I was staring at my competitor’s latest blog post.
The headline. The opening hook. The three-point framework. Even the damn conclusion.
It was my content. Word for word. Structure for structure.
This guy had literally copy-pasted my AI-generated blog post, changed a few names, and published it as his own.
My first thought? I’ll show him.
My second thought? I’ll out-AI this bastard so hard he’ll never keep up.
That decision cost me €12,000 and nearly destroyed my business.
Want to know how?
The Revenge Spending Spiral
I immediately upgraded to ChatGPT Plus. Then Claude Pro. Then Jasper’s premium plan.
€200 per month in AI subscriptions.
I bought every AI writing course I could find. “Advanced Prompt Engineering.” “AI Content Mastery.” “ChatGPT for Entrepreneurs.”
€3,000 in courses.
I hired an AI specialist consultant to optimize my content workflow.
€5,000 for three months.
I purchased premium databases of high-converting AI prompts.
€800 for “guaranteed viral frameworks.”
Are you following along?
The Content Arms Race
Every week, I’d analyze his new posts.
Then I’d spend hours crafting the perfect AI prompts to beat them.
“Write a more engaging hook than this…”
“Create a better framework than this competitor…”
“Generate more compelling examples than these…”
My content got slicker. More polished. More “professional.”
His content stayed generic and boring.
I was winning the AI game.
But something weird started happening…
The Numbers That Made No Sense
His engagement was going up.
Mine was going down.
His email list was growing faster than ever.
Mine had flatlined.
His comments were full of “This really resonated with me!”
Mine were full of “Great tips, thanks!”
How was generic AI content outperforming my premium AI content?
Then I got an email that made everything clear.
The Email That Broke Me
“Jan, I used to love your content because it felt so personal and weird. Lately, it feels like I’m reading a textbook. Are you okay?”
I went back and read my recent posts.
She was right.
In my obsession with creating better AI content than my copycat, I’d optimized all the humanity out of my voice.
My content was perfect.
And perfectly forgettable.
The Kinda Like Moment
Trying to out-AI my competitor was kinda like spending your entire fortune to get revenge on someone who stole ten dollars.
You win the battle.
But you lose everything that mattered.
The copycat stole my AI content.
But I gave away something much more valuable: my authentic voice.
He took my words.
I threw away my personality.
Why This Happens To Every Entrepreneur
Here’s what I realized as I stared at my AI bill that month:
When someone copies your AI-generated content, your instinct is to generate better AI content.
But better AI content is just more generic content.
The more you optimize for AI perfection, the more you sound like everyone else.
You’re not competing with the copycat.
You’re competing with a machine.
And machines always win the machine game.
The €12,000 Lesson
That night, I did something radical.
I canceled all my AI subscriptions except basic ChatGPT.
I deleted my “viral framework” databases.
I stopped trying to out-AI the competition.
Instead, I went back to writing like a human.
Messy thoughts. Personal stories. Random tangents.
The stuff that AI smooths out.
The stuff that makes content… mine.
Want to know what happened?
The Comeback That Shocked Me
Within three weeks:
My engagement doubled.
My email replies went from 2 per week to 20 per week.
I got three new clients who said they chose me because I “sounded different from everyone else.”
The copycat was still publishing my old AI-generated posts.
But nobody cared anymore.
Because I wasn’t making AI-generated posts to steal.
Why Human Beats AI Every Time
You probably think better AI tools create better content.
Most entrepreneurs believe this. And even if you don’t, here’s why most people get the AI arms race completely backwards.
They think AI gives them an edge.
Actually, it makes them invisible.
They think perfect content wins.
Actually, personal content wins.
They think competing with machines makes sense.
Actually, being human is the only sustainable advantage.
The Anti-AI Strategy
Here’s how to win while everyone else optimizes for robots:
Step 1: Use AI as a Starting Point, Not an Ending Point Let AI generate ideas, then rewrite everything in your actual voice.
Step 2: Add the Weird Stuff Back All the personal tangents, random observations, and quirky thoughts you edit out? Put them back in.
Step 3: Share Your Process Instead of polished conclusions, share your messy thinking process. Humans connect with struggles, not solutions.
Step 4: Stop Trying to Sound Professional
Professional sounds like everyone else. Sound like yourself.
The Truth About Competition
The copycat is still out there, probably stealing someone else’s AI content now.
I don’t care anymore.
You can’t steal someone’s personality.
You can’t copy someone’s weird brain.
You can’t AI-generate someone’s life experience.
That’s not something you can subscribe to for €200/month.
That’s just being human.
Jan
