Readers tune out as soon as they sense AI wrote it
Michael Lehman says publishers should use AI tools but never sound like them.
The Business of Marketing · Michael Lehman President Americas Equative Live at Cannes LionsMichael Lehman, president of the Americas at Equativ, was in Cannes talking about what artificial intelligence means for publishers. The conversation had turned to whether news outlets could still hold an audience when machines can churn out articles in seconds. Then Lehman offered his test.
"The second the consumer feels that the content is AI-generated, they will disassociate, right?" he said.
He said people are "built to ignore robots a little more than" people, and he thinks readers will do the same online. He put it in office terms. When a reminder comes from Slack, the workplace messaging app, and it is signed by the Slack bot, he ignores it. When the same reminder comes from the chief executive, he answers it.
That, he argued, is why "the authentic voice of the editor" and the publication matters. Readers respond to a person in the same way he responds to his boss.
Lehman is not telling publishers to avoid AI. He said they should still adopt AI tools to work faster and smarter. His caution is about what the reader sees and hears.
He said keeping its own point of view and style, and avoiding a robotic tone like those obviously machine-written LinkedIn essays, will attract an audience and keep the connection with readers.
Questions people ask
Can people actually tell when content is AI-generated?
Often yes, though not always. Studies find readers pick up on generic phrasing, flat tone, and lack of specific detail, and AI detectors are unreliable. The bigger effect is trust: once readers suspect automation, they read more skeptically.
Should publishers avoid using AI altogether then?
Most large publishers do not. They commonly use AI for transcribing interviews, drafting summaries, analyzing data, and personalizing newsletters, while keeping humans responsible for reporting, judgment, and final editing. The usual rule is to let AI speed up production without letting it replace voice and verification.