What quality checks should you run before publishing AI generated content?

1. Could your competitor have published this exact article?
If you could replace your logo with theirs and nothing feels wrong, it’s not ready.

2. Does it actually say something new?
Add your own experience, examples, data, research, opinion, methodology or lessons learned. Don’t use AI to summarize what everybody else has already said.

3. Does it sound like you?
Read it out loud. Would you actually say this? Would your team? AI can learn your tone, but your point of view still needs to come from you.

4. Does it use the language you want associated with your brand?
Words aren’t decoration. They help AI understand what your company is, which category it belongs to, what problems it solves and when it should be part of the answer.

5. Does it reinforce what you want your brand to be known for?
Every article sends semantic signals. Make sure this one strengthens the connection between your brand, audience, problems, solutions, expertise and topics you want to own.

6. Does it answer a question your audience actually asks?
Don’t create content because a keyword or AI told you to. Know the audience, problem, search intent and the question the content needs to answer.

7. Did you give AI something worth writing about before asking it to write?
Don’t prompt: “Write an article about X.”
Feed it the human ingredients first: your opinion, experience, examples, data, audience, brand language and desired takeaway. Then let AI help turn those ingredients into content.

8. Can every fact, quote and number be verified?
AI is very good at producing statistics that sound true. Go back to the original source and check them.

9. Does a real expert add something AI couldn’t know?
Someone who actually understands the subject should review the content and add experience, nuance and real-world knowledge.

10. Does it belong to a bigger semantic story?
Don’t publish isolated articles. Ask what cluster, topic and brand association this content strengthens — and how it connects to the rest of your website and digital footprint.

11. Is the message consistent with what you say elsewhere?
Your website, LinkedIn, YouTube, founders, articles and third-party mentions don’t need identical copy. But they should teach humans and AI the same fundamental story about your brand.

12. Would you send it to someone you respect?
Forget SEO scores and AI detectors for a second.

Would you send this article to a client, colleague or industry expert and say:

“You should read this.”

If not, why are you publishing it?

🎵 Our Last Note

AI can help you write faster.

It shouldn’t make you sound like everybody else using the same AI.

So before hitting publish, ask one final question:

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?