Modern marketing is being transformed by artificial intelligence (AI). Industry data illustrate just how widespread AI adoption has become: one analysis found that 93% of marketers use AI to generate content faster, 81% to uncover insights, and 90% to accelerate decision-making. Another survey reports that 83% of marketers say AI frees them up to focus on more creative and strategic work, while 81% note that AI has helped increase brand awareness and sales. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2025 about 30% of outbound marketing messages in large enterprises will be AI-generated. Yet as AI drives efficiency and personalization at unprecedented scale, many industry leaders worry it could come at the cost of the human touch.
Dr. Ashish Bajaj, Group Chief Marketing Officer at Narayana Health, sees both sides of this dynamic. He stresses that technology must amplify creativity, not replace it. “As we embrace automation and AI,” Bajaj says, “it is vital to remember that technology should amplify creativity, not replace it. Data and algorithms can help us understand audiences better, but the emotional depth and authenticity that truly connect people to brands come only from human insight.” Bajaj notes that while AI can predict customer behavior in remarkable detail, only people can inspire genuine belief. “The future belongs to brands that balance automation with empathy, ensuring that technology enhances the human experience rather than diluting it, while AI can predict behavior, only humans can inspire belief.”
Many marketers echo this view. Prasun Kumar, Chief Marketing Officer at MagicBricks, observes that AI actually allows marketing teams to be more human. By offloading routine tasks, versioning ad creative, data crunching, generating basic assets, AI frees up teams to focus on emotion and storytelling. As Kumar puts it, “when routine work can be done in minutes, our teams are free to focus on emotion, storytelling, and cultural context.” He adds bluntly, “AI does not dilute creativity, it amplifies it.” In other words, AI speeds execution and personalization, but the voice, warmth and intent behind each message still come from people.
Other experts similarly emphasize the complementary strengths of AI and human creativity. Abhinav Jain, co-founder and CEO of Almonds AI, says that AI should handle the “how” so humans can concentrate on the “why.” “AI should amplify creativity, not replace it,” he insists. Algorithms can handle tedious production and optimization, he explains, but “the emotional core of storytelling must still come from people, AI just helps us deliver it smarter and faster.” Jain sums it up, “Data gives direction, but emotion gives meaning. The best marketing happens when insights meet empathy. We use data to understand people, not to replace the human connection that makes brands truly memorable.” His colleague Abilash Balan, Head of Marketing and Communication at Beyond Key, makes a similar point: data-driven tools can pinpoint and personalize, but creative ideas and tone must start with humans. “Automation and AI are not a threat to creativity, but a powerful enabler,” Balan says. He explains that his team ensures that AI supports, rather than replaces human creativity. For example, AI might analyze audience sentiment or time campaigns, but “the emotional core of our brand, our values, tone, and storytelling, remains human-led.”
Even as AI boosts efficiency, these marketing leaders caution that certain elements should never be ceded to machines. “We are in a phase where marketing is becoming smarter and more sensitive,” Prasun Kumar notes. Yes, AI can help find the right customers and channels with precision, but the final creative spark still demands a human touch. “Humour, empathy, simplicity, relatability, these will always need a human lens,” he says. In practice, MagicBricks looks to data to understand people better, not to replace the emotional connect that only intuition can create. Abilash Balan echoes that sentiment. “Marketing risks becoming overly automated, but I counter that by blending empathy-driven storytelling with AI-powered insights.” He emphasizes that AI insights make campaigns more effective, but the narratives must be shaped by human intuition and cultural awareness to truly resonate.
Yet for all these efficiency gains, there are real trade-offs. Surveys show that a significant share of businesses remain wary of AI content. For instance, 49.5% of companies say data privacy or ethics concerns arise as they implement AI, and 43% report being deterred by AI content biases or inaccuracies. On the consumer side, skepticism is even stronger. In a recent Sprout Social poll, 52% of consumers said they are highly concerned about brands posting AI-generated content without disclosure. And new research highlights that labeling ads “AI-generated” can sharply erode trust. One study found that simply telling people an ad was made by AI causes their emotional trust to dip and their willingness to engage to drop, especially for high-stakes products. As industry observer Jitender Dabas notes, marketing is built on authenticity. “Anything that feels manufactured struggles to win trust.”
These challenges put the spotlight on the irreplaceable elements of marketing. All our experts agree that certain aspects must remain human. Prasun Kumar warns that “the soul of a brand, its identity, values, tone, and emotional understanding, should never be automated.” He explains that while AI can personalize a customer journey or optimize an ad campaign, “consumers do not build trust with algorithms, they build trust with meaning and intent.” Balan of Beyond Key likewise insists that key touchpoints like customer interactions and brand narratives remain human affairs. “Customer interactions, creative narrative, and brand identity should never be automated,” he says. AI might analyze sentiment, but “building trust still requires human intuition, empathy, and cultural sensitivity.” Abhinav Jain puts it plainly: the vision and intuition behind marketing cannot be coded. “Vision, empathy, and intuition, the soul of marketing, cannot be automated,” he says. “Algorithms can predict behavior, but only humans can inspire belief. Creativity should always remain a human superpower.”
This view is echoed by younger marketers too. Sidhharrth Kumaar, founder of NumroVani, describes a framework his team uses: human marketers first define the brand voice and emotional principles, and then guide AI to follow those guardrails. They even test new AI-assisted campaigns with loyal customers to see what emotions the messages evoke. Kumaar adamantly rejects the idea that AI is removing humanity from marketing. On the contrary, “good marketing is gaining in human touch,” he argues, as reflected in more nuanced creative content. He too draws a clear line: “Brand identity, emotional insight and relationship-driven community marketing should never be automated.”
Together these perspectives suggest a middle path. AI can make marketing vastly more efficient. In fact, 83% of marketers report it frees them for higher-level work, and companies see strategic advantage in deploying these tools. But that efficiency must be balanced by empathy and authenticity. As one industry executive put it, “Long-term equity is based on differentiation, trust, and emotional storytelling. Brands need to use AI as a support system, not the creative driver.” In practice, that means using AI to automate and analyze routine tasks, but keeping humans firmly in charge of vision, tone, and purpose.
In short, marketing’s future may be efficient, but its soul must stay human. As Dr. Bajaj succinctly concludes, “AI can predict behavior, but only humans can inspire belief.” The most successful brands, it seems, will be those that leverage AI’s speed and listen to their hearts, the ones that amplify creative intuition rather than surrender it to algorithms.
Disclaimer: All quotes are either sourced directly or attributed to public statements.
Related Articles
