Thoughts on Chat GPT Taking over Instagram

I think I might be the only person who has noticed this, but Chat GPT is taking over Instagram, and it’s driving me crazy. But a lot of the creators I used to follow are using chat gpt to write their captions. I’ve verified this by asking if they used chat gpt to write them – if they block me or never respond to my comment but are responding to other comment then I’m taking that as a yes. And some people have just openly said yes. And some people that I feel fairly sure are using it have said no. So either they really aren’t and since chat gpt is trained off of people it just sounds similar. Or they are and aren’t admitting it.

And some of the things chat gpt does have been long established as things that people do. I took a blogging course years ago that told me to use short sentences. Heck even Yoast and other tools like it will tell you that your sentence length is too long. It’s like “30% of your sentences are more than 20 words. This is more than the recommended max of 25%” and then you go in and add shorter sentences in to make sure that you have the ideal sentence length. Since adding shorter sentences is easier than shortening sentences.

So for the seo juice as a photographer you write sentences that are 4 words long. And chat gpt has taken that and RAN so in instagram captions it shows up like this. “Great photos. Wonderful memories. Raw emotions.” and it doesn’t read as real. But I bet if we went back to some of my older blogs I would have lots of short sentences in a row!

And I’m going to call myself out – when I first moved to California I used Chatgpt to write my photography website copy. I have tried to find it all and rewrite it so it’s actually me, but I am still finding it all the time. I went looking for some for this blog post specifically actually and found this section under investment:

“From announcements to family portraits, I’m passionate about capturing authentic emotions and connections. Investing in photography preserves your memories, letting you relive the laughter, love, and details of your life. Let me be your visual storyteller, delivering timeless images that will remind you of the magic and joy in your journey.”

That is not mind blowing prose. It certainly isn’t Lin Manuel Miranda level work. But the idea of writing the copy for my website was overwhelming and the cost of hiring a copy editor was out of the question. So let’s see if we can fix this right now, so it sounds like me and is not the weird flowery language of chat gpt.

I love my job because I get to photograph multiple different life events that tell the whole story of your life. You might be looking for pregnancy announcements or you might be looking for full family photos! I do both/all! If it is related to your motherhood journey I like to document it! The reason I like to document it is that I like to look back on my own photos! I like to remember that moment visually, and I like sharing those memories with you. I think it’s so fun to create a little time capsule of your life that you can share with your kids. Or that you can just enjoy when you’re older (even if that’s one year older) and feeling nostalgic.

*side note as a trauma informed photographer I’m moving away from any violent language so I am working hard to eliminate the words “shoot, shot, cull, and capture” from my vocab. I have a photo session not a photo shoot. I document or create I don’t capture. And I photo select I don’t cull.*

And look at that – another example of using lots of short sentences. No wonder chat gpt does it!

Now what I learned from Doc Oubre, my freshman English teacher, is that the first draft is just that. So I’m going to rewrite that paragraph. And I’ll refine it a little bit into what I would feel proud to put on my website.

“I love photographing all stages of the motherhood journey! Whether you are looking for pregnancy announcements, family photos, or something in between I would love to connect with you! The reason I love to document every stage is because I like to look back on my own photos! And the reason I chose motherhood photography is because kids are really stinking cute and creating them is literally magic!

If you’re looking for a time capsule of your life then you’re in the right place! Every session includes access to my client closet, a full experience guide, a private online gallery for downloading high-res images, and personal printing rights. Additional prints, albums, and keepsakes are available for purchase.”

It took me about 15 minutes to rewrite this content. I’m not saying that 15 minutes isn’t a legitimate amount of time. It is! But the difference between something that is true to me and something that isn’t feels really significant and well worth that time. But does it feel that way to you?

This whole thought stemmed from a photographer who has about 50k followers sharing about her struggle with depression. This photographer has been someone I’ve admired for a long long time, and sharing about her struggle was brave and vulnerable and I really really want to applaud her for that. But she wrote the post using chat gpt and shared that polished version of the story with us.

I don’t fault her for using the tools she had in order to feel comfortable sharing her story. Sharing her story with the help of chat gpt helped hundreds of women have the courage to dm her about their experience with depression. She made people feel less alone and that is a GOOD thing. But I found myself craving to know what she had put in as the prompt. What were her real/raw feelings? As someone who has anxiety and depression I just wanted to know what the full truth was.

I’m obviously not entitled to any element of her story, but I want the human to human connection. I do not want the human to robot to human connection. And this photographer isn’t alone.

A blogger/influencer I’ve followed for years has 1.5 million followers. She just posted about her wellness journey and it didn’t read in her voice. And I only know that because I’ve been following her for years and she used to write a lot of long form content. It’s possible she hired someone to start writing her captions – I don’t know – but I do know that it didn’t sound like *her*

But even smaller than that a photographer I love posted about where she would go for a vow renewal. And she used chat gpt to write that caption. That is totally her story 100% and I want to hear it from her.

I would rather read nothing but the prompt you would give chat gpt than read the response it gave you every day of the year.

Am I alone in this? Have other people started to notice? Does anyone care? Am I hypersensitive and reading too deeply into it?

And again calling myself out I think I notice it because I was deep in the trenches of using it!

If you enjoyed reading these ramblings you might also enjoy:

Everyday Indulgences: Why life’s little pleasures deserve a spotlight. This is a blog post I wrote with the help of… you guessed it, chat gpt. It’s also one I like a lot and will be the next project I go back and re-edit in my quest to have 100% human generated content on my blog (and yes I know it wouldve been easier to just start that way, but you live and you learn)