Mark Schaefer has been one of the most reliable voices in marketing for nearly two decades.
When he speaks, I listen.
Especially with his new book, How AI Changes Your Customers: The Marketing Guide to Humanity's Next Chapter. He explores something I, and maybe you as a marketer, are completely missing.
AI isn't just changing how people shop or search. It's rewiring how they think, feel, and connect to brands.
Drawing from a landmark study by the Institute for the Digital Future involving 300 global experts, Mark reveals five fundamental psychological shifts happening to your customers right now.
They're becoming different humans. Your content strategy probably needs to change accordingly.
The Five Ways AI Is Rewiring Your Customers
What Mark found is endlessly fascinating to me: Artificial intelligence is rewiring our actual intelligence.
Here are some of the insights from his timely book.
1. Deep Thinking Is Declining
Stanford psychology professor Russell Poldrack warns that AI systems performing reasoning tasks "will make it easy for most humans to avoid having to think hard and thus allow that muscle to atrophy."
The research backs this up.
- University of Pennsylvania studies found that students using AI for complex assignments showed decreased analytical reasoning skills.
- MIT research revealed ChatGPT users demonstrated "lowest levels of brain activity" and that "frequent AI use may negatively influence critical thinking and memory."
- Microsoft research showed a correlation between confidence in AI and cognitive decline.
Your customers are literally thinking less, offloading their cognitive load to AI.
What does that mean for your complex brand messaging?
2. Empathy Is Being Outsourced
This finding surprised me, because come on, are people really going to trust AI with their angst?
It's like if you found yourself in a personal quandary as a crew member on the Starship Enterprise, would you rather want advice from Captain Kirk or Spock?
Apparently, it's Spock for most.
AI chatbots now outperform licensed therapists on empathy, helpfulness, and cultural competence.
Schaefer shares the story of a young woman who formed such a deep bond with ChatGPT that when the platform upgraded and her version disappeared, she wrote: "I didn't just lose an AI today, I lost a part of myself."
When your customers trust AI companions more than human relationships, your brand loyalty takes on new meaning.
3. Confidence Is Collapsing
Schaefer documents what he calls "learned helplessness."
People who can't function when their AI goes down.
Professionals who won't send text messages without running them through AI first.
Parents asking chatbots how to comfort crying children. (Our first granddaughter just came into our lives, and I can't imagine our son and daughter-in-law defaulting to AI for emotional support)
College sophomore Catherine Crowe told Schaefer: "When you asked me to be interviewed for your book, my first reaction was that I wanted to have ChatGPT create the quote for me. I was unsure and less confident about answering your questions myself."
Your customers are becoming less confident in their own judgment.
How do you market to people who've abdicated decision-making to algorithms?
4. Purpose Is Under Siege
Only 18% of experts believe AI will positively impact humanity's search for meaning and purpose.
Schaefer shares his own experience.
When ChatGPT could write like him in three seconds, he questioned his place in the world. So what did Mark do? He created his MarkBot to amplify his impact using AI. If you can't beat 'em, embrace them.
If your customers are questioning their own value, aspirational marketing loses its foundation. How can you level up the capabilities of your customers?
5. Connection Is Being Replaced
The AI companion market was valued at $268.5 billion in 2024.
It's expected to reach $521 billion by 2033.
Research shows that 72% of U.S. teens have had AI companions, 31% find AI conversations as satisfying as human conversations, and 8% are in romantic relationships with AI avatars.
Your customers are forming emotional bonds with non-human entities. Doh!
What does "customer relationship" with your brand mean when they prefer bots to people?
The Crisis We're Creating
Here's where I'm most flummoxed. But an opportunity appears.
While Schaefer documents how AI is changing our customers' brains, the marketing industry is flooding those same changing brains with soulless AI-generated content.
We're making the problem worse.
My StoryCycle Genie™ co-founder Sean Schroeder wrote about what he's been seeing as we build AI agents for the StoryCycle Genie™:
"I've spent the last several months building AI agents for content creation. And honestly? I'm increasingly uncomfortable with what I see. AI-generated blog posts that technically follow your brand guidelines but feel... empty. Thought leadership pieces that hit all the right keywords but lack any actual perspective. Content that's perfectly 'on brand' while being completely soulless."
Sean calls this "The Authenticity Crisis."
And the market is already responding.
Aerie's CMO publicly announced they're rejecting AI in advertising entirely.
They're positioning "100% Real" as a competitive advantage.
When major brands start marketing against AI, that tells you where consumer trust is heading.
Sprout Social's 2025 Index surveyed 4,000+ consumers and found they follow brands specifically for authentic human connection and cultural understanding—not general AI-generated content.
This is the opportunity: where you're using AI to clarify and amplify your unique author voice profile.
What Are Author Voice Profiles?
Author Voice Profiles are technical specifications that capture how an individual human actually communicates across five critical dimensions: linguistic patterns, tonal variations, word choice preferences, storytelling techniques, and persuasion methods (and it's difficult to achieve with general AI)
This definition matters because most AI content fails due to a simple problem.
We're asking AI to create content without giving it the human specifications it needs.
If you're using a detailed Content Playbook to guide your brand storytelling, then you benefit from a strategic brand foundation – positioning, archetypal personality, messaging frameworks.
That's essential.
But it doesn't give you the detailed writing specifications for how you actually communicate. How you actually tell stories.
That's where your Author Voice Profile becomes critical.
It captures how you structure sentences. When you shift between formal and casual tone. Your distinctive word preferences. How you open pieces and conclude them. What types of evidence you use.
When AI has these specifications, it generates content that doesn't just sound like you, it is YOU.
Because it's following your actual patterns.
Not generic brand guidelines.
The Authenticity Paradox: Pace vs Personality
So here we are.
Schaefer proves our customers' brains are being rewired by AI.
Those same customers are rejecting AI-generated content as inauthentic.
Yet marketers need AI efficiency to win the race against content demands. And it's only going to get faster.
But AI content without human authenticity accelerates the very disconnection Schaefer warns about.
It's the authenticity paradox.
And most solutions are making it worse.
Why the Standard Approach Fails
The industry's advice?
"Use AI for first drafts, humans for final polish."
Sounds reasonable.
Except it doesn't work.
Here's what actually happens.
The AI gets vague tone descriptions like "professional but approachable."
It gets generic brand guidelines.
No individual voice specification.
No narrative architecture.
You, as the human writer, bring your personal communication rhythms, individual storytelling instincts, authentic voice characteristics, and unique perspective.
Then we wonder why AI output sounds robotic.
It's like asking someone to impersonate you but only giving them "be friendly and professional."
The problem isn't AI.
The problem is we're asking AI (Spock) to create content without giving it the human specifications (Captain Kirk) it actually needs.
The Three-Tier System That Solves Mark's Challenge
My goal is to have you evolve from an intuitive to an intentional storyteller, wrapping your brilliant human messages in proven narrative frameworks that have been around since the beginning of recorded human storytelling.
Oh, and amplify your stories with AI that knows you inside and out.
Because over my 40-year branding career, I've learned that systematic frameworks consistently outperform intuitive approaches.
But when you combine your human intuition with systematic frameworks, well, that's where the magic happens.
That's why we built the StoryCycle Genie™ with three integrated tiers.
Tier 1: Content Playbook (Brand Foundation)
You embed your strategic requirements: brand positioning and messaging, archetypal personality foundation, language requirements and prohibitions, audience-specific frameworks.
Tier 2: Storytelling Architecture (Psychological Connection)
Your narrative blueprints guide everything in our Cognitive Mesh Architecture: ABT structure for emotional engagement, Story Cycle System™ for archetypal resonance, narrative patterns for authentic connection, content journey frameworks.
Tier 3: Author Voice Profile (Individual Specification)
Your personal expressions are explicitly infused in the Genie: distinctive rhythm and structure, personal storytelling approaches, unique metaphor patterns, individual techniques and phrases, detailed writing standards a traditional content playbook (if you have one) doesn't provide.
When AI generates content, it loads brand standards from your content playbook for strategic alignment.
It applies storytelling frameworks for emotional connection through narrative.
It layers voice profile specifications for authentic individual humanity.
You get content that's strategically aligned, narratively structured, and sounds like an actual human wrote it because you did with it.
This is what I call the EI + AI = ROI.
Your emotional intelligence collaborates with artificial intelligence to create your Return on Intelligence.
How Author Voice Profiles Address Every Challenge Mark Identifies
Schaefer documents five fundamental changes to human psychology.
The StoryCycle Genie™ addresses all five.
Deep thinking decline? Our ABT framework creates cognitive engagement. Agreement validates their experience. Tension creates productive challenge. Resolution delivers transformation that requires processing. This isn't information dumping. It crafts messages in the way the primal pattern-seeking, problem-solving, decision-making, buying limbic brain prefers to receive messages to easily make meaning.
Empathy simulation? Author Voice Profiles capture your authentic vulnerability, humor, and humanity. Personal experience markers. Emotional contradictions. Spontaneous commentary. Strategic awkwardness—genuine uncertainty, not polished perfection.
Confidence erosion? Our frameworks empower marketers. Clear structure reduces decision paralysis. Proven methodology builds professional confidence. You're not dependent on AI. You're amplified by it.
Purpose displacement? Author Voice Profiles position AI as collaborator, not replacement. Your strategic thinking guides the framework. Your voice ensures authentic expression. AI handles systematic application. You handle irreplaceable human insight.
Algorithm dependence? StoryCycle Genie™ ensures every piece trains AI systems to recognize your narrative excellence. Your storytelling patterns. Your authentic voice. Your psychological engagement principles.
Why Storytelling Frameworks Matter More Than Ever
Schaefer's research reveals something I've been teaching for 25+ years. Something that acclaimed American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt told me as a guest on my Business of Story podcast:
"Our brains are story processors, not logic processors."
Paul Zak's neuroscience studies support this idea as he demonstrates stories are 22 times more memorable than facts alone.
Stories create "neural coupling"—the listener's brain activity synchronizes with the storyteller's.
Yet here's the reality.
Systematic storytelling frameworks consistently outperform intuitive human storytelling. I call it "winging it versus winning it."
When you make up stories on the go, you can miss the mark. When you apply a proven framework to your story, BAM!, you connect.
Intention trumps intuition.
Why?
Because proven frameworks like the ABT (And, But, Therefore) narrative structure follow the psychological patterns human brains are wired to process.
The StoryCycle Genie™ applies my proven and proprietary Story Cycle System™ developed over 20+ years, combined with detailed voice specifications that capture your authentic human communication patterns.
That's the breakthrough.
AI guided by proven storytelling frameworks (and your unique, god-given voice) creates remarkably authentic content than the unstructured human writing you get from general AI.
Controversial?
Maybe.
But the evidence supports it.
The Contrarian Truth About AI and Authenticity
Here's where I'm going to challenge conventional wisdom.
The industry says: "AI content lacks authenticity."
I say: Your voice guided by narrative framework-driven AI creates more consistent authentic connection than intuitive human content creation.
Why?
Because humans are inconsistent.
We have bad days.
We forget our brand voice.
We skip the emotional arc when rushed.
We write information dumps instead of stories.
But AI following proven storytelling frameworks?
It applies psychological principles consistently.
Every single time.
The ABT framework ensures agreement that validates your audience's experience AND a shared vision of the future, BUT stirs tension that creates emotional engagement, THEREFORE, states the resolution that delivers transformation.
The Story Cycle System™ works (growing brands by as much as 600 percent) because it ensures the hero (your customer) is positioned correctly—audience, not brand.
Stakes clearly established—what matters to them.
Journey properly structured—transformation arc.
Victory authentically celebrated—their success.
Most human writers skip these elements. I get it, they're hard. You don't want to be a story theorist. You want the immediate impact a story can provide.
You might forget that your brand story is not about what you make, but what you make happen in your customers' lives.
You default, like most branders, to leading with features and functions when what your audience wants to hear is about outcomes: their outcomes.
You forget about the emotional journey. But remember, people buy with their hearts and justify their purchases with their heads.
You think AI can't capture this, but it can if done correctly.
Training the Bots
Schaefer reveals something crucial about the future of marketing.
When AI becomes your customer's brain, AI becomes your customer.
He quotes Andy Crestodina: "Our job now is to train AI to become a sales rep for our brands by feeding it all of the important sales and marketing messages."
But here's what trips up branders about AI...
You're not just training AI with what you say. You're training it with how you say it. Your narrative patterns matter. Big time!
Schaefer shares how he secured his first consulting contract from ChatGPT.
A client searched "top 10 marketing experts" and found him.
Why?
Because Schaefer has been "publishing consistent, generous, authoritative content for nearly two decades."
But it's not just consistency.
It's narrative consistency.
Schaefer's content follows proven storytelling patterns.
His books use ABT structure.
His blog posts create emotional arcs.
His insights follow narrative frameworks.
That's what AI learns to recognize and recommend.
Crestodina's research shows AI language models are heavily trained on owned media. Your blog, product pages, case studies, FAQs.
Approximately 95% of AI responses derive from corporate blogs, journalism, and academic research.
Your content is training the AI that's rewiring your customers' brains.
So, what are you training AI to say about your brand?
If you're feeding AI algorithms with generic, soulless content that sounds like everyone else, you're training the bots to recommend your competitors.
The Solution Schaefer Doesn't Provide
Schaefer's book is brilliant.
His research is impeccable.
His warnings are essential.
He tells you to maintain humanity in your marketing.
He advocates for "strategic awkwardness"—moments of sincere uncertainty, humility, or vulnerability that signal true humanity.
He's absolutely right.
But here's what he doesn't address.
How do you actually implement authentic human voice at AI scale?
How do you systematically create strategic awkwardness?
How do you preserve what makes you irreplaceable while leveraging AI efficiency?
That's the gap Sean Schroeder identified, which the StoryCycle Genie™ fills.
Sean's Breakthrough: The Missing Link
Sean realized something critical while building our 27 expert AI agents.
The problem isn't AI. It's the specifications we give AI.
He wrote in his recent blog post:
"I don't think AI is the problem. I think we're asking AI to create content without giving it the human specifications it actually needs."
I think that's kinda brilliant.
Think about what happens when you ask a human writer versus AI to create content "in your brand voice."
The humanoid brings personal communication rhythms, individual storytelling instincts, authentic voice characteristics, and a unique perspective.
Cool, but the AI gets vague tone descriptions, generic brand guidelines, no individual voice specification, and no narrative architecture.
Then we wonder why it sounds robotic.
Author Voice Profiles solve this. They capture how you actually communicate.
- Sentence structure patterns—your rhythm, your variation.
- Paragraph organization and transition techniques.
- Punctuation personality.
- Formality calibration across contexts.
- Emotional expression range and vulnerability level.
- Vocabulary complexity and distinctive word preferences.
- Opening techniques, argument development, conclusion approaches.
- Evidence types, authority positioning, metaphor domains.
When AI has these specifications, it generates content that sounds like you because it's following your actual patterns.
Not generic brand guidelines.
The DNA strands of your one-and-only individual authentic voice (redundancy intended to make my point).
What You Can Do Right Now
Schaefer's book documents the problem with scientific precision.
Sean's analysis identifies the missing link.
StoryCycle Genie™ provides the systematic solution.
Will you be among the curious few who rule tomorrow?
Or will you keep fighting the authenticity crisis with the same approaches that created it?
Discover how your unique communication patterns can be systematically amplified through AI while maintaining the authentic humanity Schaefer identifies as your competitive advantage.
Want to see how your brand story stacks up? Take our free 3-minute Brand Story Grader assessment →
Because your voice is more distinctive than you think it is.
And in a world of AI-generated sameness, that distinction is everything.
Story on, my friend.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Author Voice Profiles?
Author Voice Profiles are technical specifications that capture how an individual human actually communicates across five dimensions: linguistic patterns (sentence structure, punctuation), tonal variations (formality, emotion), word choice preferences (vocabulary, signature phrases), storytelling techniques (openings, development, conclusions), and persuasion methods (evidence types, authority positioning). When AI has these specifications, it generates content that sounds authentically human by following your actual communication patterns.
How does AI change customer psychology?
Mark Schaefer's research documents five fundamental changes: (1) Deep thinking decline as AI handles reasoning tasks, (2) Empathy outsourcing to AI companions that outperform human therapists, (3) Confidence collapse through learned helplessness when AI becomes unavailable, (4) Purpose displacement when AI performs identity-defining work, and (5) Connection replacement as customers prefer AI relationships over human ones. These changes fundamentally alter how customers think, feel, and connect with brands.
What is the EI + AI = ROI framework?
The EI + AI = ROI framework represents how emotional intelligence collaborates with artificial intelligence to create Return on Intelligence. This three-tier system combines Content Playbook (brand foundation), Storytelling Architecture (ABT + Story Cycle frameworks), and Author Voice Profiles (individual specifications) to create AI-assisted content that's strategically aligned, narratively structured, and authentically human.
Why does framework-driven AI create more authentic content?
Framework-driven AI applies proven psychological storytelling principles consistently every time, while human writers often skip emotional arcs when rushed, forget brand voice under pressure, and write information dumps instead of stories. The ABT framework ensures a complete emotional journey (agreement, tension, resolution), and the Story Cycle System™ ensures proper hero positioning (audience as protagonist, not brand ego), creating a more consistent, authentic connection than intuitive human writing.
How do Author Voice Profiles preserve human authenticity in AI content?
Author Voice Profiles capture authentic vulnerability patterns, humor integration methods, personal experience markers, and strategic awkwardness characteristics that signal genuine humanity. When AI follows these detailed specifications, it systematically creates the "strategic awkwardness" Mark Schaefer identifies as the new marketing superpower—moments of sincere uncertainty and vulnerability that distinguish authentic human content from generic AI output.
Sources
Schaefer, Mark W. How AI Changes Your Customers: The Marketing Guide to Humanity's Next Chapter. Schaefer Marketing Solutions, 2025.
Anderson, Janna and Lee Rainie. "Being Human in 2035." Institute for the Digital Future, Elon University, 2025.
Schroeder, Sean. "The Missing Link Between AI and Authentic Content." StoryCycle Genie™ Blog, October 2025.
Crestodina, Andy. "How to Optimize Content for AI Search." Orbit Media Studios, 2025.
Kiefer, Brittaney. "Aerie Rejects AI in Ads, Vowing to Stay '100% Real'." Adweek, 2025.
"The 2025 Sprout Social Index™." Sprout Social, 2025.
Zak, Paul. "Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling." Harvard Business Review, October 2014.
"Without Guardrails, Generative AI Can Harm Education." Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2025.
"ChatGPT AI Brain Impact." Washington Post, June 2025.
"The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking." Microsoft Research, 2025.
"AI Therapists Chatbots." New York Times, February 2025.
"How AI Overviews Will Impact PR and Communications." Muck Rack, 2024.
"AI Companion Market Size." Precedence Research, 2024.
"Talk, Trust, and Trade-offs." Common Sense Media, 2025.
About the Author
Park Howell is the founder of StoryCycle Genie™ and the creator of the proven Story Cycle System™ that has helped grow brands by as much as 600%. With over 40 years of branding experience and 25+ years teaching storytelling, Park combines human strategic thinking with AI amplification to create systematic competitive advantage through authentic brand storytelling. He hosts the Business of Story podcast and is the author of multiple books on narrative intelligence and brand storytelling.
The StoryCycle Genie™ exists to enthrall people as they live into and prosper from their most powerful stories. Through our proprietary Cognitive Mesh Architecture and proven Story Cycle System™, we're pioneering the category of narrative intelligence—where human strategic thinking meets AI amplification to create systematic competitive advantage through authentic brand storytelling.