We all know about zombies, right? We’ve seen The Walking Dead or World War Z or Zombieland or one of these movies. Without looking it up in a dictionary or being a huge zombie superfan, I can tell you that a zombie apocalypse is when society collapses due to humans becoming infected, “dying,” and then coming back to life without much of a working brain. Sometimes they move really slow. And other times they’re really fast. You can tell it’s the neighbor but it’s definitely not anymore. 

I feel like I’m watching the beginning of a zombie apocalypse. The infection is AI-created content, AI-dictated pace, brain atrophy, impatience, and fear. I was on a call with a longtime friend and colleague last week and we both were asking the same questions: Why does the start of Q4 feel more like the spring of 2020? Why is everyone so irritable and short? Why do we feel so frantic?

Rewind another couple of days to a meeting I was having at work. All of us attending the meeting work in some combination of brand, marketing, and ecommerce. We shared what’s been difficult and where we’re finding new opportunities. Inevitably, AI came up. 

Someone admitted that they are not always sure if they are talking to their client or if they’re talking to their client’s Claude. And I took a deep breath, agreed, and wrote the quote down in my notebook.

I imagine that if I saw a zombie in real life, I would be able to tell. They always look creepy or scary. Now, as I sit behind my screen(s), I can sense a zombie but I never really know for certain. And what happens when you aren’t really sure that what you’re seeing, reading, or hearing is real? You lose a lot of trust.

Yuval Noah Harari, one of my favorite authors and thinkers, talks about how trust is the most important and coveted asset. He said “it’s more important than oil or money or electricity or chips or anything else.” 

We need new ways to signal if we’re zombies or not. I’d rather just know upfront. From there, I can decide how I’ll proceed.