What happens when artificial intelligence becomes good enough to pass as human? At this year’s Next: Innovation Week, the "Trust Me, I’m AI" session brought leaders from FCBCURE, AREA 23 and Common People Films together to discuss why and how healthcare marketers should prioritize ethics and authenticity while keeping pace with rapidly evolving AI tools.
With Jennifer Amaya, Group Executive Producer at FCBCURE moderating, the group including Chinkara Singh, Group Director of Creative Production at AREA 23, Kristen Bell and Corinne Feight, Creative Directors at AREA 23 and Ramy Dance Co-Founder of Common People Films, explored the complexities of how AI is reshaping the creative process and what it means to be a responsible creator in an industry built on trust and human connection.
Shift from detection to verification
As AI advances and becomes increasingly convincing, it’s harder to determine what’s real.
"If AI can mimic this authenticity, then it doesn't just challenge our ability to differentiate," Corinne said. "It really fundamentally changes our relationship with information and quite frankly, trust."
While marketers may no longer be able to rely on their senses alone to detect AI, she offers a solution: "Instead of asking 'is it real?' we should be asking ‘where did it come from? Who created it? And is the source credible?"
In the space of healthcare where misinformation has real consequences, verifying a source’s reliability is more important than ever. Building trust with audiences starts with transparency and credible sourcing.
Authenticity matters as creative workflows evolve
If AI-generated actors can tell emotionally resonant stories that reflect real patient experiences, does it matter if they’re "real" or not?
The speakers emphasized that AI should be treated as an added tool rather than a replacement. Reflecting on a recent campaign, Kristen shared that while AI was used to generate actors and recreate historical moments, many traditional processes like ethical reviews of scripts, storyboards and scenes for cinematic integrity remained in place.
"AI still remained just a tool in our creative toolbox that allowed us to tell authentic and emotional patient stories," Kristen reflected. When stories are produced in this way, with ethical intention and thoughtful execution, audiences can trust the meaningful feelings they are meant to invoke.
"[AI] is a really powerful tool, but it's only a great tool in the right hands," Ramy added. "I think the secret sauce behind using AI is years of experience, taste, collaboration."
Ethics are part of the brief
From licensing to output control, the group made clear that ethical use of AI begins at the prompt. Common People Films require ethical clauses in all contracts and is actively developing its resources to support compliance and transparency.
And Kristen agreed: "We put in place a process that allowed us to remain ethically sound while still being able to tell true authentic stories without sacrificing any of the visual aesthetics."
Corrine said, "Pharmaceutical advertising is approached with a high degree of skepticism," so using AI adds another layer of responsibility.
Patients seek empathy, clarity and hope, especially during vulnerable moments. Connecting with audiences at that level still requires a human touch. Removing deception from the equation and having a code of ethics in place to ensure real people remain part of the collaborative process is essential.
Everyone behind the prompt is responsible
Chinkara emphasized that all members of a creative production team are to be held responsible when AI makes a mistake because they are all "the humans behind the prompting." The responsibility doesn’t disappear just because this technology is involved.
"AI hasn’t got a moral compass," Ramy added. "Behind every AI prompt and every AI decision, there's a human decision behind that." Monitoring and refining artificial intelligence tools is critical to maintaining ethics principles.
Takeaways for healthcare marketers
We know AI isn’t going away and with that, neither is the responsibility to use it wisely. For healthcare brands, this means:
- Choosing partners who prioritize ethics and authenticity
- Keeping storytelling at the center, regardless of the medium
- Holding each other accountable
- Building ethics into production workflows
