We have never been this disconnected

We are in a unique position because Gen Z is a fundamentally different generation than the ones before them, and understanding them brings new challenges. But reading research around human- and AI-led advertising made me realise how disconnected we, as an industry, are from what everyday people are searching for and, somehow, “forced” to deal with.

What people actually feel about AI-generated ads

Some of the research shows that Gen Z often has negative feelings when an ad is generated by AI, viewing it as cheap and lacking personality. They can easily tell the difference between human-made and machine-made creative. End users also value transparency, and they support an "AI-generated" label on the creative.

On the ad industry side, I read daily that we are involving more and more AI decisioning and ad execution. That makes me wonder: if we use these technologies, will we potentially generate a negative feeling toward the brand that is associated with AI-led production or campaign execution? Because that is a brand association as well.

The balance between value and risk

I also wonder about the balance: AI can create value and improve efficiency, but it cannot be applied to everything. Pushing and racing in this “competition” will likely show its downside very soon. One downside will be fragmentation instead of unification. Models and programs will have different standards, even though we try to govern them. It feels like they are becoming a virtual community or society that we have to regulate. Just as we have people who break rules, we will have malicious machine activity, and the scariest thing will be the scale of just one inappropriate action by them.

People feel that AI is great when it comes to drafting, helping people at their weakest points, or genuinely saving time and effort, but they value human creativity when it comes to images and visuals.

“According to research, around 30% to 36% of everyday consumers say they are less likely to buy from or trust a brand if they know its marketing is primarily AI-generated.”

The long-term cost of short-term comfort

Another aspect of AI reliance is that short-term comfort might bring long-term risk—namely, that the human mind will lose its creativity, problem-solving capabilities, and interpersonal skills. The general population is fine using AI assistance when it comes to pattern-based tasks, but when it comes to personal preferences or sensitive topics, they feel the need to discuss them with another human who has real feelings, as opposed to receiving a programmed answer.

And now we arrive at another sensitive topic: jobs and living standards. Many of us have a fear of losing jobs and a lack of trust in AI-generated outcomes and answers. There is widespread uncertainty and concern, especially given the risks of deepfakes and voice cloning.

Gen Z is the most resistant audience

Coming back to Gen Z: they are among the most resistant. They hunger for human-created content and images, and they will even turn away from brands that heavily use AI.

AI can bring great things to our lives, but zooming in on our advertising industry, QuintworX would prefer a human-led, AI-supported setup in all cases. Time cannot be the only metric measured, and great outcomes rely on human experience and knowledge that is accelerated, not replaced. First-hand communication still has to be human-to-human. Messaging and creative assets should stay in the hands of humans who use AI as a tool to pursue excellence, not the other way around.

Agentic AI has a place — a limited one

Agentic AI can be useful in low-risk, highly repetitive, pattern-based tasks. But when it comes to projects that require intuition and human interaction, we need the human soul as our biggest asset.

Test and learn, but don’t race. AI is not a match to win. Using it as a tool only when it makes sense will bring true success to a business.

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Source: Rival Tech. | Reddit | Medium

PS: human written, AI edited.