Amidst the rise of AI assistants, we must retain our communities.
As digital marketing experts we spend a good chunk of time every December analysing all of the trend reports for the previous year and the predictions for the year ahead.
Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2025 was “slop” and AI was everywhere, whether it was discussions of ways to automate digital processes to allegedly save time or in the proliferation of absurd memes and videos that tricked even the most online of eyes. In direct response to this proliferation of AI, trend forecasters across industries are predicting an audience shift in a vocal preference for content that feels not only authentic, but at its core, human.
We believe this preference for human connection will extend far beyond the posts that trend in our feeds and into our direct communication with each other. One of the trends we witnessed last year was the growth of AI powered companies offering community management automation, not just for giant brands, but for smaller nonprofits that have historically prided themselves on the connection they have with their supporters.
In an effort to cut costs and rely less on members of staff, more and more organisations are outsourcing their community management to AI assistants, like ChatGPT or Gemini. There is a belief that these bots, which have been trained on years of internet history and are programmed to speak in as “human” a way as possible, present a way to engage with users on social media platforms without the possibility of human error.
While this is presented by many vendors as a way to safeguard across communications while reducing costs during a very financially stressful time for nonprofits and small businesses, we believe that the risk these tools present is far greater than the budget line for community engagement with a human touch.
No matter how well-trained a model purports to be, there is still a possibility that it can be broken by the individual it is speaking to. We have seen cases of this across social media the last couple of years coupled with multiple cases of AI enabled self-harm and the rise of what has been dubbed AI psychosis. This is an emerging technology that is constantly evolving, which can result in unexpected glitches, bugs, or issues that can take multiple weeks to properly identify and rectify.
Co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology Tristan Harris spoke about many of these risks in an interview on The Daily Show. As AI technology continues to progress at a fantastic speed, organisations like his are working to advocate for a shift in incentives and guardrails in order to protect all of us.
For many organisations, their social media profile inboxes have long been seen by audience members as a way to begin the process of seeking assistance or finding out more about support services that are on offer. The people who reach out this way are most likely already struggling and this is the worst possible moment in which a mistake in communication could take place.
Outside of the possibility of an AI tool missing tone or a turn of language, there is another aspect to the ethical quandary that these tools present to us. This is one of environmental destruction. The more AI seeps into the tools and processes we use on a daily basis, the more power that its servers require. This is resulting in the building of thousands of massive data centres that are destroying communities, mainly of people of colour, while also straining the utility grid and resulting in higher electricity costs. Climate change is still a pressing issue and the proliferation of AI poses a massive threat to any sort of progress that has been made in the wake of the Paris Agreement a decade ago.
Community management is, at its core, a way for an organisation to directly reach its audience and encourage a sense of familiarity, understanding, and obviously, community. By removing the human touch from this process, we risk losing the very digital communities that build movements and inspire change. Now is not the time to hand over these opportunities for connection to a machine. Now is the time to invest in the human touch.
If you are looking for community management support, here at Catnip Comms we proudly employ a team of humans who have years of experience in this space and would be happy to learn more about the project.