In the Rush to Create AI Content, Businesses Should Keep Their Promises to Customers

A business can publish something polished and still leave people unsure of what it stands for. An advertisement might attract attention without explaining why the product matters. A website might sound professional while saying little that customers could not find elsewhere. Producing the material is only part of the job.

Consumer attitudes give businesses a reason to consider what comes next. The 2026 Bentley University-Gallup Business in Society survey found that 49% of Americans viewed businesses’ use of AI to create advertisements negatively, compared with 19% who viewed it positively. These responses measure attitudes, rather than purchasing behavior, but they deserve attention.

I believe businesses should approach AI-assisted communication with a clear question. Does this help us express something meaningful to the people we serve? That question deserves an answer before speed, cost, or the appeal of trying something new becomes the deciding factor.

Leaders should establish what their communications need to achieve and give employees time to question work that falls short. AI can contribute to the process, but the business remains responsible for everything published under its name. A faster production process should still leave room for careful judgment.

In my work in brand strategy, I return to the difference between visibility and clarity. Visibility means someone encountered a business. Clarity means they understood something about it. Paying to place a message in front of people can help with the first. The message itself has to earn the second.

That distinction matters when deciding whether to follow a creative trend. A playful approach may suit one business and feel misplaced for another. Experimentation has value when it serves a purpose. Simply adopting a format because other companies are using it offers little guidance about what customers should take away.

Customers should be able to recognize a connection between what a business promises and how it presents itself. A company that emphasizes attention to detail should apply that care to its communications. Otherwise, the gap may invite questions about whether the same shortcuts appear elsewhere.

I encountered a website where the published copy still included an AI assistant’s offer to make the text more formal. What concerned me was the apparent absence of review. Unfinished material had been allowed to represent the business publicly. Reading the page before publication could have caught the problem.

That experience raises a broader question about responsibility. Who decides whether the output is ready? If nobody clearly owns that decision, material can move from generation to publication without a meaningful check of its accuracy, relevance, or usefulness.

There is also room for a more constructive approach. The same Gallup survey found that 75% of U.S. adults considered it acceptable for businesses to use AI to help employees brainstorm ideas or create early advertising drafts when that use was clearly disclosed. Acceptance depends partly on the role the technology plays.

I see useful applications in exploring alternatives and investigating problems. In programming, I use AI to help examine issues, while retaining responsibility for what I am trying to build. Creative work deserves similar discipline. A team needs a purpose for the assistance and standards against which to assess the result.

For smaller businesses, that offers a practical opportunity. They can focus on explaining their work through details customers recognize and value. An honest account of how a service operates may communicate more than an elaborate production with little connection to the business. AI could help refine that explanation without determining its substance.

Before approving AI-assisted content, leaders should require a named reviewer to check its accuracy, its consistency with customer expectations, and its usefulness. Teams should have permission to revise or reject material that fails those checks. Testing a draft with customers can also reveal whether the intended message is coming through.

Handled thoughtfully, these practices could help businesses experiment while preserving the care people expect. Without them, producing more content may simply create more opportunities for confusion. The goal should be communication that earns attention and supports trust over time. Every new tool should serve a purpose the business is prepared to stand behind.