When AI Gets Emoji-Happy: The Glitter Problem of Content Creation

I once had a teacher who said, “glitter is the herpes of arts and crafts.”

Once it’s out, you can never get rid of it!!!

And lately, I’ve been feeling the same way about the way AI uses emojis.

✨💡🚀🔥💫

These little icons, what I like to call “online glitter,” get sprinkled into almost every ChatGPT draft. And just like glitter, they spread fast, get everywhere, and before you know it, the message is buried under a shiny, sparkly mess.

It’s a good thing, it’s way easier to remove than glitter.

Why Emoji Overload Is a Red Flag

The problem isn’t the emojis themselves. When used with intention, they can add personality, highlight key points, or break up text for readability. But AI tends to default to the same handful over and over.

Like some of these…

You’ve seen them a hundred times in your feed. You’ve probably scrolled past posts that felt oddly familiar. And that’s one of the major issues: emoji overload is one of the first giveaways that a caption has been copied and pasted directly from AI.

And when that happens?

It doesn’t feel like you.

It feels generic. Polished to the point of being robotic.

The Real Risk: Losing Your Voice

Your audience isn’t just following you for tips, tutorials, or business updates. They’re following you because of your voice, your perspective, your quirks. When every caption looks like it came from the same AI template, you’re not just risking eye rolls, you’re risking trust.

People can spot inauthentic content a mile away.

NOTE: An overload of emojis is not the ONLY thing or the biggest that would make your content seem inauthentic, BUT it is a very clear way to have someone cringe and scroll away.

How to Fix the Glitter Problem

Honestly, the biggest fix is to edit it! Use drafts as a base, and as you edit the post, strip out the ✨🚀🔥 until it feels like you. Swap those emojis for ones that actually match your brand and voice (or none at all).

The Bottom Line

Glitter might be fun in small doses, but too much turns a project into a mess. Emojis are the same. Use them with intention, keep them aligned with your brand, and never let AI’s default “glitter bombs” smother your voice.

Because at the end of the day, what makes your content magnetic isn’t a sparkly rocket, it’s you.