How to Avoid the Doorman Fallacy

Imagine you’re a real estate magnate in your city, and you’ve just purchased a high-end hotel in the heart of downtown.

This place is decked out. It has an Art Deco-themed lobby, crystal chandeliers, and fine art adorning the walls in every suite—the envy of every other lodging place in the city.

One day you stop by to check in on your new investment, and you’re greeted by a doorman. He opens the door for you and gives you a warm greeting. But being the savvy businessperson you are, you make a mental note: We don’t need to pay someone to stand around opening the front door all day. We can replace him with an automated sliding door and save the cost of his salary!

Within a month, the change has been made—no more doorman to pay for such a simple task.

Within two months, booking rates start to fall slightly.

Within six months, people are no longer recommending your hotel to their friends and family.

Within a year, your hotel is losing more money than it paid the doorman.

What happened?

The Doorman Fallacy

Economists call this type of story the “doorman fallacy.”

What you, the new hotelier, didn’t know was that the doorman at your hotel did much more than open the door for people. He learned guests’ names. He called taxis. He acted as a de facto concierge. He even helped carry bags.

When you only consider one side of the argument, you’re guaranteed to miss out on important information.

In other words, he made the hotel’s guests feel like they were special, like they mattered.

Once he was gone, replaced by an automated door—just like the ones at Walmart—your hotel became just like every other rizty place to stay. Still good, but missing that certain je ne sais quoi that once made it stand above the rest.

Why “Automate First, Ask Questions Later” Is a Bad Idea

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that using AI (specifically, LLMs) to automate your content creation is all the rage.

AI evangelists love to tout all of the advantages of using LLMs—and yes, there are many advantages to tout. But funnily enough, while the benefits of AI are presented as front-page news, the drawbacks are buried on page 27…if they’re mentioned at all.

But when you only consider one side of an argument, you’re guaranteed to miss out on important information. And without the full picture, you might end up falling prey to the doorman fallacy in your own business.

Why Your Content Still Needs a “Doorman”

Let’s take an example from my profession: editing.

A lot of us editors (and writers) are losing work to LLMs. Yes, they are cheaper. And faster. And genuinely useful at certain tasks. (I use them for research, brainstorming, and organization myself.)

They are so cheap, fast, and useful, in fact, that many business owners are flocking to them—rather than hiring a freelancer as in the “before times”—in the name of efficiency and cost savings.

If you’re not already an above-average writer, you’re going to have a hell of a time getting a computer to do it for you.

But the truth is that unless you really know how to use these new tools, you risk turning your brand messaging from feeling like a five-star hotel to giving off Walmart vibes.

And I know you see it just as much as I do. LLM-generated drivel is all over LinkedIn (as are people who complain about it). Countless blogs and websites offer nothing but middling, rehashed AI content.

Why? Because some people want quick wins. And because not everyone understands (or cares about) the difference between compelling content and boring blog posts. And, like any tool, AI is only as good as the person using it.

My point? If you’re not already an above-average writer, you’re going to have a hell of a time getting a computer to do it for you. And if you don’t already have a good grasp of grammar and style, you’ll never really know whether AI is editing your work at a proficient level.

Why You Can’t Automate Everything a Human Does

To be clear: I’m not saying “don’t use AI.”

I am saying “think it through before you make drastic changes to your exiting processes.”

Sure, you will potentially save a lot of money using LLMs in place of human writers and editors. And many of us can’t afford human help, in which case, yes, use AI (but do it strategically).

But I’m not really talking to the folks who don’t have an option to hire expert help. I’m talking to people who could (or already do) enlist writers and editors but would rather save the expense by utilizing AI.

All I’m asking is before you ditch your human hires in the name of saving a few bucks, consider questions like these:

• “Do I fully understand that human writers and editors can do things that LLMs cannot do—like come up with new ideas, write from a unique, personal perspective, violate the rules of grammar for effect—and even understand concepts like ‘reality’ and ‘facts?’”

• “Am I willing to dedicate the time required to learn prompt engineering, train my AI with my existing brand voice, and iterate with it to get a solid output, and then edit that output before publishing?”

• “Can I tell good writing from bad? Do I know how to verify whether the content my AI tool spits out is at the right quality level?”

Once you start looking at AI this way, it gets a lot less sexy. It’s no longer a no-brainer cost-savings or efficiency decision or a cheap and easy way to get your computer to write Pulitzer-level content for you.

Before pivoting to AI, ask yourself, “Do I fully understand that human writers and editors can do things that LLMs cannot do—like come up with new ideas, write from a unique, personal perspective, violate the rules of grammar for effect—and even understand concepts like ‘reality’ and ‘facts?’”

As it turns out, there are actual trade-offs involved:

• Replacing your content team with a computer means losing out on the expertise they possess to ensure your writing hits the mark out of the gate.

• Switching to AI means you are taking on additional workload you once farmed out to your contractors.

• Relying on an LLM means you’re committing yourself to learn a host of new skills to be successful—writing, editing, prompt engineering…

And that may make sense for you and your situation. Or it may not. But if you never get out of the “AI is the best thing ever” box, you’ll never truly know. You might end up getting rid of the very thing that led to your success in the first place.

How to Avoid the Doorman Fallacy in Your Business

I admit it—it sounds like I’m trashing AI.

I’m not trying to.

But I am trying to be a voice of reason in a sea of AI evangelists who only focus on the positives of this new technology—like the automated door salesman who tells you doormen are a relic of the past. They either don’t know—or won’t admit—that it can’t do everything. The human touch is still just as vital for success as it ever was.

Because in the end, what is a business if not one person interacting with another person? Sure, AI can—and does—help, but before you replace your business’s “doormen,” make sure you know exactly what it is they do.