People can tell, and it matters
People tend to value work more when they believe a human made it. In a 2023 study, Lucas Bellaiche and his colleagues showed participants the same set of paintings, labeling some as made by a person and some as made by AI. People liked the "human-made" ones more and rated them as more beautiful, more meaningful, and worth more money, even though the images were the same. Your effort and your story are part of what people are paying for.
I love AI. I use it every day. But there's something I keep coming back to...
When I get a handwritten thank-you card from a client, I keep it. When I get an obviously AI-written "Thanks so much for your incredible support!" email, I forget about it. The words might even be similar. It's what's behind them that's different.
What the research found
In 2023, Lucas Bellaiche and a team of researchers showed people a set of artwork. Every image was actually made by AI. But some were labeled "made by a human" and others were labeled "made by AI."
People liked the images labeled human-made more. They rated them as more beautiful, more meaningful, and worth more.
Same pictures. Different labels. Different value.
The researchers think part of the reason is effort and story. When we believe a person made something, we imagine the time, skill, and meaning that went into it. That changes how we feel about it.
Why this matters for your business
Your clients aren't just buying a result. They're buying you. Your experience, your judgment, your care.
When everything you send out starts to feel machine-made, people notice, even if they can't put their finger on why. The newsletter feels a little hollow. The social posts all sound like everyone else's, which I wrote about in AI is making everyone sound the same.
And once someone suspects you didn't really put yourself into it, they value it less.
Where to keep the human touch
Use AI freely for the behind-the-scenes stuff. Scheduling, summaries, first drafts, research, organizing your notes.
But keep a real human touch in the places where relationships happen:
Thank-you notes and personal messages. Write these yourself. Short is fine. Real is the point.
Stories and opinions in your content. AI can help you tighten them. The story and the opinion need to come from you.
Client feedback and hard conversations. These are exactly where your judgment matters most. More on that in Don't let AI do your thinking for you.
Anything with your name and face on it. If it's meant to sound like you, it should sound like you.
Be open about how you use it.
You don't need to label every email "AI-assisted." But if you use AI as part of a client deliverable, it's smart to be upfront about how. People are much more comfortable with "I used AI to draft this, then I reviewed and edited every piece" than finding out later on their own.
What it looks like
I had a client who started sending a short, personal voice message to every new client after their first session. Thirty seconds. No script.
She told me later on that it's the thing clients mention most when they refer someone else. Not her process, not her pricing. The voice message.
The more AI-generated the world gets, the more the human stuff stands out.
If you want a real person helping you grow your business, not a chatbot, let's talk.
Frequently asked questions
Do people value human-made work more than AI-made work?
In a 2023 study by Bellaiche and colleagues, people rated identical artwork as more beautiful, meaningful, and valuable when it was labeled as human-made instead of AI-made.
Should I tell clients when I use AI?
For client deliverables, being upfront about how you used AI and how you reviewed the work helps build trust. You don't need to label routine behind-the-scenes tasks.
Where should business owners avoid using AI?
Keep a personal touch in thank-you notes, personal messages, your stories and opinions, client feedback, and hard conversations, where relationships and judgment matter most.
Sources: Bellaiche, L., Shahi, R., Turpin, M. H., Ragnhildstveit, A., Sprockett, S., Barr, N., Christensen, A., & Seli, P. (2023). Humans versus AI: Whether and why we prefer human-created compared to AI-created artwork. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 8, 42.
