AI can automate many things from sales emails to customer service responses. One area where AI automation is a hot topic - some may say controversial – is personal branding and thought leadership.
Many people would argue that AI has no place in thought leadership content, others promote it as providing a complete end-to-end solution.
In our recent podcast episode, Why Smart Companies Are Investing in Their Leaders’ Personal Brands with Ash Jones, Amy and Ash discuss what goes into building an authentic personal brand.
Ash is a personal brand expert and the founder of Great Influence, his view is that developing a personal brand is about authenticity, trust, and “bringing the offline personality online”. It’s less about speed and more about sincerity.
In this blog post and episode of The Content 10x Podcast we explore a new twist in the world of personal branding - the rise of AI tools that promise to “do it all” for you.
We’ll look at where AI should and shouldn’t play a role in personal branding, and how leaders and companies can balance efficiency with authenticity.
Hit play on the player below to listen or continue reading.
The Contrast: From human-led to AI-generated
As already mentioned, the discussion with Ash Jones on The Content 10x Podcast was centered around how companies are developing the personal brands of their leadership teams on LinkedIn.
Ash described the process as deeply human. It’s about discovering each leader’s authentic voice, shaping their ideas, and bringing their offline personality online in a way that reflects who they truly are. It’s thoughtful, intentional work that requires empathy, trust, and collaboration.
In stark contrast, there are AI tools that claimed to do it all – to essentially run the personal brand of a CEO – fully automated.
The tool that we saw (there are many) promised to study a CEO’s tone of voice, analyse their audience and strategy, create content for them every day, and even find other posts to comment on automatically.
On one side, a deliberate, relationship-driven process designed to help leaders communicate authentically. On the other, a system that removes the human altogether.
The Problem: Removing the human from a human-centric process
AI can be a powerful tool, and there are plenty of use-cases where it helps drive efficiency and creativity. But when it comes to personal branding and leadership visibility total automation – as in full-on auto-pilot – does seem to cross a line.
Here’s 3 reasons why.
1. It erodes trust and credibility
It’s almost so obvious it doesn’t need saying, but a personal brand built entirely by AI isn’t personal.
When a leader’s posts and comments are generated automatically, their audience quickly senses the lack of authenticity. The tone feels generic, the insights feel recycled, and the connection feels hollow.
Even worse, if the AI produces tone-deaf or inaccurate responses, it’s the leader’s reputation that suffers. The more automation replaces genuine interaction, the more it undermines the very trust that leadership visibility is meant to build.
2. It’s not real thought leadership
Google’s own AI-generated definition of thought leadership is:
It's a stretch so say AI can generate thought leadership content, because AI can only say what‘s been said before.
It can play a role – it can handle research and data analysis that can contribute to the development of thought leadership. But it surely can’t be in the driving seat.
AI can also analyse patterns and mimic tone, but it cannot replicate experience or emotion. It doesn’t know what a leader has learned from failure, what excites them about their industry, or how they interpret the latest developments. It can’t tell real stories based on lived experiences.
Without the human insight behind the message, leaders risk contributing to the noise rather than standing out from it. If there’s one thing we need less of on social media, it’s noise!
3. It disconnects leaders from their audience
AI may be able to analyse historical posts and content, but it doesn’t know what someone is thinking today. Imagine if something significant has happened in relation to a particular topic, and the leaders’ views have changed dramatically consequently, but AI would not know this.
It might not matter if it’s something as innocuous as assuming you still love Ted Lasso when in fact, after the appalling second season, you cannot watch another episode!
But it could be about something that really puts your reputation at risk.
Similarly, it can’t adapt to context, sense timing, or respond to nuance. It doesn’t know when a leader wants to celebrate a milestone, respond to a challenge, or share a personal lesson.
As a result, on full auto-pilot it fails at the most important part of leadership communication - connection.
Leaders build credibility by showing up with real opinions and timely insights. Outsourcing that voice removes the opportunity to build genuine relationships with employees, customers, and industry peers.
Human ghost-writing vs. AI automation
Creating content on behalf of leaders isn’t new. So, we aren’t trying to imply here that the leader, and only the leader, can be the person who is creating their content.
Leaders are busy people and creating high-value content is time consuming. It’s to be expected that they would gain a helping hand.
Many agencies, including us at Content 10x, help executives and founders develop their online voice and create content that aligns with their brand. And Ash Jones discussed in our last podcast episode what Great Influence does.
But the difference lies in how it’s done.
Human collaboration is about co-creation. Skilled writers and strategists spend time getting to know the leader - understanding their tone, values, stories, and goals. The output still reflects the leader’s voice and thinking; the human acts as a partner, not a substitute.
AI automation removes that human understanding. It doesn’t interpret subtle meaning, challenge ideas, or adapt to new perspectives. It may produce words, but it doesn’t build reputation.
Where AI can help (and where it shouldn’t)
AI absolutely has a place in the personal branding process. Used wisely, it can make the creative process faster and more efficient.
It can:
- Help brainstorm content ideas
- Generate draft outlines or structure
- Summarise complex research and data
- Refine clarity and grammar
But it should never take over the thinking.
It shouldn’t post or comment autonomously or decide what a leader believes.
Why authenticity still matters more than ever
For organizations, there are many key business benefits when their leaders show up online authentically - from attracting and retaining great talent, to strengthening internal communication, to creating measurable business impact.
Those outcomes depend on authentic human voices.
Employees and audiences don’t just want to hear from brands; they want to hear from people. They want insight, vulnerability, and the reassurance that the person speaking represents real experience.
AI can help leaders communicate more efficiently, but only humans can communicate meaningfully.
As AI continues to develop, leaders and organizations will need to make choices about how much they automate and how much they preserve the human touch.
At Content 10x, we believe the strongest brands will strike a balance, using technology to streamline workflows, while keeping empathy, curiosity, and personality at the heart of their leadership communication.
Because leadership visibility isn’t just about showing up.
It’s about showing up as yourself.
Thanks for reading. We hope you found this helpful, let us know on LinkedIn.
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