Automation Anxiety
There’s a quiet crisis brewing in marketing teams everywhere.
Creative work that once required specialized talent can now be approximated with a few well-written prompts.
We’re just beginning to scratch the surface of what AI can do. And with every new feature and every new discovery, we’re left awestruck and spellbound by its potential.
But beneath the surface, a division is forming in marketing teams everywhere.
On one side: Strategists and enthusiasts marveling at AI's capabilities, automating everything they can, and sharing with fervent amazement what these tools can produce.
On the other: Creative professionals—writers, designers, illustrators—in the midst of an existential crisis as they watch their craft become quickly commoditized.
To be clear: This isn't another "authenticity vs. automation" debate.
But the undercurrents of the conversation are worth exploring. Because between all the breathless banter about AI breakthroughs and cautionary tales about creativity lost, there’s a restless buzz of apprehension—the sound of opposing sides reacting to the same economic pressures from different positions of power.
Different Positions, Same Pressure
When executives celebrate saving thousands of hours of work thanks to AI, it doesn’t mean they believe it delivers superior results. They're feeling relief from the immense pressure they’re under to deliver more with less.
Their excitement masks the underlying knowledge that their job depends on aggressive efficiency goals that were impossible to hit a year ago.
Still, the language they use is telling.
Creative work is often framed as a "cost center" instead of an investment. Content creation is framed as a "nightmare" to be solved. Execs applaud cutting costs while brand is reduced to a line item on a budget sheet.
Meanwhile, creative professionals are boiling in an existential crisis. They’ve spent years mastering a craft that’s suddenly deemed "automatable." When your life's work becomes an algorithm’s parlor trick, you begin to question what the future holds for your profession.
This tension isn't visible in boardrooms or strategy meetings.
It's felt in quiet moments of anxiety:
When a CMO scrolls through budget sheets by lamp light, knowing they need to cut another 15% before this week’s board meeting
When a talented copywriter solemnly updates her resume, wondering whether 15 years of experience is now worth less than $20 per month
When creatives compare their rate to the pennies it costs AI to rip off their life's work
It’s the same economic anxiety from two different sides—one side with power to make decisions, and one subject to those decisions. Both sides are responding to the immense pressures to do exponentially more with continuously less.
A Paradoxical Response
Here's where it gets interesting. As companies rush toward AI-powered efficiency, audiences are beginning to move in the opposite direction—developing a heightened sensitivity for anything that feels fake.
It's the Uncanny Valley of content—somewhere deep down, people can tell when something's off. Even if it's a close simulation, there are nuances to creative work that trained eyes catch consciously, but most only see subconsciously.
The result is a strange paradox: We're optimizing for production while our audience is filtering for authenticity.
The marketing world is experiencing its own version of the Innovator's Dilemma. Companies invest heavily in automation to gain a competitive edge, only to discover they're perfecting something their audience is increasingly tuning out.
Here’s What’s Happening
The rise of AI democratized access to baseline creative quality. Anyone with an internet connection and a keyboard can now produce content that looks and sounds…good enough.
The technical barrier to entry has virtually disappeared.
Meanwhile, companies realize they can save a lot of money if they cut back creative budget. And they’re converging on the same AI-generated tactics to fill the gap.
That, in turn, is creating the exact opposite of differentiation. It's like showing up to a trade show where every booth has nearly identical messaging with different logos slapped on.
The market’s response?
The sameness becomes a dull background hum that audiences begin to filter out
Distinctly human work stands out as a bright spot against a tapestry of monotony
Truly creative content becomes exponentially more valuable because it's increasingly harder to find
When people are anxious about their economic future, they don't have patience for content that wastes their time.
Nobody wakes up excited to "unlock the full potential of their tech stack." They want connection, understanding, and relief from the pressure. They want tangible solutions to their very human problems.
What Both Sides Get Right
The tension between companies and creatives isn't about resisting change vs. embracing progress. Both sides are making valid points in response to real pressures and opportunities.
AI enthusiasts are right about several things:
Content creation has genuinely become more efficient, with tools that can generate solid first drafts in seconds
The volume of work required for modern marketing is virtually impossible to produce manually at scale
Many repetitive aspects of creative work (like writing basic product descriptions or collecting data) don't require human creativity
Meanwhile, creatives are equally correct that:
AI still struggles with originality, emotional resonance, and cultural nuance
The quality gap between AI-generated and human-created work remains painfully obvious to discerning audiences
Strategic creative thinking—understanding why something works beyond just how to make it—remains a uniquely human trait
So, what can we do?
The Choice
Marketing leaders face a fundamental decision about AI's role in their organization.
Teams who only chase efficiency will use AI to cut creative talent, surrendering their content to the same cheap robot labor that almost every other company employs.
Teams who value creativity will use AI to finally free their creatives from the spreadsheet swamp of sadness, clearing the way for memorable, meaningful work that reminds people there are still humans behind the brand.
The solution, in my mind, leans more toward the latter.
Give your creatives time to think, strategize, and push new ideas beyond what’s obvious. Automate mundane tasks as much as possible. And set clear boundaries to protect your creative capital.
AI is a powerful tool for every marketer to do more with less—just don’t overlook the value of the human touch behind it.
Worth Noting
Companies Are Hedging Their AI Bets - Forward-thinking organizations are increasingly viewing AI as a way to enhance human capabilities rather than replace them. Adobe's 2025 AI and Digital Trends report found that 80% of senior executives plan to increase spending on new technology, but 69% also plan to increase spending on talent, recognizing that "technology investment isn't replacing people...success takes more than just adopting new tools."
AI Isn’t Always Easy to Spot - Humans can barely distinguish between AI and human-written content, with accuracy landing under 40% (no better than a random guess). Audiences claim to value authenticity, but they’re not so good at identifying it.
The ‘Show Me Your Work’ Movement - People are turned off by businesses when they learn that so-called “heartfelt” content is generated by AI. The authenticity penalty is especially severe for emotional content compared to factual information, suggesting a clear boundary line that brands shouldn't cross.
Try This
Here’s an exercise to find where AI can free up your team's creative capacity without threatening their value:
Map Their Workload: Have your team track their work for one week, categorizing tasks as something like:
"Robot work" (repetitive, formula-driven, data-processing)
"Human work" (strategic thinking, creative concepting, emotional storytelling)
"Hybrid work" (tasks that benefit from both human insight and AI efficiency)
Identify the Low-Hanging Fruit: Look for tasks where team members spend significant time on "robot work" that could be automated, like:
Writing first drafts for formulaic content (product descriptions, instructions, summaries)
Image creation for social channels or background visuals
Basic research and data gathering
Address the Anxiety: Address fears head-on with your creative team. Position AI as their copilot, not their replacement. Try saying: "We need your expertise to pilot these AI tools effectively. Your job isn't at risk, it's evolving. Your creative judgment and strategic thinking are more valuable than ever."
Set Clear Boundaries: Decide and document which creative assets must always have predominant human involvement (brand voice, flagship content, strategic messaging) vs. where AI can take the lead.
This simple exercise creates transparency, reduces anxiety, and helps your team see AI as an ally rather than a threat.
Napkin Notes
The corporate voice itself has become a liability. When company communications sound so artificially different from how real humans talk, it signals to audiences that the company doesn't understand—or worse, doesn't care about—the real human experience.
"What if execution becomes so cheap, so automated, that the idea itself becomes the rare commodity?" A thought-provoking statement from this brilliant article by Tim Metz.
“There are no vital and significant forms of art; there is only art, and precious little of that. The growth of populations has in no way increased the amount; it has merely increased the adeptness with which substitutes can be produced and packaged.” Raymond Chandler wrote that in 1944. It still rings true.