AI slop happens when AI sits in the director's chair

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What is AI slop?

AI slop is content that sounds fine and says nothing. It happens when a person hands AI the whole job, including the choices only a person can make: who this is for, what it needs to say, and whether it's good enough to go out with your name on it.

Donors can feel it. The thank-you letter that could have come from any charity. The appeal with three tidy bullet points and no heartbeat. The social post that reads like a press release.

Here's how I put it to Colleen on a recent recording:

AI slop by definition is when AI sits in the director role.

Scott Williams · Recorded conversation, Oct 22, 2026

Why does AI slop happen at nonprofits?

Slop happens because the tools got fast and the decision step got skipped. A development director with forty things on their plate types "write our year-end appeal," pastes the first result into the email platform, and moves on. AI didn't fail there. Nobody decided anything.

Small teams feel this pressure most. When you are the whole communications department, it's tempting to let the machine choose for you. That is exactly the moment to slow down for two minutes.

What does "the director is always human" mean?

Think about a film set. The crew is huge and talented: camera, lighting, sound, editing. One person decides what the movie is about and which take is the one. AI is now the best crew your nonprofit has ever had. It still can't be the director.

The director is always, always, always human. That is never an AI.

Scott Williams · Oct 22, 2026

Here is how we split the work with every If Possible customer:

Should you ask AI for ideas before you have your own?

Usually, no. Write your rough thinking first, even three messy sentences. Then bring AI in.

Colleen explained why in the same conversation. If AI goes first, its ideas fill the room before yours are fully formed:

It's gonna poison the well of my own creative thinking and my own strategic thought before it's fully formed.

Colleen Cook · Oct 22, 2026

Your three messy sentences become the brief. The brief keeps you in the chair.

Should we revise AI drafts or start over?

Start over far more often than feels natural. A rewrite used to cost an afternoon, so we learned to save every draft by fixing it. With AI, a fresh draft costs seconds. The real work moves to judging.

I said this to a university foundation marketing leader in October, and I keep coming back to it:

The part teams find freeing came right after: why spend twenty minutes revising a weak draft "when the next one is probably going to be better?" Say no, tell AI why in one line, and ask again. Your "no" plus your reason teaches it more than any edit.

A five-step director's check for your next AI draft

Use this before anything AI touched goes to a donor, a board member or your feed.

1. Name the audience in one line. "Lapsed monthly donors who gave in 2024." If you can't, stop here.
2. Write the one point first. Your words, before AI sees the task.
3. Ask for three to five versions, never one. Choosing is easier than fixing.
4. Reject out loud. Tell AI what's wrong in a sentence ("too formal, no story, wrong ask amount") and ask again.
5. Read it as the recipient. Would this donor know it came from you? If not, it isn't done.

What happens if your team accepts everything AI writes?

You get slop, every time. I said it plainly to a room full of nonprofit teams during our October Intensive:

The fix doesn't need a new tool or a bigger budget. It's a habit: a person decides, every time, before anything ships.

If your team is building that habit now, start with your first 30 days with AI and the case for treating AI like a new hire. A brand voice system gives the director something to judge every draft against, and it's the reason so many AI pilots stall without one.