Please Don't Let AI Write Your Mother's Day Card
I want to talk about something that was on my mind this morning.
There are websites right now that will write your Mother's Day card for you. You type in "mom" and "birthday" and "likes gardening" and a robot churns out three paragraphs of perfectly structured, undenyingly warm sounding words that you can copy and paste into a card and hand to your mom.
She'll read it. I'm sure it will sound nice. But something about it will feel off. She might not be able to put her finger on it. But I'm sure she'll feel it.
You didn't write those words. A machine did. And no matter how good the machine is, it doesn't know your mom. So why would you let it say anything for you?
The line is love
I understand the irony. SayMore is a tech platform. We built software that lets people write cards and we print them and ship them.
But there is a line. And I think that line is love.
When you tell someone what they mean to you, that should come from you. Not from an algorithm trained on millions of other people's thoughts and feelings. From you. Your memories. Your heart. It's perfectly ok to fumble and write something true about someone you care about.
That's the whole point! The fumbling, the attempt to communicate what's in your heart. Perfectly imperfect.
And perfect should not be the goal
Here's what I think happens when people use ai to write personal messages. They sit down to write something. They stare at the blank page. They feel the pressure to say something beautiful and meaningful. And they panic. So they open ChatGPT or whatever tool is cheapest (or even free) and they type "write a heartfelt message for my mom" and they get something back that sounds polished and warm.
And they think "that's better than anything I would have written."
I know this, because I've done it too.
But just because it might sound smoother or more articulate, it's not better. To me, better means true. Better means trying to let out what is really in your heart. Better means "only I could have written this, because only I know my relationship with you."
9 times out of 10 I can promise you, your mom doesn't want a beautifully written thing from a machine. She wants a messy honest message from you (I just realized message has "mess" in it, I love it). She wants to hear your voice in her heart as she reads your words. She wants to know you sat down and thought about her and how you show up in each others lives. It doesn't need to be mechanical poetry. It's allowed to be misspelled. It deserves to be messy and awkward, but at least it actually sounds like you.
That's worth more than any ai generated message could ever be.
The most meaningful things ever written to anyone are not always well written
Think about the best text you have ever received from someone you love. Was it eloquent? Was it structured with a clear introduction and supporting points and a thoughtful conclusion?
Probably… hopefully, not. It was more like "I just want you to know Im really proud of you." Or "I was thinking about u today and idk why but I wanted to tell u." Or "Your my favorite person and I should say that more."
Short. Simple. Honest. Maybe a little awkward. Maybe misspelled. Yet, irreplaceable.
Now imagine finding out that message was written by AI. That the person copied it from a chat window and pasted it as a text to you.
It would feel different. Because the value of a sweet nothing message is not in the words, it's in the fact that someone took the time to think about and write something just for you from their heart to yours.
ai is incredible. Just not for this.
We're not completely anti-ai. We are anti-ai-in-the-wrong-places. Use it for your taxes (NOT LEGAL ADVICE, lmao). Use it for meal planning. Use it to write a cover letter or suggestions for a trip or summarize a meeting you zoned out of. No judgment, I've done it so so many times.
But when it comes to the people you love, when it comes to the card you are writing for your mom or the text you are sending your best friend or the note you are slipping into your kid's lunchbox. Those are sacred, and should be treated as such. Keep those coming from your heart.
It doesn't have to be long and it doesn't have to be good. Just let it be yours.
This is why I made writing prompts instead of ai tools
When I built SayMore I had a choice. I could have added a button that says "write this card for me" and let ai make the whole damn thing for you. It's easy to build. And I know people would have used it. In fact, I'm positive it would have made our completion rates go up and would make us more money.
But I chose not to do it.
Instead I wrote in some prompts to help. Little nudges that (hopefully) help you find your own words. Things like "You are so beautiful when you..." and "A favorite memory I have with you is..." and "The world is better with you in it because..." and if you're like me my mind instantly starts thinking about the best memories I have of that person.
The prompt doesn't write the card for you. It simply opens the door, you still have to walk through it with your memories and feelings, and then find a way to say that.
To me, there's a huge difference between a tool that replaces your voice and a tool that helps you find it.
The people you love deserve your words
I know this isn't the biggest take on what's happening with the crazy expanding technology happening in our lives right now. And most businesses are racing to add AI to everything. Write your emails for you. Write your captions for you. Write your wedding vows for you. (please please please do not let ai write your wedding vows!)
I feel theres a category of human expression that should nurture our humanness. Love letters. Thank you notes. Birthday messages. The card you give your dad on father's day. The thing you write to your best friend when she is going through a hard time. The love written into your mom's Mother's Day gift.
These don't need to be optimized and corrected and molded by a machine. Let these moments feel and unravel as they need to. So this Mother's Day do yourself the biggest favor. Close the ai tab. Open a blank card. And write from your heart. Utterly human, divine.
It doesn't have to be perfect… Just let it be you.
SayMore is a personalized card deck that helps you find your own words. No ai. Just words from the heart for the people who matter most. Start a deck at saymore.store