Creators and AI: what brands should learn about human voice

The creator economy is often a few years ahead of B2B marketing on new tools and formats. So when HubSpot spoke to creators, consultants and strategists about how AI is changing their work, the findings are worth reading even if you sell cloud services rather than skincare.

The short version: the fear has gone, the tools are everywhere, and the thing everyone is now worried about is sounding like everyone else.

What's happening

HubSpot's reporting, which drew on conversations around this year's Cannes Lions festival, describes a shift from dread to leverage. Creators use AI as a starting point rather than a finished product. One creator feeds long raw footage into AI video tools to get a rough cut before a human editor takes over, and estimates AI saves her more than 10 hours a week. Others build searchable archives of their past newsletters and captions to avoid repeating themselves.

Contracts are struggling to keep up. A creator lawyer interviewed by HubSpot has seen brands ask creators to hand over their prompts and processes, which she advises against. A creator strategist at IZEA has seen the opposite: clauses banning any AI use without written consent. There are also cautionary tales of creators breaching exclusivity terms or confidentiality by relying on AI to read contracts for them.

The strongest theme is sameness. The IZEA strategist noted that writing on LinkedIn in particular increasingly sounds identical, and that undisclosed AI-generated content tends to get a cold reception. The word several interviewees heard most at Cannes was "human".

What it means for B2B tech and brand marketers

B2B technology marketers face exactly the same tension. AI makes it cheap to publish more LinkedIn posts, blogs and emails. It also makes it cheap for every competitor to do the same, and the output converges. If your Copilot thought leadership reads like every other partner's Copilot thought leadership, it is invisible to buyers and to AI answer engines alike.

The contract point is directly relevant for brands using creators, ambassadors or event speakers. Consumer brands and big lifestyle events increasingly work with creators, and B2B tech companies are starting to use practitioner influencers on LinkedIn and YouTube. Agreements need to say clearly what AI use is acceptable, how it should be disclosed, and who owns AI-repurposed content, including whether the brand can reuse a creator's voice or likeness with AI.

There is also an internal version of this. Employees using public AI tools to summarise confidential client documents is the corporate equivalent of the creator pasting a contract into a chatbot. Clear policy beats quiet anxiety.

How to put it to work

1. Decide where AI belongs in your content workflow. It works well for research, outlines, transcription, rough cuts and variants. Opinions, client stories and final edits should stay human.
2. Protect your experts' voices. Interview subject-matter experts and build content from their words and examples, not from a blank prompt.
3. Update creator and speaker agreements. Cover AI use, disclosure, ownership of prompts and outputs, and rights to repurpose content with AI.
4. Set an internal AI policy for which tools can handle client or confidential information. For Microsoft-centric teams, this usually means enterprise tools such as Microsoft 365 Copilot rather than consumer apps.
5. Disclose sensibly. Be open where AI materially shapes content. It costs little and protects trust.
6. Audit for sameness. Read your last ten LinkedIn posts next to three competitors'. If you can't tell them apart, change the inputs.

How UBE Marketing can help

At UBE Marketing, the marketing and events agency founded by Alvin Paronda, keeping a brand's voice human is part of every AI project we take on. We help brands use AI to move faster without losing their voice, from content workflows and expert programs to creator partnerships for consumer brands and events. Explore our AI marketing services or get in touch.