct response to the fatigue people feel from constant, low-effort content.
Third, think about how your audience consumes content. Would they rather read a long article or a well-organized summary? Do they need a detailed white paper, or would a short case study be more useful?
AI can help you test and optimize different formats, ensuring you’re delivering content in the way that’s easiest to digest.
For Content Fatigue, AI is Both the Problem and the Solution
AI is making content fatigue worse by making it easier to create more content. But it’s also part of the solution. When used well, AI can help people find the right content, consume less but better information, and improve the quality of what gets published.
The challenge is making sure AI is used strategically. If it’s just used to pump out more of the same, audiences will keep tuning out. But if it’s used to enhance, refine, and personalize, it has the potential to make content consumption easier, more engaging, and less overwhelming.
Column drives B2B growth through content. Connect with us today on LinkedIn.
