Shauna Thoresen warns that AI-generated content is flooding social media and backfiring. Audiences now distrust AI avatars and generic posts from professionals. The real opportunity is showing up as yourself, flaws included, to stand out in what she calls a growing trust recession.
Chapters
10 ways lead generation is changing in 2026, part 1. AI-generated content is going to continue to flood social media, but here's what you need to do in order to stand out and actually increase conversions because of this and what you should absolutely not do. Now, it has not surprised me how frequent AI content has become in 2025 on social media, but what has surprised me is the almost visceral reaction that humans have had the moment that they find out it is AI-generated content. If you look at posts that are very clearly written by ChatGPT, or you look at videos that are very clearly made by AI, and you get into the comments, people do not like it. They are not responding very well. And it's almost like the moment that they find out that it's AI generated, they almost kind of push that content away and feel like it is a waste of their time. Now, I actually thought that humans were going to just consume whatever was entertaining, but there's actually been kind of a revolt against AI. And for that reason, one of the biggest mistakes that you can make is leaning into the AI-created content. Look, a lot of the agents that I work with are a little timid about getting on camera. So the idea of just having some AI avatar talk for them is very appealing, but it is a huge mistake. We are in a trust recession, and that trust recession is only going to continue to increase as there are more and more AI avatars and just AI-created content. People are looking for someone to trust. That means that now is actually the most beautiful time for you to get started on social media because you can show that you're human. You can show your flaws more than ever. So while it might be tempting to utilize ChatGPT to write all of your posts. Don't use it to hide your voice. Strategize with AI, use it to increase your productivity, but don't hide behind it. Remember, when you are a licensed professional generating leads, you're trying to establish trust as an advisor. You are not trying to go viral. You are trying to become undeniable. You're trying to become undeniably an expert in your field and someone that they can actually trust.
