Written by Victoria O’Neill

This year’s HumAIn conference by Unmade was a cracker.

From meeting the creator of Australia’s first AI-generated celebrity and influencer, Bruce Ryder, to watching a full AI generated voice ad be created in just 8 minutes – the sessions were entertaining, inspiring and worrisome.

As we were continually reminded in the day’s sessions – brands walk a fine line when trying to harness the speed and autonomy of AI to accurately represent their offering, values and culture.

While creativity is key to cut-through, trust is the real foundation brands should be focusing on when it comes to AI adoption.

Reputations at risk

Remember that time the Princess of Wales was accused of ‘fraud’ for using an AI tool to ‘fix’ a family photo and the world went mad? Well individuals and brands are still getting it wrong.

From biased or offensive chatbots, AI-generated content copyright infringements and unchecked sources or partnerships – reputations (and more) are being put on the line every day.

Every AI-driven brand strategy should include adaptive governance and have human-oversight to maintain trust and credibility.

Embedding trust in AI-led customer interactions

The next leap forward for brands will be the shift from AI as a tool, to becoming its own autonomous agent. Agentic AI will reshape the way many brands interact with customers with the tech capable of making decisions and adapting dynamically in real time.

However, organisations must ensure these systems align with the ethical standards and expectations of their audience or customer base. Trust, transparency and bias mitigation must be embedded in all AI-driven interactions.

AI cultural alignment

While the use of AI may no longer be a novelty for brands, few have done a good job at articulating when, and how, they will use it as part of their brand strategy.

From creative disputes about AI generated content to unease over the use and storage of campaign data – it is imperative that employees and partners have a clear understanding of technology’s role.

A code of ethics is a great way to ensure AI cultural alignment from within your organisation to all stakeholders and customers.

Are you looking to use AI in your next brand strategy? To ensure you’re facilitating an environment that builds trust with customers, get in touch with Victoria at victoria@impactagency.com.au.