Rakia Reynolds’s article in Fast Company, “3 Ethical AI Questions Every Brand Leader Should Be Asking,” cuts through the AI hype and asks something most brands don’t want to hear: just because you can automate doesn’t mean you should. It feels like a necessary reality check for companies treating AI like a cheat code for growth without stopping to consider what gets lost in the process.

Reynolds doesn’t dismiss AI’s power. It’s fast, it scales, it gets things done. But I feel that speed without strategy is just recklessness with better branding. When you let algorithms run wild without enough human judgment in the mix, you’re not optimizing anymore. You’re flattening. You’re stripping out the nuance that actually makes communication resonate.

The empathy point hits hardest. AI can mimic tone, but it can’t understand context the way a person who’s lived through something can. It seems obvious, but brands keep missing it. You can’t fake cultural fluency with a language model, and when you try, audiences notice. That gap between polished and genuine? That’s where trust dies.

Then there’s transparency, which most brands still treat like optional fine print. I think that if you’re using AI to create content or make decisions, you owe people honesty about it. Not because it’s trendy, but because in a world drowning in synthetic everything, being upfront is one of the few ways left to stand out. Credibility isn’t automatic anymore. You have to earn it by showing your work.

It feels like the bigger issue is about power and accountability. When brands lean too hard on automation, they’re quietly handing over decisions that should stay human. Efficiency becomes the excuse, and before long, you’re treating people like data points instead of, you know, people. Reynolds makes it clear that ethical AI isn’t anti-technology. It’s pro-human. It’s about keeping the machine in check so it serves us, not the other way around.

What stands out to me is that she frames ethics as leadership, not liability. Asking hard questions about AI’s impact on culture and trust isn’t slowing you down. It’s the only thing keeping your brand from becoming irrelevant or worse, harmful. I feel that the brands willing to pause and reflect are the ones that’ll actually last.

Because at the end of the day, innovation that ignores humanity isn’t innovation. It’s just noise with a bigger budget. And frankly? Your audience is tired of the noise they can smell performative tech adoption from a mile away, and they’re not buying it anymore. So either lead with intention or get comfortable being forgotten. The choice has always been yours.