Finding the balance between human behaviour, AI, and creativity

This post is sponsored by Ampersand Advisory.

There is a growing belief that humans have quietly surrendered their decision-making to machines. Algorithms decide which headlines we read, which songs we hear, and which of our friends’ updates reach us first. In marketing, artificial intelligence filters and prioritises every step of the consumer journey: what we search for, watch, and buy.

This raises an important question. Have we handed over our choices to algorithms or do we still retain the freedom to decide for ourselves?

In boardrooms and agencies, this tension plays out every day. Media teams rely on automated bidding systems, eCommerce platforms personalise storefronts in real time, and recommendation engines claim to know our preferences better than we do. Every marketing interaction feels precise, predictive, and perfectly timed.

Yet beneath this appearance of control lies a paradox. For all its analytical power, AI struggles to grasp the emotional, situational, and often contradictory ways people think and act.

We have all experienced moments when the machine’s version of relevance misses the human point. Buy a suitcase online and continue to see luggage ads for weeks afterward. The algorithm registers your purchase, but fails to understand that the journey is complete.

Streaming services make the same mistake. Watch a single true-crime documentary and your screen fills with grisly recommendations, even when your next search is for comedy. AI equates attention with obsession and overlooks the fluidity of human moods.

Such examples reveal an essential truth: algorithms can mirror behaviour patterns, yet they often fail to interpret motivation or emotion.

The illusion of inevitability

Many marketers speak of AI as if it governs the marketplace. In reality, algorithms optimise rather than decide. They process what has already happened and estimate what might occur next. Humans still control the final action: to click, to buy, or to ignore. The distinction between influence and choice remains meaningful.

This human independence surfaces constantly: revisiting old songs that platforms forget, choosing independent artisans over algorithmically ranked brands or travelling to destinations absent from trending lists. These acts of independence – spontaneous, emotional, and deeply human – keep the decision-making process alive.

A case for human creativity

Some of the most effective campaigns succeed precisely because they embrace unpredictability. Consider the renewed interest in analogue forms: vinyl records, film photography, and handwritten letters. No predictive model could have anticipated this return. Their charm lies in texture, nostalgia, and imperfection – qualities beyond data.

Marketing stories that touch hearts work the same way. Thailand’s witty humour, Malaysia’s emotional festive films or Brooke Bond’s inclusive storytelling reach people because they speak from human insights rather than statistical correlation.

Even within AI systems, human direction continues to shape the outcome. People define the model’s parameters, select the data, and interpret success. Values and biases remain embedded within every digital framework. Creativity, empathy and judgement still drive how technology serves us.

The Enfagrow A+ MindPro example

Few categories combine emotion and competition as intensely as parenting. For Enfagrow A+ MindPro, the challenge during Mother’s Day was to stand apart in a market overflowing with promotions and sentiment.

The brand chose to celebrate the sound of early childhood – a toddler’s laughter and babble, transforming it into a musical tribute. Mothers were invited to record their children’s voices, which were combined through AI sound synthesis to create a song. More than 240 recordings arrived from Malaysia, and participation in Singapore was five times higher than projected.

The final piece, composed entirely of these joyful sounds, was shared across social media and radio. The campaign generated over two million views, a 3.5-fold increase in positive sentiment, and a 7% rise in sales in both markets. It also entered the Malaysia and Singapore Books of Records for featuring the most toddlers’ voices in an AI-generated composition.

Technology handled the orchestration, but emotion powered the experience. The mothers became collaborators in creativity. Their involvement transformed the initiative from a marketing campaign into an act of collective expression.

The Enfagrow example demonstrates how machines can extend human imagination when guided by empathy and purpose. AI enhanced the story; it did not define it.

The limits of automation

When brands treat AI as a shortcut to creativity, the results can feel lifeless. A few festive films in India that used AI-generated visuals, such as the Apsara Ice Cream Diwali ad, drew criticism for lacking emotional depth.

Even established global names have faced backlash. Coca-Cola’s recent AI-created Christmas ad was judged competent, yet soulless, missing the warmth that had long defined its storytelling.

Automation can refine production and improve efficiency, but it cannot generate human connection on its own. Creativity needs context, memory and feeling. These are qualities that no dataset can reproduce.

The need for mindful design and human filter

A more sustainable path lies in collaboration, with machines handling the scale and speed of data, and humans contributing judgement, ethics and imagination. When an AI engine suggests product variants or creative routes, strategists must still decide which ones align with purpose and resonate with a lived experience.

True intelligence depends on discernment. The ability to ask why remains the human advantage that technology cannot replace.

Every algorithm ultimately meets its boundary in the person it seeks to influence. Each small action reaffirms our control. AI can flood screens with options, but meaning arises only when people choose what feels authentic to them.

The rise of artificial intelligence does not erase human creativity; it challenges us to use it wisely. The future of marketing will favour those who balance data with empathy, precision with imagination, and scale with soul.

Technology can reach audiences with remarkable efficiency. Empathy ensures the message lands with warmth and purpose.

The most powerful algorithm remains the one that resides in the human mind: curious, unpredictable, and endlessly creative.

This article is written by Kunal Sinha, chief knowledge officer at Ampersand Advisory, Kuala Lumpur. He is also the author of several books, including “Raw: Pervasive Creativity in Asia” and “The Future of India’s Rural Markets”.