Is human-made the new handmade?

Opinion – Week in Focus

To kick-start this week’s AI-focused editorial special, the director of Advertising Week Europe shares findings on what the rise of the ‘human premium’ means for brands and businesses.

Since ChatGPT’s arrival in late 2022, AI has woven itself into the fabric of our everyday lives; the questions we ask, the decisions we make, and the help we reach for throughout the day. It has transformed from a loud, novel presence into something far more embedded – shaping how we think, work, and navigate the world. 

The conversation has shifted from “do you use” to “what platform do you use” at rapid speed, shooting past the jokey test prompts to an inevitable reliance on its efficiency for the mundane. The unpredictable sass still makes me smile, though I keep an eye out for the occasional hallucination. 

In business, the race to keep pace is relentless, accelerating adoption across operations, content, and customer experience to remain competitive. It seems that not engaging with AI increasingly risks being left behind.

However, beneath the ubiquity of this technology, research from Advertising Week Europe and Cint has found a striking contradiction in the UK’s attitudes towards AI – and one that carries significant implications for the advertising and marketing industry.

AI for me, not for brands

The research reveals that while almost three-quarters of people now use AI in their personal lives, they are far more sceptical when it is used by others – particularly brands and institutions.

This discomfort becomes more pronounced depending on the context. In general, we seem happy when AI is used to create marketing to promote travel and gaming. It drops sharply in scenarios and sectors most commonly associated with greater responsibility, including government and healthcare.

What emerges is a ‘rule for me, not for you’ dynamic that reflects deeper sentiments surrounding control and trust. When individuals use AI, they are in the driving seat, able to question, refine, and ultimately own the outcome. When brands or institutions use it, that sense of control and visibility disappears.

For marketers, this distinction is critical. Trust is not simply about the output AI produces, but about who is using it, and whether consumers feel confident in the intent and accountability behind it.

The emergence of a human premium

At a time when AI is supposed to be accelerating everything, people are signalling the opposite: that speed isn’t always the priority. More than half of the people we spoke with said they would rather wait five days for a human-produced report than receive a faster, AI-generated version with lower accuracy.

Think about that for a moment: this is more than a simple preference for quality over convenience. It reflects a deeper recalibration of value.

The dominant narrative so far has been about AI-driven productivity gains and doing more, faster, at scale. But as the reality of its costs rises – be that due to errors, hallucinations and reputational damage – consumers and employees alike are showing a growing willingness to trade efficiency for trust, accountability, and the new artisan trademark of the human touch.

The transparency paradox

This shift is already creating a dilemma for brands. Although almost two-thirds believe companies have a duty to disclose when AI is used in content creation, over a third say that doing so makes them view the brand more negatively – leaving advertisers and marketers in a creative impasse.

This tension is set to become increasingly significant as regulation evolves as well. From August this year, the EU AI Act will require companies to clearly disclose the use of AI-generated content.

As disclosure shifts from optional to mandatory, brands may find themselves penalised for the very transparency consumers say they want – forcing a recalibration not just of how AI is used, but how that use is communicated in marketing and brand positioning.

In moves that feel reminiscent of the highly decorated Dove Real Beauty movement (incidentally a brand that declared that it would not use AI in any of its ads back in 2024), we may be entering a market where ‘human-made’ or ‘no AI was used in the making’ becomes a powerful signifier of quality; the modern equivalent of the ‘handmade’ tagline, the stamp of care and uniqueness.

Automation or authenticity

While AI adoption will no doubt continue to accelerate across the industry, these new findings suggest that the narrative around its value is evolving, too.

The opportunity for brands is no longer simply to automate more, but to be far more deliberate – to understand where AI adds value, and where it risks undermining it.

In some cases, AI will unlock efficiency and creativity in ways that genuinely enhance a product, an experience, or help a small business reach audiences previously inaccessible. In others, its use may erode the trust a brand is trying to build.

Because in a landscape increasingly saturated with synthetic content, consumers want the real, handcrafted material. And for brands looking to differentiate, that marker might just become the ultimately premium.

Katie Ingram is the director of Advertising Week Europe