AI Can’t Replace Creative Strategy

Don’t expect human innovation from artificial intelligence. AI Can’t Replace Creative Strategy

We love a good tool, especially if it makes our jobs easier and more efficient. BUT let’s cut through the fluff and tell it like it is. Shocking coming from us, right?! 

AI is not your creative director, and it’s definitely not your brand’s best friend.

We know it’s easy to get caught up and let AI automate everything, “Make it faster!” “Never think again!” But if you let AI run the whole branding show, you’re not just speeding things up, you’re dumbing things down. 

AI Doesn’t Know What Works. You Do.

AI can’t have an opinion; it doesn’t have a perspective. It doesn’t have a vibe. It simply reflects whatever energy or information you feed it. It doesn’t know your rockstar client, your market, or what makes your offer worth stopping for. If you’re not thinking clearly, it isn’t either.

It won’t say, “Hey, that headline slaps. Don’t touch it!”
It won’t pause and ask, “But why are you even doing this campaign?”
It definitely won’t tell you, “This is already brilliant. Walk away.”  (We will, though!)

Because AI is wired to tweak, to shift, to “improve” endlessly. And in brand and marketing strategy, more edits don’t always mean better ideas.

Real Strategy Is Real Human

Great branding is about gut instinct, storytelling, empathy, timing, and knowing what not to change. It’s looking at a word and saying, “That’s it. That’s us.” It’s recognizing when the energy is off before a customer ever sees the tagline. And no bot can do that. Sure, it might be easy to plug your text into ChatGPT and say, “make it sound better/more professional/fun,” etc., but no matter how polished it gets, it’s still not your voice, and it certainly doesn’t know your audience like you do.

Will we continue to use AI for rough drafts, idea generation, and possibly even help with name generation on a Wednesday at 11 pm? Absolutely. We’re not monsters. But letting it drive the entire creative process? NO! We still believe in using our brains because if we don’t, they’ll turn to mush, and honestly, Blaze wasn’t built to churn out vanilla brands. This study demonstrates that AI can help increase individual creativity in written work, but it may compromise novelty.

Other recent studies have shown that overuse and even regular use of AI can lead to cognitive atrophy and a decline in critical thinking, as well as emotional ramifications, according to a study by MIT. 

For many of our clients and other thought leaders, that is a red flag as their brands, reputations, and hell, even their businesses, depend on their continued insights. 

Just imagine if the authors of books like Storybrand, Start With Why, and The 5 Second Rule had not spent time ideating, fleshing out the idea, testing their theories, and refining them to put them out in the world? We may have been deprived of their creative intelligence and therefore wouldn’t benefit from their wisdom. 

Who Ya Gonna Trust?

Even the Founder of Open AI doesn’t think we should trust it.

According to Google, the QUALITY of your content is becoming more important than ever. To be visible in Search, you must create original, high-quality, people-first content that adheres to the E-E-A-T principles (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). 

Google doesn’t care whether a human or a bot generated the content, so you can use AI-generated content, but AI tends to replicate what is already out there in some form or fashion. If your content is the same or similar to your competitor’s (using redundant words or phrases, concepts, or cited studies), neither of your sites will make it to the top. 

Keywords will be less important in search as your authority will be the future of SEO…and how do you position yourself as an authority? Through your original content! Exhibiting your thought leadership with clarity and a compelling message gives you something to feed AI so your messaging is consistent with your personality, style, voice, mood, and tone. 

So, who ya gonna trust? Blaze Experts! We can help you build a foundational brand that enables you to craft compelling content and sales language that feels authentic and resonates with your audience. 

In addition to skill decay and the risk to mental agility in the workforce, Forbes reports that the use of AI is eroding trust in certain organizations. And if it’s eroding trust in the organization, it stands to reason, it will erode the trust the Google Bots place in your website’s content, limiting how you show up in SEO and GEO (Generative  Engine Optimization—these are the AI summaries with high visibility in AI-driven search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and those Google AI overviews at the top of your Google search page).  

Who Gives a Sh*t About Values? Not AI!

Generative AI models can sometimes produce fabricated, incorrect information with non-existent sources. In other words, AI hallucinates and lies!

A Blaze client recently pasted a brain dump of her notes into ChatGPT, asking it to organize the information and draft an e-book chapter for her on the subject so she could use that as her starting point to flesh out the chapter. The chapter drafted included a case study of how our client had helped one of their clients. It cited the person, the company, and the town, along with growth statistics — all of which were completely untrue. In fact, that company and town did not exist! And the 70% plus growth in one week? Didn’t happen. This highly convincing false information, if used to publish her e-book, could have negatively impacted her credibility. Good thing she was paying attention!

One thing AI does have in common with humans is bias, though. Since it is trained on data that may be skewed or discriminatory, it can perpetuate societal biases. After all, the “P” in ChatGPT stands for “pre-trained.”

Use It, But Don’t Be Used By It

AI is a tool. A sharp one. But just like any power tool, it can do serious damage if you don’t know how to use it, or worse, if you forget to think while you’re using it.

Let it support your spark. Don’t hand over the match because it just isn’t dependable.

Want to Know Where AI Fits In Your Brand?

We’re all about using AI without losing your voice, your vibe, or your edge. We are dedicated to supporting your authenticity (and validity), too.  If you’ve been feeling like your messaging is starting to sound a little… robotic, or if you’re curious about how to work smarter without handing over your brand soul to the algorithm, let’s talk and figure out what’s worth tweaking and what’s already 🔥.