The other day, I was struck by how much my workday has changed since AI appeared. I still spend a lot of time in front of a computer, but the way I work is drastically different. Most of the tools and apps we use at Frankly have been pumped full of AI features. They can be incredibly useful for speeding up some of our drudgier tasks, but they often leave me with the vague feeling that something is off.
Some days I love the way AI helps me to develop an idea, to imagine weird and wonderful possibilities, then bring them to life in a fraction of the time it took me before. Other days I hate its generic suggestions, its inconsistencies, and its sycophantic tone. My feelings are ambivalent; I have a love-hate relationship with AI.
The old dilemmas we used to face at work have been replaced by new ones. At Frankly, we find ourselves constantly drawing and re-drawing the boundaries of where and how AI should be used. It’s not always clear. What is clear is the way that AI has affected our industry.
When AI first hit the headlines, there was a lot of doomsaying about its impact on the creative world. The logic behind it wasn’t very nuanced: if machines can churn out creative content instantly, why would we need humans?
But it has quickly become apparent that content solely generated by AI is just not good. It’s inauthentic, lifeless, sometimes downright cringey. And, time and again, we’ve witnessed companies who rely on it discover the detrimental impact it has on brand perception.
As creatives, we know why this is. Sure, some of these tools are ingenious, but there is no replacing human creativity. Humans have an innate understanding of context and nuance that allows us to constantly find new ways to inspire and connect with each other. Creatives play with context to make you feel something. To delight, shock or excite you. To take you on a journey. To build up tension, then resolve it in unexpected ways. The way we communicate cannot be reduced to a mathematical formula, however complex. There is no algorithmic replacement for empathy.
As LLMs and AI overviews displace the traditional search engine, human creativity is needed more than ever. Brands now have two audiences: humans, and the agents who scrape factual and verifiable data about brands for search and enquiry results.
That’s why our approach, the Flip, addresses both. To succeed in this new era, brands need to optimise their content for AI agents, while connecting with their audiences on an authentic, human level. Successful brands inspire. They leave an unforgettable impression. So the stakes are high. An over-reliance on AI risks the one thing that is guaranteed to destroy a business: indifference.
Things move fast in the world of AI. And while no one really knows where it will all land, our philosophy is unchanging: AI can be used to augment human creativity. But it can never, and should never, replace it. In a world where AI-generated content abounds, only the truly, authentically creative will stand out.
The Flip
A new way of marketing so people get the emotional connection and agents get the evidence they need - all in one go.
