Keen to authentically connect with customers? AI isn’t worth the risk
08/01/2026
The age of AI is still picking up speed. We’re only just scratching the surface of its potential wonders — and dangers.
Already, the risks of embracing AI’s “faster, cheaper, simpler” model are becoming obvious for businesses. We all know cheaper isn’t usually better, and for all its promised speed and efficiency, AI is no exception.
For businesses keen to utilise a magazine or other custom publications to tell their stories and foster a special connection with customers, there is much to be wary of.
AI is your friend - up to a point
AI is an invaluable assistant for rote tasks such as automating workflows and interpreting raw data. But attempts to replicate human emotion and sensitivity have been clumsy, at best. AI’s demonstrable flaws include lack of nuance, no understanding of uniquely human traits such as care, empathy and identity, and a poor grasp of the concepts of quality or craftsmanship.
At worst, putting a key customer relationship management tool such as a magazine in the hands of AI could pitch your business into a legal minefield. Without active human oversight, there’s the risk of reputational or financial damage resulting from AI “hallucination” (a documented propensity to fabricate facts, or change their context to suit an argument) or sourcing unverified or copyrighted materials.
A customer-facing magazine should be an impactful representation of your business’s values, laced with warmth and integrity. AI-driven systems may be able to create a cheaper, faster magazine, but readers quickly disengage when content feels generic or inattentive to their needs.
The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer found that audiences are significantly more sceptical of content they believe is AI-generated. And in print, where permanence implies authority, an error or tonal misstep can actively damage brand credibility and alienate readers.
Storytelling matters, now more than ever
Skilled human writers and editors draw on lived experience, cultural nuance and narrative instinct to weave together a customised narrative. They understand not just what to say, but how and why to say it for a specific audience.
As writer Paul van Gool noted in his Paul’s World column on Medium: “Brand storytelling emotionally connects a brand with its customers. The winning brand stories involve emotions and experiences, and mandate action being taken now and not later. Narratives such as these help brands to have a voice, to make them seem human, and to connect with their public.”
“The brands that are winning right now are the ones that are most authentic and human and relatable.”
In fact, human storytelling is more crucial than ever before, reports the Wall Street Journal. Google Cloud, Microsoft and military financial services company USAA have all recently advertised for specialist ‘storytellers’ to build out their brand utilising the warmth, wittiness and unique perspectives that only the human brain can command.
With the mainstream media facing challenging economic conditions and ‘earned’ media harder to come by than ever, it has become ever more necessary for brands to get on the front foot to establish a ‘voice’ to tell their own stories.
‘The AI slop of it all’
Steve Hirsch, the CEO and co-founder of New York-based communications firm Hirsch Leatherwood, told the WSJ that brands were approaching him seeking a content, rather than PR, strategy.
“The AI slop of it all creates so much distrust, and they see that the brands that are winning right now are the ones that are most authentic and human and relatable,” Hirsch says.
It all serves to bring AI’s limitations into sharp focus, and is a testament that authenticity and emotional intelligence are still the key to telling stories that resonate with readers – in any type of media, but especially in magazines.