At the Cannes Lions Festival this year, the prevailing sentiment was that humans and AI can coexist and that the human touch remains crucial in the AI era. I agree and have always believed in blending technology with humanity to unlock new possibilities.
At the same time, I felt the conversations around AI were perhaps a bit too optimistic. We cannot just hope or assume that human capabilities will remain essential and happily coexist with AI. We need to design for the future we want to see, where craft, humanity and individuality remain vital.
That means we must become both AI-native and human-native: mastering AI while intentionally putting humanity at the centre.
All too often, discussions around AI focus on technology and efficiency. The challenge is to use AI creatively to deliver innovation and effectiveness. Without that shift, creative individuals who are less comfortable with data and systems will struggle to be heard, and AI will gradually encroach upon creative domains.
It recalls the early days of digital, when traditional advertising was slow to adapt and digital spaces became crowded with low-quality work. In this new era, focusing on efficiency alone flattens creative expression that erodes consumer interest in brands.
This concern is shared by many marketers. The 2025 Dentsu Creative CMO Report revealed that while marketers are rapidly adopting AI, they remain firmly committed to human skill, craft and creativity. Drawing from insights from nearly 2,000 senior marketers across 14 markets, the report takes a look at the tensions CMOs face as AI reshapes creativity and efficiency while balancing human imagination, cultural resonance, and trust.
CMOs anticipate that generative AI will bring significant productivity gains. The report found a vast majority (89%) of creatives agree that generative AI will make a massive difference in their ability to produce content quickly and cheaply—yet they worry that brands risk becoming familiar and predictable. Other findings echo these sentiments: 77% agree that generative AI risks making brands look more and more alike, while 79% agree that optimising for the algorithm risks creating a sea of sameness.
AI is undoubtedly incredibly skilled at prediction. But people, and creativity, are unpredictable by nature. People grow bored, make mistakes, act illogically. That unpredictability is what makes them interesting. Likewise, creativity is inherently unpredictable.
But as I realised at Cannes, we cannot simply hope or believe that human creativity will continue to thrive; we must design the systems, tools and talent strategies that ensure it does, and that AI and human craft come together to do more than either could do alone.
At Dentsu, we are exploring four key ways to respond to this moment:
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Innovating to make brands more human, not less: AI agents will transform personalisation, but CMOs also predict that trust, taste, and brand preference will grow in importance. While 89% agree that agentic AI will have a significant impact on their business, the same percentage agree trust and taste will matter more than ever in a world of agentic AI. Our most innovative work at Dentsu uses AI to solve deeply human problems. Take 'Inflation Cookbook' for example, which uses AI and dynamic pricing data to generate real-time recipes for families on a budget. Meanwhile, 'Scrolling Therapy' uses AI to help Parkinson’s patients navigate their social feeds using their facial expressions.
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Reimagining the role of creative leaders: The rise of AI also reshapes the role of creative professionals. Work is no longer only about crafting outputs like an artisan. It becomes architectural: understanding emotions, humanising brand strategies, generating unexpected innovation across business and communications, designing systems, directing teams that use AI, and staying accountable to marketing outcomes. At Dentsu, we call this role the strategic creative architect. By combining AI with human intelligence, creatives can design more impactful experiences, not simply more content. The essential task is to balance cultural victory with commercial victory.
- Engaging AI as a collaborator and co-creator: Achieving that balance requires more than consulting AI. We must teach it. Our own experiments showed that when experienced copywriters used ChatGPT alone, results actually weakened. But when ChatGPT was trained with our copywriting know-how and then paired with human writers, the outcome was stronger than either working alone. The key lies in mutual enhancement between AI and humans. Already, this has given rise to promising AI copywriters and art directors, working in partnership with people rather than replacing them.
- Connecting through culture: In the AI era, trust is not just about authenticity but about humanity. It comes from a brand’s determination to create a better future, from its imperfections, unexpected stories, and distinctive culture. While 87% of CMOs say they want to connect with customers through their passions and communities, not just demographics or purchasing behaviors, 81% recognize that the future depends on building brands through culture. That shift demands human creativity at its core.
So how can brands become more human, trusted and lovable? By listening to people’s quiet voices, walking alongside their choices, and earning their trust.
In the age of algorithms, the most human, unpredictable, and personal qualities become the greatest differentiators. As automation accelerates, human ingenuity only becomes more important. Creativity has always existed alongside culture, and AI is now part of that culture. AI perfects. Our job is to disrupt perfection, to make things human again, and therefore, to make them interesting.
Algorithms predict reactions, not love. Current demand may be met by algorithms, but future demand is built by humans.
Read the full 2025 Dentsu Creative CMO Report here.