AI translating hype into strategy

Watch a summary of our panel discussion side event during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, which has sparked debates about the strategic and ethical uses of AI.

Marketing and news production teams are becoming very adept at using AI tools to scale content production, personalise messaging and reduce costs. They are learning fast how best to use it to develop images, video and written content to accelerate output and amplify creativity.

Yet there is growing consumer scepticism, with audiences increasingly questioning the authenticity of the content as the line between AI-generated, AI-enhanced and AI-free content blurs. This is leading to negative reactions and an erosion of trust in all content, whether it is AI-generated or not.

Some brands are beginning to use that authenticity as a competitive advantage, with ‘guaranteed human’ pledges. Others are seeking a middle ground, using AI selectively to enhance quality and efficiency, without replacing the human creativity, judgment and lived experience that audiences value.

What is very clear is that human-driven storytelling remains essential for trust-building, differentiation and credibility.

Collectively, content generators, regulators and consumers need to find an acceptable balance between the efficiencies AI brings and the authenticity of human-generated content.

What is very clear is that human-driven storytelling remains essential for trust-building, differentiation and credibility.

However, regulation inevitably lags behind technological development and that regulation is fragmented. Australia has, for example, banned under 16s from accessing social media. Wisconsin, in the US, is proposing to criminalise non-consensual deepfake pornography and require disclosure of synthetic media in political advertising. And the EU wants labelling for AI-generated content.

Given the global nature of information, the ideal would be international standards. But that could take many years.

In the meantime, organisations need to follow the path of sophistication by embracing AI to provide efficiencies, while continuing to use human creativity for authenticity.