AI is everywhere—or at least that’s what it feels like. Social media feeds are swamped with AI-generated flyers and captions that follow eerily similar cadences featuring it’s not x, it’s y and way too many em dashes. “Actresses” like Tilly Norwood who you will never see walk a red carpet in real life are headed to screens. But while executives looking to cut costs might be eager to use these tools to save money and time, audiences aren’t on board, especially when it comes to news.

As audiences grow tired of AI slop, and platforms like YouTube and Substack begin to crackdown on it, media outlets have an opportunity to rebuild trust and reconnect with audiences by leaning into authenticity. That doesn’t mean intentionally introducing typos and calling it a day. It means developing a human-centric audience strategy based on relationships, context, and perspective.

AI and the attention economy

The battle for audience attention rages on. No one knows that better than media companies that invest countless hours and dollars in audience building strategies, and for some, the key has always been quantity over quality. AI has made that route even easier to take. Yes, AI slop can help grab attention, but “sometimes not in the way that people intend,” says Paul Shovlin, Assistant Professor, Emerging Communications Technologies at Ohio University. “Some people think any publicity is good publicity,” he says, but is inviting rage-filled comments hating on your AI slop really the attention brands are looking for?

For media brands built on trust and authority, the answer should be a resounding no.

In 2025, after surveying people in six countries, Reuters found, “There is a clear ‘comfort gap’ between AI- and human-led news. On average, only 12% are comfortable with news made entirely by AI; this rises to 21% with a ‘human in the loop’, 43% when a human leads with some AI help, and 62% for entirely human-made news (an increase of 4 percentage points since 2024). This gap can be found across demographics and countries.”

Similarly, Raptive’s 2025 research found audience trust drops by nearly 50% when an article feels AI-generated—and it doesn’t even matter if it actually is AI-generated. Just the perception is enough to turn audiences off. Still, understanding that your audience does not want AI-generated content and managing to compete in the attention economy against the onslaught of slop are two very different things.

The key to competing with AI slop

There was a time, namely during the rise of influencer marketing, when nearly every bit of advice about building audience relationships was about authenticity. Well, authenticity is back.

Shovlin says that by identifying AI’s strengths and weaknesses, media companies can find places to invest in bringing a human touch to your content while letting AI crunch the numbers. “Speaking directly to your audience in a voice that is recognizable to them,” will set you apart from the bots, says Shovlin.

For some, that may mean injecting your personal voice and perspective into coverage. Legacy media may understandably balk at that idea, but perspective does not have to equate to opinion. Instead, figure out how your team’s strengths can turn into a strategy. Shovlin has recommendations for what that can look like:

• Hyperlocal context: People living and working in the communities they cover have context that AI simply does not have. Whether you are heading to the local meetings no one else is reporting on, or turning to your community members for story ideas, hyperlocal context is a great way to establish your bona fides as a real person.
• Timely news: AI is notoriously bad at breaking news, mostly because it relies on humans to do its leg work. Focusing on original reporting is key to making your media brand a must-have for audiences.
• Lived experience: Much like hyperlocal reporters, people who have their own personal experience with the beats they cover can bring that to bear in their coverage. Whether it’s a music review or reporting on insider developments in the gamer community, bringing expertise (and enthusiasm) that AI can’t replicate matters more than ever.

Additionally, Shovlin says that focusing on relationships is important. This is nothing new to media outlets who have been doubling down on direct relationships to combat the rise of AI search, but you may have to adopt new strategies—like responding to comments—to prove you’re human. Consider Wendy’s famous Twitter/X profile, which inspires entire listicles with its hilarious, but deeply human, social media responses. “You know there’s a human behind that,” says Shovlin. Find a way to be a part of the conversation without compromising editorial standards.

Media outlets that decide to take the no-AI pledge, like iHeart Media did, should be loud and proud about the promise. Remind your audience constantly that humans are at the heart of what you do. As Shovlin says, “It’s okay to be meta in describing the value you offer compared to the competition that may we awash in slop.”