Substack Adds Tool That Estimates How Much of a Post Was Written by AI
The short answer
Substack is rolling out an AI detection feature that gives readers an estimate of how much any post, note, or comment on the platform may be AI-generated — a change that will directly affect small businesses publishing newsletters to customers and prospects. If you publish a Substack newsletter to reach customers, prospects, or subscribers, your readers will soon have a tool that flags how much of your content appears AI-generated.
- content marketing
- AI detection
- newsletter
- Substack
- transparency
What happened
Substack is adding an AI detection tool that scans posts, notes, replies, and comments on its platform and returns an estimate of how much of the text may be AI-generated or written with AI assistance. The company announced the feature in a blog post published Tuesday. The tool applies across all content types on Substack — from long newsletter posts to short replies — and surfaces an estimate for readers rather than a binary flag.
The feature arrives as small businesses increasingly rely on AI writing tools for content marketing, and as audiences grow more attentive to questions about authorship and authenticity.
What it means for your business
If you publish a Substack newsletter to reach customers, prospects, or subscribers, your readers will soon have a tool that flags how much of your content appears AI-generated. That changes the calculus for any small business using AI to draft or polish newsletter issues: lightly edited AI output will be more visible to readers who care about authenticity. The practical response is not to avoid AI — it is to ensure AI-drafted material is meaningfully revised with your own voice, specific examples, and original perspective before publishing. Substack's move signals a broader platform direction: audiences are beginning to receive AI-transparency signals they did not have before, and businesses that communicate clearly about how they use AI tend to build more durable reader trust than those who do not.
Source: The Verge