How Brands Can Build Trust In An AI-Driven World
- 11 hours ago
- 11 min read
Written by Dawn Chubai, Live Shopping Strategist
Dawn Chubai is an award-winning broadcaster (Breakfast Television & The Shopping Channel), and founder of Live Selling School. After generating more than $250 million in live sales and spending over 40,000 hours on live television, she now helps brands harness live shopping, video commerce, and on-camera communication to drive growth.
AI is changing how brands create content, communicate with customers, and sell online. Used well, it can help businesses move faster, show up more consistently, and support customers in smarter ways. I am not an AI expert. But I am a trust expert. I built a career creating trust through technology: television cameras, live broadcasts, digital video, livestreams, and now live shopping. So I am all for using the tools. The opportunity is not to resist technology. The opportunity is to use it in a way that still feels human.
What does trust mean in an AI-driven world?
Trust has always mattered in business, but the way customers evaluate trust is changing. In the past, a polished website, professional photos, strong copy, and consistent branding could go a long way toward helping a company appear credible. Those things still matter, but they are no longer enough on their own.
Customers are now moving through a digital world filled with automated emails, AI-generated captions, chatbots, templated videos, polished brand messaging, and even AI clones and virtual presenters. The more content people consume, the more they begin to notice what feels generic, overly produced, or disconnected from a real person.
The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer found that people are more likely to embrace innovation when they feel informed, in control, and confident that it will improve their lives. That matters for brands using AI. It is not enough to adopt the technology. Customers also need to understand, trust, and feel connected to the way it is being used.
Trust now comes from signals of humanity. It comes from voice, presence, perspective, transparency, consistency, and proof. It also comes from imperfection, which should not be confused with a lack of preparation. A natural pause, an honest answer, a moment of real interaction, or the ability to respond thoughtfully in real time can separate a human brand experience from the synthetic sameness customers are beginning to recognize online.
That is why, when I work with brands to execute their livestream and video content strategies, the goal is not to appear flawless. The goal is to feel credible, prepared, and real. On-camera presence still matters, but presence is not about pretending to be perfect. It is about helping the audience feel that the person speaking is prepared, connected, and trustworthy.
Why does technology still need humanity?
Technology has always changed the way brands communicate. Television changed how audiences experienced personalities and products. Social media changed how customers interacted with businesses. Ecommerce changed how people discovered and bought products. AI is now changing how quickly brands can create, respond, and scale.
But every major shift creates the same question: Does this make the customer feel closer to the brand or further away from it?
That is why I see live shopping and live video as such powerful hybrids. They use modern technology, but they restore something deeply human: presence, tone, demonstration, conversation, and trust.
A customer can still shop from their phone. A brand can still use digital tools. But the experience can feel less like a transaction and more like a connection. That is where the real opportunity is.
Why is authenticity harder to prove online?
AI has made it easier than ever to create content. That is not a bad thing. I use and appreciate AI myself. For many business owners, it can remove friction, organize ideas, speed up production, and make it easier to show up consistently.
The challenge is that when everyone has access to similar tools, many brands start to sound the same. The same polished phrases appear. The same captions circulate. The same “value-packed” posts begin to blur together. The result is not always bad content, but it can become forgettable content.
Authenticity is not about rejecting technology. It is about making sure technology does not erase the point of view, lived experience, personality, and emotional intelligence that make a brand memorable.
A brand can use AI and still sound human. A founder can use AI and still lead with original thought. A company can use automation and still create meaningful connections. But that only happens when the technology supports the brand voice instead of replacing it.
Can brands use AI and still feel authentic?
Yes, but only if AI is used as a support tool, not as a substitute for a brand’s actual voice. AI can help with research, outlines, editing, customer service, repurposing, brainstorming, and content planning. It can help a small team create with more consistency and help a busy founder organize ideas more quickly.
But the stories, opinions, experiences, values, and customer understanding still need to come from the humans behind the business. The risk is not that a brand uses AI. The risk is that the brand becomes so dependent on AI-generated language that it loses what made it distinct in the first place.
Your customers do not need you to be perfect. They need you to be clear. They need to understand what you stand for, why your work matters, and why they should trust you over another option.
Why are customers craving human connection?
Even younger generations who have grown up surrounded by technology are showing signs of craving more analog, tactile, and real-world connections. Gen Z’s renewed interest in digital cameras, vinyl records, physical media, and printed photos points to something larger than nostalgia. It suggests a desire for experiences that feel slower, more intentional, and more real.
That does not mean digital is going away. It means digital experiences need more humanity built into them. People want convenience, but they also want connection. They want speed, but they also want confidence. They want information, but they also want to know whether they can believe the person or brand delivering it.
This matters for businesses of every size. Customers are not only asking, “Can I buy this?” They are also asking, “Do I trust this?” “Do I understand this?” “Do I believe in this brand?” “Do I feel confident making this decision?” Those questions are not answered by automation alone.
How does video help brands build trust?
Video gives brands something static content often cannot: tone, expression, energy, demonstration, and context. A customer can read a product description and understand what something is. But when they see a founder explain why it was created, watch a product being demonstrated, or hear a real person answer a common question, the relationship changes.
Research from Wyzowl found that 91% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service, and 87% of consumers say video quality impacts their trust in a brand. That does not mean every brand video needs to look like a commercial. It means the customer experience needs to feel clear, credible, and considered.
Video helps customers assess more than information. It helps them assess confidence, credibility, warmth, and fit. That does not mean every video needs to be perfectly produced. In fact, overly polished content can sometimes create distance. The goal is not perfection. The goal is presence.
After spending more than 40,000 hours on live television, I can tell you that audiences do not connect because everything is flawless. They connect because something feels clear, grounded, useful, and real. The same applies to brands.
Customers do not need every founder, expert, or brand representative to become a broadcaster. But they do need to feel that the person speaking understands the product, understands the customer, and can communicate with confidence.
Related article: 5 ways poor camera presence hurts trust and sales
How live and recorded video builds customer trust
Recorded video allows a brand to educate, explain, and create consistency. It can live on websites, product pages, social platforms, emails, and sales funnels. It gives customers a way to experience the brand before they ever speak to someone directly.
Live video adds another layer of trust because it happens in real time. Whether it is a founder Q&A, a product demonstration, a launch event, a webinar, or a live shopping experience, live video allows customers to see how a brand responds, explains, listens, and interacts. That kind of real-time presence is difficult to fake.
This is one of the reasons live shopping and shoppable video are becoming more relevant. They are not just sales tools. Used well, they are trust-building experiences that bring education, interaction, and commerce together.
A live experience allows a brand to answer questions, show details, demonstrate use cases, handle objections, tell stories, and create urgency without removing the human element from the buying journey. That is powerful because trust often grows in the moments between the scripted points.
Seven ways brands can build trust in an AI-driven world
1. Use AI to support your voice, not replace it: AI can help you organize your ideas, refine your message, and create more efficiently. But your voice should still sound like your brand. Before publishing content, ask yourself: Could any brand say this, or could only we say this?
If any brand could say it, the message likely needs more specificity. Add the lived experience. Add the founder’s perspective. Add the customer insight. Add the real example. Add the human reason behind the business decision. That is where trust begins to build.
2. Make your point of view clear: In a crowded digital space, neutral messaging rarely cuts through. Customers are drawn to brands that know who they are, who they serve, what they believe, and why their work matters.
This does not mean every brand needs to be controversial. It means your audience should be able to understand your perspective.
What do you believe about your industry? What do you wish your customers understood? What problem do you solve differently? What are you unwilling to compromise on? These are the kinds of questions that help a brand move from generic content to thought leadership.
3. Show the people behind the brand: Customers often trust brands faster when they can see the people behind them. This could be the founder, the product expert, the educator, the stylist, the service provider, the customer support lead, or the person who understands the details better than anyone else.
I was an early adopter of livestreaming when Periscope launched on Twitter over a decade ago, long before it was discontinued in 2021. At the time, I was a host on Breakfast Television, and the idea of showing behind-the-scenes moments felt almost rebellious. Crew members, talent, desks, cables on the floor, and real conversations before or after a segment were not things traditional media were eager to reveal.
In fact, I remember getting “in trouble” for pulling back the curtain. The concern was that I was showing the messy parts when the finished product was supposed to look polished.
Now, that kind of behind-the-scenes content is often part of the job requirement. What once felt too imperfect to share has become one of the ways brands create trust. Audiences want to see the process, the people, the preparation, and the moments that make a brand feel alive.
Human presence does not always need to mean personal oversharing. It can simply mean allowing people to see the care, knowledge, and intention behind the business.
A short founder video, a behind-the-scenes explanation, a product demonstration, or an honest answer to a common customer question can create more trust than another polished graphic.
4. Create content that answers real customer questions: Trust grows when people feel understood. Instead of only creating content around what the brand wants to promote, create content around what the customer is already wondering, worrying about, comparing, or trying to decide.
What do they need to know before buying? What objections come up repeatedly? What mistakes do they make when choosing a product or service like yours? What do they not know to ask yet?
This kind of content builds confidence because it reduces uncertainty. It also shows that the brand understands the customer’s decision-making process, not just the sale.
5. Let video carry more of the relationship: Video is one of the most effective ways to bring humanity back into a digital brand experience.
It allows customers to see facial expressions, hear tone of voice, watch a demonstration, and understand context in a way that static content often cannot provide.
This can include founder videos, short educational clips, product demonstrations, customer tutorials, recorded FAQs, webinars, livestreams, or shoppable video experiences.
The goal is not to create more content for the sake of content. The goal is to create more moments in which the customer can build confidence in the brand.
6. Use live interaction to create real-time trust: There is a different kind of trust that develops when a brand shows up live. Live video allows customers to ask questions, hear unscripted answers, see products in real time, and experience the brand’s energy directly. It also allows the brand to respond to what the audience actually needs in the moment.
This is where live selling, live shopping, webinars, interviews, Q&A sessions, and product education can become powerful trust-building tools. When done well, live video does not feel like pressure. It feels like access.
7. Keep the customer experience personal, even when the process is digital: Digital does not have to mean detached. A brand can use automation, AI, ecommerce tools, email sequences, chat support, and digital content while still creating a customer experience that feels thoughtful and human.
The difference is intention. Does the customer feel guided or pushed? Do they feel educated or overwhelmed? Do they feel like the brand understands their needs or simply wants the transaction? The brands that build trust will use technology to make the customer feel more supported, not less seen.
How brands can turn humanity into a competitive advantage
In an AI-driven world, humanity becomes a competitive advantage when customers can clearly recognize the people, values, and expertise behind the brand.
That can look like a founder video. It can look like behind-the-scenes content. It can look like live demonstrations, customer education, honest product conversations, or a more human approach to service and selling.
It can also look like having a stronger point of view. The opportunity is not to appear less digital. The opportunity is to become more recognizable within the digital experience. When customers can see your face, hear your voice, understand your values, and experience your expertise, you become harder to compare.
The future of business is not less digital
The future of business is not less digital. It is more human. AI will continue to change how brands operate, communicate, and sell. It will help businesses move faster, create more efficiently, and support customers in ways we are still learning to understand. But the brands that build lasting trust will be the ones that use technology to deepen connection, not dilute it.
That is why new tools, including Facebook Live Shopping, are worth paying attention to. When used strategically, they can reduce friction while giving brands a more human way to educate, engage, and sell in real time. In a world where content is easier to create than ever, human presence becomes more valuable, not less. The brands that win will be the ones that still feel real and human.
Related article: Meta is putting live shopping back in focus. Is your brand ready?
Start building a more trusted brand experience
Most brands are already using some form of AI, automation, video, or digital selling. These tools have made tasks easier, content creation faster, and customer navigation more efficient. But in making the process smoother, many brands have also removed some of the human signals that help customers feel connected, understood, and confident.
The goal should not simply be to create more content, automate more steps, or add another sales channel. The goal should be to build enough trust that the customer feels comfortable taking the next step.
That trust comes from clarity, consistency, visibility, and human presence. Technology can help you move faster. Human connection is what helps people believe you.
Ready to make your brand feel more human, more confident, and more trusted online? At Live Selling School, you’ll find free resources designed to help you bring more clarity, connection, and strategy to your digital presence. From ebooks and guides to training videos and free clarity calls, these tools can help you understand how video, Live Social Shopping, and on-camera communication can support your next stage of growth.
Visit my website to explore the free resources and take the first step toward building a more trusted, more human brand experience.
Read more from Dawn Chubai
Dawn Chubai, Live Shopping Strategist
After spending more than 40,000 hours live on television and generating over $250 million in sales, Dawn Chubai now helps brands apply the same principles that drive successful live selling to modern ecommerce. As the founder of Live Selling School, she works with businesses to leverage live shopping, video commerce, and audience engagement to compete in the trillion-dollar social commerce economy.
