A licensed attorney and a scholar on the subject of neuroscience, Suzy has written extensively about the concept of Locus of Control, which identifies the degree to which people view their lives as controlled by external forces or by their own emotions and decisions. It’s one part of an extensive deep dive into the human subconscious that has given Suzy insights we could have explored for hours with her.

As an educator, it’s a true fulfillment for her to have taken over the leadership of Walsh in 2022. Having grown up about a mile from the Walsh campus, Suzy always admired the spirit of the business- and technology-oriented college, which was founded nearly 100 years ago by none other than Thomas Edison’s accountant.

We recently wrote a profile of Suzy for DBusiness Magazine, so we expected a lively, thought-provoking interview and we were not disappointed. You will truly love this month’s edition of Six Questions with Dan and Michelle.

We’ve noticed that many companies who haven’t updated their blogs in years are suddenly posting something new at least once a week. We’ve also noted why: They’re using AI to write their blogs. You can tell by the style. You can tell by way of the subject matter. And you can tell by how they all sound alike.

So let us acknowledge something: People like us, who write for a living, have an inherent reason to dislike when the companies could be hiring us to write their blogs instead of using AI. So yes, we will own that bias.

But we also think we can make a strong case that the companies doing this will not get the results they’re hoping for.

The idea here isn’t completely without merit on the surface.

You tell AI to write a blog about a topic on which you want to be a high-ranking search engine result. If you work in metal forming, you tell AI to write a blog about metal forming that’s designed to hit all the right SEO notes. You don’t really care if people read it. What you care about is that, when they search Google for metal forming, your blog is the first result.

If you do it this way, you’ll probably do OK on Google. And you might figure that’s a pretty good return on investment when you didn’t hire a writer to do it.

But there are several problems with this:

First, you’re not the only company doing this. From what we can see, just about everyone is doing it. So as much as you may be hoping for a top ranking on Google, you’re really just keeping up with the industry norm.

Second, your content is going to sound exactly the same as everyone else’s.

Now, you might ask, so what? As long as people are finding it – which means they’re landing on your website – that’s all that matters. But that’s not going to tell them anything that makes you stand out from the crowd.

The point of marketing is to demonstrate to your market that there’s something special about you. Turning your blog content over to AI does exactly the opposite of that.

Third, AI-written content is soulless to the point it’s not worth reading. Where are you in your own company’s content? You can find articles on Wikipedia that will teach you more than what you’re posting on your own website, and that does not reflect well on you or your company.

So where does this leave us?

It really comes down to what you want from your marketing content. If your answer is “generate clicks and cost me nothing,” AI copy might be able to do that. But you have to remember it’s doing the same thing for your competitors too, so it’s a wash.

If your answer is “make a strong and effective case for what’s different and special about us,” you’ll need actual people who know how to do that. And you’ll get further than the people who gave the first answer.

Happy birthday Michelle! Our managing editor completes another trip around the sun on July 31. Granted, that’s still a whole month away. But for something this good, we see no reason to delay the celebration. Let’s make a month of it!

Congratulations to our client E.W. Grobbel & Sons, on the opening of its new meat processing facility in St. Clair Shores. Dan and Angie had the opportunity to attend the ribbon-cutting, which included a tour conducted personally by CEO Jason Grobbel. The team at this facility is going to do great work.

Dan just wrapped up his contributions to Above the Benchmark, an annual magazine published by the Southfield, Michigan-based financial services firm Hantz Group USA. Our stories focused on tax strategies, debt-free living and the power of disruption.

Congratulations to Angie on her upcoming ninth anniversary as editor of the Today Magazines! What she has done with that assignment is simply astonishing. If you live in Royal Oak, Plymouth, Canton, Wyandotte, Livonia, Woodhaven, Southgate, Allen Park, South Lyon/Lyon Township, Novi, Northville or Van Buren Township, you see the quality of Angie’s work four times a year. So thanks for reading!

Michelle will once again be starring in the Troy Historic Village’s Old Time Radio Show series, with performances on August 22 and 23. These live performances re-enact radio dramas as they were done in the 1940s – even the commercials! This year’s shows will feature performances of “Our Miss Brooks” and “My Friend Irma.” Here’s where you can get tickets.

Jesus begins the story by imploring his audience to never stop praying, and to not lose heart.

We thought that was the real message of the parable. Jesus doesn’t want people giving up hope when God is absolutely there and able to provide what they need – and unlike the unjust judge, God actually cares about you. The only thing the widow had going for her in this situation was her persistence, and that turned out to be all she needed.

Once people give up hope, they not only stop trying, they also stop caring because they figure there’s no point. Nothing good is coming. That’s a trap Jesus doesn’t want any of us to fall into.