Why Your Creativity, Not AI, Humanizes Your Story

As Pioneer’s senior marketing copywriter, Lara Bennett writes copy for print ads, social and digital campaigns. She attended the San Francisco Writers Conference in February to learn how a unique voice can help differentiate businesses in an increasingly AI-driven world. We asked her to share top takeaways.

It’s no secret that Pioneer is a storytelling organization. We believe stories connect us, move us and make us memorable.

How then, in an evolving sea of digital voices, with people posting inscrutable miniature essays on LinkedIn every 3.4 seconds, do you set your story apart from the rest?

“The more AI you use, the lazier your brain becomes and the less interesting your creations become,” Insight Partners CIO Eli Potter said. She moderated a panel on the ethics of generative AI use at the 2026 San Francisco Writers Conference I attended on behalf of Pioneer.

Panelists echoed Pioneer’s artificial intelligence policy when it comes to creativity—human first, AI second. Think of AI as one of your writing tools but not the first one you use. Go analog. Return to pen and paper. Give your brain a chance to reset. Then use all the digital tools available to you after you’ve given your own creativity a chance to flex its muscles.

AI tools can be extremely helpful for polishing copy to perfection. The AI ethics panelists agreed that these process-expediters are where AI shines and can save you valuable time.

• Easy editor: Write on your own, then ask AI to check your spelling, punctuation and grammar.
• Digital secretary: Take notes by hand, then send photos to your AI agent to transcribe and organize so you don’t have to.
• TL; DR it: When confronted with several data-specific reports from an unfamiliar industry, ask AI for a summary in easy-to-understand terms. Watch me ask AI to “explain it to me like I’m 10 … again, like I’m 8 … OK, like I’m 5.”

Another vote of confidence for putting AI second is that people can often spot its tells a mile away. AI copy lacks a lived experience. Words feel hollow, humor is often lacking and — sadly — we’re all familiar with the overuse of em dashes.

Perhaps the worst offense of AI-generated copy is its long-windedness. A professional copywriter’s job is to economize words to convey your message with clarity, truth and brevity. Piling on jargon for readers will lose them immediately, no matter how many emojis and unnecessary bullets your robot friend inserts.

Here are a few tips on how to humanize your message, whether you’re writing marketing copy, a magazine feature or anything else:

• Have a conversation: Don’t talk at your readers. Talk to them. Use plain, concise, everyday language that readers can understand at first glance. Address readers directly to connect with them and make them feel included in your messaging.
• Don’t condescend: Have good faith that your consumers, members and readers have their wits about them and can understand puns, humor and nuance. You can be clear and succinct without dumbing down your words. You still want to cultivate a sense of authority, so it’s OK to sound intelligent.
• Hook them immediately: Tease a solution to their problems. Hint that there’s a secret. Don’t reveal everything up front, but promise if they continue reading, all will become clear. Convince them to pay attention with smart word choice and a compelling storyline.
• Break the rules, with good reason: You don’t need to live and die by your grammar-school English textbook. Especially when it comes to marketing copy, busting convention is often necessary to drive home a point, show off your personality or make your message stand out boldly. In editorial and long-form writing, use of colloquialisms can endear you to your reader. Of course, know your audience—if you’re addressing a group of English professors, make sure there isn’t a single comma splice in sight.

Your messaging needs to build trust, intrigue and understanding immediately. Your story must convince the reader to continue reading, or they won’t.

Storytelling is not going away. If anything, the rise of AI-generated content makes human stories even more valuable and necessary. In the age of the “loneliness epidemic,” people are yearning for human connection. They want to hear what you have to say. They want real perspectives and opinions, not the sycophancy AI is trained to deliver. One fellow conference attendee noted that as humans, we have a responsibility to share our knowledge, our art and our experiences with others. AI can’t do that.

In a day and age when it’s all too easy for anyone to input directions and copy and paste generic output, organizations that don’t use AI are the ones that will stand apart. Authenticity and real experiences are what will separate you from the rest. The organizations that lead will be those that protect and prioritize their own wisdom, voice and story.