AI output is not usable

Use this guide when AI generation in the Create flow returns copy you cannot publish: off-brand tone, wrong platform details, empty fields, or suggestions that ignore your campaign context.

Symptoms

You see one or more of these in the create modal or after you run an AI action:

• Generated caption, hashtags, or alt text sounds generic or off-brand.
• Output references the wrong platform, format, or campaign context.
• One or more fields stay empty after generation completes.
• You regenerate repeatedly and results stay far from what you need.
• Slack shows an AI generation limit message instead of new output.
• Generation fails entirely and the draft moves to a failed state instead of saving.

AI planning assist is included on Free, Starter, Team, and Scale plans. Open the create modal with /social-create or from the Create work center before you troubleshoot.

Likely causes

• The prompt or caption field lacks enough topic, audience, offer, or call-to-action detail.
• Platform or format was changed after media was attached, which can clear incompatible assets and confuse generation scope.
• Campaign, pillar, or workflow fields are unset when your team relies on them for scoped copy.
• Brand knowledge entries are missing, inactive, or not marked for AI use, so generation falls back to generic language.
• You replaced the whole post on each attempt instead of regenerating one field at a time.
• Monthly AI generation usage reached your plan cap.
• A background generation job failed before usable text was written to the draft.

Checks

1. Confirm you are in the create modal for the correct brand and platform.
2. Read the caption or prompt field. Add a specific topic, audience, offer, or call to action if it is vague.
3. Verify platform and format are set before you run AI actions. Note that format changes can clear incompatible media.
4. Set campaign, pillar, or approval workflow fields when your team uses them.
5. Open /social, choose Settings, then Knowledge Base. Confirm voice, product, and offer entries are active and marked for AI use.
6. In the create modal, check whether AI actions are available per field (caption, hashtags, alt text, overlays when the format allows).
7. If generation failed entirely, open failed jobs from Create home and note whether retry is offered. See Retry a failed generation.
8. If Slack reports a limit, review usage on the Settings billing view.

Fix it

Sharpen inputs first. Add concrete details to the caption or prompt, lock platform and format, and set taxonomy or workflow fields your team expects. Regenerate after those changes.

Tune brand knowledge. Add or edit knowledge entries that define approved voice, product facts, and offers. Without them, AI falls back to generic copy. See Knowledge base and brand voice.

Regenerate field by field. Use AI actions on individual fields instead of replacing the entire post each time. Edit manually and save when one field is close enough.

Recover from failed generation. When the draft shows a failed generation state, open failed jobs from Create home and retry when offered.

Resolve limit messages. If Slack blocks generation with a limit message, review billing usage and plan limits before you try again.

Confirm the fix

The saved draft matches brand voice closely enough to schedule or send for approval. After knowledge updates, regeneration produces noticeably closer copy within one or two attempts. Failed-generation retries complete and the draft reaches a saved or queued state without repeating the same error.

Prevent it next time

• Keep knowledge entries current and marked for AI use before creators run bulk generation.
• Select platform and format before attaching media or running AI actions.
• Scope posts with campaign and pillar fields when your workflow depends on them.
• Regenerate one field at a time when only part of the draft needs adjustment.
• Monitor AI usage on the billing view if your team generates at high volume.

Contact support

Escalate when generation succeeds but ignores knowledge entries you confirmed are active, or when every attempt fails with a limit or billing message after you upgraded. Send support the workspace name, brand, platform, format, approximate time of the attempt, and whether the draft ended in a failed generation state or saved with unusable text.

Related reading: AI generation and rendering and Generate a single post.