Something Is About to Break

I want to share something I have been thinking about a lot.

We are 6 to 12 months away from a real problem with AI. I think it gets so bad that governments will have no choice but to step in.

Here is what I see coming.

The Flood

Big companies are already plugging AI into their sales motion. Newsletters. Cold emails. Cold calls. DMs on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

The tools are getting better every week. The agents can run without a human touching them. They reach out. They follow up. They book meetings. All on their own.

Soon you will not be able to tell if the voice on the phone is a real person or software. That is already happening on a small scale.

Now picture 3 million businesses all running the same playbook. All reaching out to the same buyers. At the same time.

Something breaks.

Your inbox fills up with junk. Your phone rings all day. Every DM channel gets flooded. The volume hits a wall your day cannot absorb.

Why Regulation Will Not Save Us

There are already rules. Do-not-call lists. Spam laws. Privacy laws. All of it.

None of that is going to hold.

We are already seeing numbers get recycled and burned. Phone numbers spoofed. Email addresses faked. The serious operators will find a way around any restriction a regulator puts in place. They always do.

So governments will try. They should try. But rules alone are not going to fix this.

Which leaves all of us with one question.

How Do You Stand Out?

If your buyer is getting 1,000 times the messages they get today, how do you break through?

Screaming louder is not the answer. Everyone will be screaming.

Here is where I think the puck is going.

The winners over the next 12 months will use AI as a leverage tool. They will automate the right things. Then they will lean even harder into human touch.

That combination is the whole game.

Use AI to handle the volume. Research. Prep. Lead lists. Draft copy. Use AI to free up your calendar.

Then spend that freed-up time on the work only a human can do. Video. Voice. Face to face. Handwritten notes. Showing up at events. Actual phone calls, from you, to people you actually know.

People still buy from people. That is not going to change. If anything, it matters more now than it ever has.

How to Spot the Fakes

Scroll LinkedIn right now. Look for the tell.

How many posts have that rhythm where the writer says “it is not about X, it is about Y.” Over and over again.

How many have the “it was not because of this, it was because of this” line.

Those are AI tells. Those posts did not come from the person whose face is on them.

Once you see the pattern, you start to see it everywhere. Here are a few more I spot every day.

The em-dash everywhere. Most people do not use them at all when they write. AI loves them.

The “let me unpack this” or “let’s dive in” opener. Nobody talks that way in real life.

Three-item lists where every item has the exact same length and rhythm. Real humans write with a little mess.

Stacked buzzwords in the same paragraph. “Leverage.” “Robust.” “Pivotal.” “Crucial.” If you see three of those in one post, a human probably did not write it.

Polished vulnerability that sounds rehearsed. Real stories have rough edges and specific details. Names. Dates. Smells. Weather. A detail that would not show up in a prompt.

Every post ending with the same kind of rhetorical question. “What would you do?” “What are your thoughts?” Over and over again, on account after account.

The “here is the thing” setup right before a quote-worthy line. That phrase used to feel clever. Now it feels like a tell.

None of these alone prove anything. But when you see three or four in the same post, you know.

That used to be a harmless shortcut. Soon it will be a signal that costs you trust. Buyers are already learning to spot it.

What Founders Should Do Right Now

If you run a business between $2M and $20M in revenue, here is how I would think about the next 6 months.

First, get your human story straight. Who are you. Why do you do this. What have you lived through. Write it down in your own words. Tell it on video. Tell it on podcasts. Tell it in meetings.

Second, use AI where it gives you time back. Research. Outlines. First drafts. Data work. Scheduling. Anything that is not the part a customer needs to hear in your voice.

Third, use that time to go deeper with fewer people. Real conversations. Real relationships. Real trust.

Fourth, show the imperfections. Show the mission. Show the passion. Show the work. That is what people are starving for when every inbox is a wall of polished AI copy.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Here are three moves a founder in a $2M to $20M business can make this quarter that AI will never touch.

The 60-second field video. Instead of a polished LinkedIn post written in a tool, pull out your phone at a job site, on a shop floor, in the warehouse, or on a sales call prep. Record 60 seconds of you explaining the thing you are working on right now. No edits. No b-roll. No script. Post it the same day. Your followers will see you, hear you, and feel you in a way no AI output can replicate.

The personal voice note in the cold DM. Most outreach is going to be text that looks identical across every inbox. Flip the script. When you find a real prospect worth pursuing, record a 30-second audio note. Say their name. Mention one specific thing you saw on their website, their LinkedIn, or their most recent post. Ask one real question. That one voice note will out-perform 200 templated messages, because it can only have come from you.

The handwritten note after the meeting. Not a thank you card from Amazon. A note from your desk, in your handwriting, with a specific detail from the conversation. Mail it that afternoon. In a world where every follow-up is an automated email sequence, your buyer will put that note on their desk. They will remember you 6 months from now when they are ready to buy.

None of these scale. That is the whole point. When everything scales, the thing that does not scale wins.

The Bottom Line

Whether you run a Walmart or a hardware store on Main Street, one thing stays true.

People want to know the person.

Your voice matters. You as a person matter. AI will never be able to mirror you.

Use the tools. Keep the soul.

That is how you win this.

If you are thinking through this in your own company, I want to hear how you are approaching it. Drop a comment below or send me a DM. Always up for the conversation.