The age of content abundance has arrived! Generative AI has enabled businesses and individuals to create more content than ever before. But there’s a real danger that your content will sink in a ‘sea of sameness’.

Trust in the age of AI in marketing. Find out how:

• Attitudes to AI have changed
• Trust is a differentiator in the age of AI in marketing
• Integrity is more valuable than content

According to a report on The Future of Marketing with GenAI, “63% of creative professionals are concerned that GenAI will lead to homogeneous content that does not stand out, and ultimately limits their ability to drive marketing results.”

As more content is created, we’re moving from abundance to excess, where quantity is overtaking quality. To stand out businesses will not only need to create content that truly answers the needs, wants and motivations of customers but also that consumers trust.

Using GenAI with the advantages a human touch can bring will help businesses differentiate and stand out from the crowd.
 

Attitudes towards AI have changed

With increased use and exposure to AI systems, people have become more aware of their capabilities and limitations.

Research by KPMG and the University of Melbourne ‘Trust, attitudes and use of artificial intelligence: A global study 2025’ captures the views on AI of more than 48,000 people across 47 countries. It discovered that trust in AI systems has decreased over time and worry about them has increased:

• The percentage of people that viewed AI systems as trustworthy fell from 63% in 2022 to 56% in 2024
   
• People’s willingness to rely on AI systems decreased on average from 52% in 2022 to 43% in 2024

This indicates how trust is becomingly an increasingly important issue in the AI age.
 

Trust as a differentiator

Any business can use AI to scale and optimise their marketing efforts but winning, and keeping trust is far more difficult.
 

1. AI can’t scale trust

Any business can use AI to automate personalisation, generate content, optimise ads and predict consumer behaviour. The commoditisation of these capabilities potentially puts everyone on a level playing field (a ‘sea of sameness’).

The credibility and trust that a brand holds with its customers can’t be easily commoditised. That’s because trust is a human emotion that involves feelings of confidence, security, and positive emotional states, generally built up over time.

When every brand can produce slick AI-powered campaigns, or produce similar content, authenticity and trust will stand out as key differentiators with consumers.
 

2. Leaning too heavily on AI can erode trust

Because of the efficiencies GenAI can bring many businesses will be tempted to over-rely on it. But brands that lean too heavily on Generative AI and automation without using a human touch risk alienating customers.

Customers don’t like:

• Over familiarity and intrusiveness
• ‘Uncanny’ interactions or communications they feel are manipulative

Customers are increasingly aware that their personal data fuels AI recommendations and ads and don’t like brands that overstep the mark.

Brands are more likely to be trusted long-term if:

• They use a human filter with AI to help foster healthy customer engagement and a positive brand image
   
• They are transparent about how AI uses data and set clear ethical boundaries (e.g. avoiding manipulative targeting or deepfake ads). This aligns with rising consumer demand for responsible AI and privacy-first practices.

Consumers like to feel that a brand is being honest with them and that they’re not just one of many ‘data points’ being taken advantage of.
 

3. Integrity is more valuable than content

In markets saturated with AI-powered content, the perceived integrity of the message becomes more valuable than the message itself. Communications that come from a known, trusted source will carry the most weight and gain the most traction.
 

Summary: Trust as a competitive advantage in the AI age of marketing

In a world of synthetic content and AI-generated marketing, trust will be a scarce resource.

• Businesses must prioritise human oversight, transparent sender identification, and authentic brand voices to build trust and differentiate themselves in a crowded, automated marketplace.
   
• In the age of AI, anyone can scale personalisation and optimise ads. But not everyone can win, or keep, trust. Those who do will gain a durable competitive advantage.

Other articles on AI in marketing that you may find of interest:
7 unorthodox ways to get more GenAI traffic for your website
Could an over-reliance on AI and automation be hindering your marketing efforts?