Collaboration between humans and AI may be the gold standard that companies are seeking in the future workplace, but a recent study conducted by Bryant University and outside researchers suggests that the work produced through such partnerships may also be subjected to unusually lofty expectations.
Advertising created by humans and AI generates “dream team” level anticipation among consumers but, when such ads fall short, the backlash can be doubly harsh, says Marketing Professor Sukki Yoon, Ph.D.
“Consumers expect ads created through AI-human collaboration to be of superior quality compared to those created through AI-AI or human-human collaboration,” notes the study.
These elevated expectations arise from “consumers’ beliefs in enhanced informational task management, the generation of innovative ideas, improved creative research, and greater efficiency in collaboration when AI and humans work together,” the study, published in the International Journal of Advertising, noted.
Researchers found that the higher the expectations rose, the deeper the disappointment was when ads were seen as subpar. Conversely, when AI-human collaborators do a good job, consumers are “not going to appreciate it as much,” notes Yoon.
While AI doesn't feel the sting of criticism, human workers may find it frustrating and demoralizing to be held to such unusually high standards. “In this sense, the promise of AI-human collaboration can become a burden for the very people it is supposed to help,” Yoon says.
"The promise of AI-human collaboration can become a burden for the very people it is supposed to help."
Ironically, consumers who believe most strongly in AI's potential are also the most disappointed when AI-human collaboration falls short, the study found. Expecting something close to perfection may be warranted in settings like healthcare or finance, which tend to have more right/wrong problems for AI-human teams to tackle. However, like art or music, advertising is highly subjective and makes such idealism unrealistic, Yoon contends.
Consumers have expressed clear preferences for having humans in the loop of content creation, including advertising. A global study by the marketing information site MarTech found, for example, that trust in AI-generated content fell from 73 percent in 2023 to 55 percent in 2025.
Disclosure of AI involvement doesn’t seem to help, and might actually hurt. For instance, Yoon notes that consumer reaction ranged from neutral to negative when Coca-Cola released its annual Christmas polar bear commercial last year and prominently announced that it was AI-generated.
AI content is subject to the “uncanny valley” effect — the unsettling feeling people experience when humanoid figures, robots, or digital avatars look almost human — but aren’t quite right, explains Yoon. The images that AI produces may have improved dramatically in just a few short years, but so has consumers’ ability to detect AI-generated content.
“AI changes the quality of the work that the company produces, but it also changes what customers expect from the company,” Yoon says, adding, "Agencies need to be especially careful about quality control" when using AI to produce ads.
“AI changes the quality of the work that the company produces, but it also changes what customers expect from the company."
Yoon suggests ad agencies avoid going out of their way to disclose that their work was the product of AI-human collaboration. "Simply combining AI and human creativity doesn't guarantee better consumer reactions," he says. "Good work is already expected, so agencies shouldn't assume that highlighting AI involvement will impress consumers."
Still, he sees this synergy continuing to be necessary for producing top-quality advertising.
“If you give AI creative work in an advertising context, what gets generated is fascinating,” says Yoon. “AI is good at creating ads that we think are creative, so the capability of AI is high. If I tell my GPT to come up with an emotionally moving ad, I bet it's going to do a good job.”
However, it’s unclear if AI can “think outside the box” enough to come up with a truly memorable ad campaign, like the "It’s Toasted" marketing slogan for Lucky Strike cigarettes explained by “Mad Men” character Don Draper.
“Don was a creative director at an ad agency, which perhaps would be the last position to be replaced by AI,” Yoon says.
The study was co-authored by Yoon and Marketing Associate Professor Kacy Kim, Ph.D., along with Marat Bakpayev, Ph.D., and Yuhosua Ryoo, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Labovitz School of Business and Economics, and Yongwoon Andrew Jeon of Northern Illinois University.