AI – Authentic Interaction or Artificial Intelligence
Article provided by NSW/ACT Principal Chapter Sponsor, Sonic Sight
AI is here to stay, and can be a wonderful productivity tool, but it does have its drawbacks. Companies are starting to realise the financial and environmental costs of AI computing, and in some instances, it’s actually cheaper for a human to do the job.
But that’s not the real cost of AI. The real cost is what we at Sonic Sight have dubbed the “AI ick”.
You’ve experienced it already. You’re sitting on your couch, scrolling on your phone, multi screening the latest episode of that Netflix show that was recommended to you, and you come across a Video that… just… doesn’t quite feel right. Instantly, you’re put off. The spell is broken. Whatever you were watching, is instantly discredited because it doesn’t feel real – it’s “fake”.
Your opinion of the brand that you were just engaging with is shattered. They’re cheap, unreliable, unbelievable and fake. AI content may be fast, it may be easy and it may be cheap.
But, just like in dating, when you get the “ick”, you don’t want to pursue a relationship with someone that’s fast, easy and cheap. As a brand, you need to tell compelling, engaging stories and vitally, do so in an authentic way. Your customers are humans. You can’t engage with an audience in a real way when you’re not real.
As School Marketers, our job is to make our prospective families and our existing school communities feel at home, like they’re a part of something special. Sporting and Music facilities, extracurricular programs and of course results are all important when families are deciding on a school. But it’s often how they feel about the school that makes the difference. That feeling comes from real people sharing their actual experiences, not from generic AI generated slop.
For more than 30 years, Sonic Sight has been helping to tell authentic stories. If you want to truly engage with your community without the ick, ask us how.
Ben Pride
Managing Director and Video Production Specialist
Sonic Sight