• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, August 26, 2024

Skepticism is rising among consumers, with 81% questioning whether what they see is real or authentic content, while 65% believe generative AI (GAI) is eroding creative and making everything the same.

The findings were released in a joint study from Digitas North America and Vox Media define authentic as original. Creators are adopting GAI, but 74% believe content authenticity is something only humans can do. More than half of consumers can tell when GAI was used to generate content.

Creators are intended to transfer ideas that change behavior. Many are trying to find the balance between GAI and their intensions, particularly for social media.

“Creativity in its purest form is what we all do,” said Ali Amarsy, chief strategy officer at Digitas North America. “I would like you to feel something, and for me to tell you to feel it isn’t effective. For me to provide the stimulus for you to feel it become the most powerful.”

The two companies found it important to delve into the thoughts of full-time creators and contributors to draw a line between “creating” versus “being creative.”

The study was commissioned and produced by Digitas & Vox Creative, with strategic consulting from boutique research agency Two Cents Insights. The Vox Media Insights and Research team surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. adults representing the U.S. population that visit social-media platforms weekly and create content during May 2024. 

“General Middle” is how the companies described “blah” or average content—the outcome of outsourcing all creativity to GAI. The study suggests core data insight and thought can come from GAI, but then humans need to creatively expand on core insights and thoughts.

Edwin Wong, senior vice president of Insights and Research at Vox Media, said the publisher has been analyzing how the technology affects people in general since about six months after the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

“Audience size still matters, but the connection to the audience you’re creating for matters even more,” he said. “That’s why the concept of creating and the reasons for that is not the same as creative, which is more functional. Figuring out how GAI fits in that journey will become incredibly important.”

The data shows 62% trust GAI with larger trends and analytics, but when it comes to editing content and creative elements, only 41% trust GAI in the creative process.

“We joke about the definition of the word ‘creative,’ which is about the involvement of one’s imagination and original ideas,” Wong said. “With the acceleration of GAI, we wanted to do a study to better understand how ideas may or may not be shifting and how brands should be thinking about this.”

It doesn’t matter where the content comes from — brand-led vs creator-led. The study also found people are more in tune with brand-led content compared with creator-led content.

GAI also is being used more to find efficiencies than anything else. Some 26% cited saving time, while 15% cited generating more ideas, 14% cited higher-quality content, 10% cited optimizing analytics and insights, and 10% cited saving money.

The remainder called out efficiencies such as gaining a competitive edge, increasing post engagements, connecting with people and increasing distribution.  

When asked about the role of authenticity, respondents said that when it is done well, AI is authentic, believable, impressive, seamless undetectable, but scary. Respondents said that when AI is done poorly it is annoying, crap, disappointing, fake, embarrassing, and sad. The contrast highlights reasons why it is critical for brands to create genuine content, as people prioritize authenticity over just being entertained.

Humans and data have become the “real currency,” making it essential for the two to orchestrate the output of meaningful moments, connections and loyalty.

Data provides the input to pull it together.