Let’s talk about something no marketer or PR professional can really avoid: AI marketing.

Just a few years ago, AI was being hailed as "the industrial revolution of marketing". But today, the conversations feel very different. We're now seeing concerns around content overload, user fatigue and industry soul‑searching. So, for those of us in the eye of the storm, how should we navigate this crisis of trust?

1. Building the Tower: From Useful Tool to Industry Default in Just Three Years

The story of AI in marketing really began about a decade ago.

Back in the mid-2010s, AI was mainly associated with “precision targeting”. Sure, it was technically impressive, but not exactly exciting. The real turning point came in 2022, when generative AI tools – led by ChatGPT – exploded onto the scene. Overnight, copy, images and even video scripts could all be produced at the click of a button – and the market went wild.

The numbers don’t lie: by 2024, nearly 90% of marketing teams worldwide were using AI. Chinese companies went even further, with almost 80% of their marketing content showing clear signs of AI. The reasons were obvious: costs fell by up to 90%, efficiency surged 100-fold, and average ROI rose by more than 30%.

Almost overnight, AI stopped being a “nice to have” and became a business essential. For users, the initial experience was also genuinely impressive. It felt as if a new era of smarter, more efficient and more personalised marketing had truly arrived.

The problem was that this was only the beginning of the story.

2. The Tower Collapses: A Structural Betrayal of Trust

When I sat down to write this, I decided to ask an AI a question: “At this point, has AI betrayed people’s trust?”

Its answer was surprisingly direct: yes – and not just AI, but the entire industry.

Whether you agree with that assessment or not, it gets to the heart of the issue. Because what we’re really facing is a structural, industry‑wide betrayal. The original promise of “more accuracy, more reliability, and more understanding” has morphed into “more accurate at producing low-value content, more efficient at extraction, and more subtle in eroding trust”.

Why did people trust AI in the first place? Well, at first, it seemed to fulfil its promise. Users felt that AI genuinely understood their needs. Businesses saw dramatic gains in efficiency and cost savings.

But then something shifted.

Users started to notice that while targeting was indeed more accurate, the content felt hollow and formulaic. So‑called "customised" messages turned out to be little more than standard templates with a few keywords changed. And therein lies the issue. When precision targeting meets dirt‑cheap mass production, scale starts to work against quality. We’re left with algorithms swamping users with AI‑generated rubbish with unprecedented efficiency.

The uncomfortable truth is that the so‑called “friend who understands you best” began to use that understanding to exploit you and squeeze more value from you.

This isn't a technical problem; it’s a problem of misaligned objectives. When KPIs, conversions and cost‑cutting become the only priorities, the user experience and trust get pushed aside, and disappointment becomes inevitable.

At its core, the issue isn't that AI has betrayed humanity. It’s that some people have used AI to betray their users' trust.

3. The Cycle: History Always Repeats Itself

Some people ask: isn't AI marketing just SEO in a new guise?

In many ways, yes. Today’s AI marketing deadlock looks a lot like the "wild SEO" era we saw more than a decade ago. Back then, brands chased traffic through keyword stuffing, mass‑produced pseudo‑original content, and link-building farms. Today, we see similar behaviour taking a different form: template-driven copy, formulaic seeding tactics and bulk content dumping to grab attention. 

But history tells us that simply retreating to traditional SEO isn’t the answer. The landscape has changed: search behaviour is shifting towards AI conversations, users are more discerning, and anti‑spam algorithms are getting smarter.

The real way forward is not to reject AI, but to combine it with the essence of good SEO – creating genuine value and solving user problems. AI can dramatically improve efficiency, but it still needs to be guided by human judgement, responsibility, and empathy.

Tools themselves are neither good nor bad; it’s what we do with them that matters.

As the noise dies down, a consensus is emerging within the industry: AI can deliver faster, greater, cheaper, more targeted content, but it can’t deliver sincerity, conscience, taste, empathy or values.

AI is an amplifier. It can amplify creativity and efficiency, but it can just as easily amplify poor judgement and mediocrity. Only humans can define a brand’s character, conscience and soul.

What does this mean for the marketing industry? For professional firms, business models built on low‑end outsourcing and cheap labour will come under increasing pressure. In contrast, firms that truly understand strategy, human nature, public opinion and brand positioning – those built around people – will see their value rise. The same shift is happening at the individual level. Practitioners with roles focused solely on execution and template-based production will be replaced, while those who can guide AI, inject soul into its content, and apply critical judgement will become much more valuable.

AI removes the grunt work. It makes judgement, creativity and strategic thinking even more precious.

4. Breaking the Deadlock: What Do Clients Want, and What Can We Offer?

In the face of a trust crisis triggered by the prevalence of “AI rubbish”, savvy clients are focused on three key risks: losing their brand voice, damaging their reputation, and wasting their marketing budget. This is where the core value of PR and marketing agencies becomes clearer – not in selling AI tech, but by building a three-tiered safeguard for AI: humanity, professionalism and safety.

So, what does that look like in practice? Here are five ways agencies and marketing teams can help clients navigate the AI era without sacrificing trust:

• Define "human touch" standards

Create a brand-specific tone of voice, persona and set of non-negotiable boundaries. Avoid using a generic AI boilerplate.

• Dual review by human and machine

Let AI handle high‑volume first drafts, then have experienced copywriters and strategists refine the work – adding real stories, emotional texture and industry insight, while weeding out hallucinations and empty marketing language.

 • Design human‑centred scenarios

Some moments just can’t be automated. For things like festive greetings, user stories and niche community engagement, use genuine empathy to create communications with real warmth.

• Build AI‑era reputation safeguards

Set up monitoring for AI‑generated content and public sentiment, define crisis response plans, and strictly uphold compliance and ethical boundaries.

• Start small and let the data speak for itself

Run small, low‑risk pilots and measure for both efficiency gains and brand impact. Learn what works, refine the approach, then scale up gradually – no overselling, no empty promises.

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A final word to all the PR and marketing professionals who are still holding the line on “human touch” in this tug‑of‑war:

The AI wave is reshaping the industry, but it’s also highlighting what truly cannot be replaced.

Marketing has always been about human connection. AI is not the end point; if anything, it may be the catalyst for pushing our industry back towards its original purpose. The technology may become commonplace, but the warmth, empathy and authenticity of human connection will remain the ultimate code we use to recognise and trust one another.