AI can supercharge your content… or quietly blow up your copyright and compliance.

In this episode of #ContentChat, host Erika Heald sits down with Kerry O’Shea Gorgone—a recovering attorney turned marketer and AI power user—to unpack the real risks content marketers face when using AI tools. You’ll learn what you can’t copyright, how AI training data and “plagiarizing the internet” can land you in trouble, and how to build guardrails so you can move fast without putting your brand (or clients) at risk.

Whether you’re leading content strategy, running a marketing team, or a solo marketer trying to work smarter with AI, this conversation will help you use AI more safely and intentionally.

--What you’ll learn--

• Why pure AI-generated content can’t be copyrighted in the U.S.—and what “significant human contribution” actually looks like.
• How custom GPTs and other AI agents can create copyright headaches if you train them on content you don’t own.
• The specific risks with AI-generated images (likeness, book covers, stock photos, etc.) and why “I didn’t know” is not a legal defense.
• Why you should “plagiarize yourself, not the internet”—and how to use your own decks, talks, and articles as training data.
• Practical guardrails, policies, and crisis planning steps to protect your team, your content, and your brand.

Conversation Highlights:
:10 – Kerry's journey: from lawyer to marketer & AI power user
2:22 – Custom GPTs, training data, and fair use gray areas
6:11 – You can’t copyright pure AI output & why human input matters
7:00 – Visual risks: AI images, likeness issues, and “I didn’t know”
13:27 – Data discipline: what never to put into AI tools
19:43 – Using AI as a coach, not a creator: “plagiarize yourself”
24:21 – High‑risk vs. lower‑risk AI use cases for marketers
29:36 – Working with legal, building policies, and crisis planning
48:07 – Where to find Kerry + wrap‑up, resources, and french bulldog + Russian blue kitten cameos

Resources mentioned

- AI human-input tracking template (Google Doc) – A simple work file Kerry created to help you document how much human vs. AI contribution went into a piece of content.
- AI incident crisis response plan (template) – Kerry's sample AI crisis plan you can adapt with your own legal and leadership teams.

Links will be in the show notes on erikaheald.com

--Connect with Kerry

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerrygorgone/
Website: https://carrie.show

--Connect with Erika

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikaheald/
Newsletter & community: https://www.erikaheald.com
Content Foundations book: https:contentfoundationsbook.com

-- If you enjoyed this episode…

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