Much has been said about AI in the last couple of years, on one hand about its positives, how much it will revolutionise our lives, lead to breakthroughs in several areas, transform the world of work as we know it, but also on its downsides, undermining creative and human work, or its increasing systemic and environmental costs. But the truth is, this is not a new industry; it has been nascent for many decades (e.g. the term was coined in 1956) before the LLM boom in 2022 (with the release of ChatGPT to global audiences), nor is our human scepticism towards technology new.

Rewind back to the 1970s, and this sense of unsettling doubt about our robot future was already present. The film Westworld from that decade explored the theme of technological breakdown, with machines turning on humans, and opened our cultural imagination to what a possible future with technology might look like. This was the embryonic phase, with momentum around themes such as free will, identity, and morality, on the back of technological breakthroughs, continuing to grow as these industries progressed.

In the past few years, a collective dissatisfaction and scepticism toward the digital sphere has been growing. In 2020, Anna Wiener titled her Silicon Valley memoir “Uncanny Valley”, borrowing a term coined in the 1970s by Japanese roboticist and Professor Masahiro Mori, which articulates the eerie feeling when robots look almost, but not quite, human. It’s a feeling that has only increased as AI and robotics have started to converge. Borrowed from Star Wars, new expressions like “Clankers” are flooding the internet, becoming the latest slur for robots, expressing people’s increasing frustration with AI slop (lame/fake content) and algorithmic creep.

Culture is powerful, and, whether intentionally or not, it seems that most recent campaigns from major AI companies are trying to address our societal anxieties about technology. Moving from ‘clichéd’ portrayals of tech that encompassed high-tech, blue neon-like lights, cold, metallic and clinical environments, to softer, more human-centred visions.

An example is Anthropic’s AI tool, Claude, which brings an intentional imperfection to its brand identity, featuring hand-drawn illustrations reminiscent of mid-century movie posters by graphic designer Saul Bass, who deliberately used bold lines and distinctive brush marks (e.g. the Bonjour Tristesse and The Man with a Golden Arm movie posters). Claude’s moving image featured on their website echoes this sense of craft: slow-paced transitions and elements that playfully blend on-screen.

Credit: Claude website

NSS Magazine recently published an article arguing that “Imperfection is the only antidote to the AI epidemic”, and that people led by younger cohorts are “reclaiming” errors as a form of authenticity. It goes on to highlight the rise of the “naïve graphics” aesthetic trend in the fashion industry, driven by a single key factor: “rebelling against unnatural perfection”, and optimisation, as the article notes. 

Ironically, AI companies are leveraging that sentiment to present a sincere commitment to humanity and appear unthreatening.

ChatGPT launched its first large ad campaign in late September 2025, and with it, the humanised tech theme repeated itself – the series is made up of simple short movies that speak to people’s everyday lives and play back real use cases of customers using ChatGPT to cook, plan a trip or hit a fitness goal. Further to the low-key settings – it was shot on 35mm film, a format known for its textured, ‘imperfect’ aesthetic and pronounced grain, chosen specifically to highlight a sense of “human craft”. However, when the aesthetic of ‘humanity’ isn’t matched by a direct benefit to humans, audiences notice. ChatGPT’s campaign leans heavily into warmth and cosiness, yet the company has been clearly evasive about its commercial direction, including recent controversy over plans to introduce ads and the data-collection concerns that follow.

Credit: ChatGPT Ad Campaign 2025

The message is clear: human agency is still the magic behind the machine. 

3 Key Takeaways for Brands

  • Values must be backed by actions: Leveraging human craft and human-centred design is great – but importantly, if your externally communicated values & brand image do not match your company’s philosophy in practice, there’s a very high chance that audiences will call this out. Ensure the whole brand’s ecosystem reflects the same values.

  • Anchor in the familiar: The industry has historically been associated with sleekness and disruption, but in the current cultural and socio-political climate of uncertainty and ‘polycrisis’, this aspiration for wholesale change is increasingly difficult to sell to customers. Cues that convey familiarity and authenticity (e.g. those that elevate and celebrate the human touch, including its imperfections) build trust more effectively.

  • Distinctiveness is key: In a world where AI polishes and flattens everything, making it look the same, distinctiveness is now more than ever the essence and secret of a successful brand.

We’re here to help you paint and communicate that picture.

Gabi Orsi, Project Director

Softening the Machine: Why tech brands are speaking the language of humans