Why Effort—Perceived or Real—Matters
In an era where AI is rapidly advancing, businesses are being told they need to move faster to keep up. But in the rush to automate everything, we risk losing something fundamental: authenticity. And authenticity is rooted in effort—both the effort we see and the effort we don’t.
The Illusion of Effort and Why It Matters
Human behavior has been studied, analyzed, and validated over centuries. We know so much about human nature that patterns can be predicted with remarkable accuracy. This is precisely why companies—especially in marketing—have always sought to shorten the time between what people want to do, what they say they’ll do, and what they actually do.
Authenticity plays a critical role in that process. It builds trust, creates connection, and ultimately determines value. If people sense that effort has been removed, that something is too seamless or frictionless, they may question its worth. Consider fine dining—people aren’t just paying for food; they’re paying for the craftsmanship, the skill, the experience. If the same meal came from a vending machine, would it be worth the same price?
Now apply that logic to AI-powered interactions. If someone doesn’t know they’re talking to a machine, does it matter? Maybe. Maybe not. But the moment they do find out, it does. The perceived effort behind the interaction changes the entire equation.
The Difference Between Being Nice and Wanting to Be Nice
There’s a well-known scene in The Break-Up where Jennifer Aniston’s character tells her partner:
“I don’t want you to do the dishes. I want you to want to do the dishes.”
This distinction is where AI falls short. Machines can be programmed to simulate kindness, but they cannot want to be kind. They can respond empathetically, but they cannot desire connection. Effort is not just about output—it’s about intent, and intent is what makes interactions feel real.
The Risk of Synthetic Connection
Some argue that as AI improves, people will become more numb to artificial or synthetic relationships. But I believe there will always be a missing piece—an unshakable human need for genuine effort. AI can assist someone in their search for meaning, but it cannot create meaning for them. It’s like teaching a child to ride a bike. You can provide training wheels, give guidance, and encourage them, but you cannot balance for them. They must experience it to learn.
TheFast-Moving AI Race and the Cost of Cutting Corners
Companies are being told they need to move fast to keep up with AI. But moving fast at the expense of authenticity is a dangerous trade-off. The push for hyper-efficiency ignores a fundamental truth: effort—whether perceived or real—is a core component of trust. Strip that away, and you risk commoditizing what was once valuable.
The companies that will truly succeed in this AI-driven world aren’t the ones that automate human connection but the ones that preserve it. The goal shouldn’t be to move faster for the sake of speed but to move with intention—understanding that authenticity is a competitive advantage, not a bottleneck.
Because at the end of the day, you can’t automate authenticity. And the moment people realize you’ve tried, you’ve already lost.
