AI is now embedded in content creation, but broader audience sentiment reveals clear limits to its effectiveness. Spark Emotions’ global research shows that while AI can support speed and scale, trust, relevance, and emotional connection remain the primary drivers of engagement, shaping how content strategies should evolve in 2026.
What Sentiment Tells Us About Trust, Relevance, and Attention
AI has quickly moved from novelty, to a staple part of strategy and infrastructure when it comes to content creation.
Captions, summaries, visuals, and even avatars can now be generated at speed, and made to be shockingly lifelike. But the question facing brands is no longer whether AI can create content. It’s whether audiences want to engage with it.
Spark Emotions’ recent Global Content Strategy & AI Sentiment Survey explores how people across markets feel about AI driven content, and what those emotions mean for brands trying to earn attention in crowded environments.
So, How Do People Really Feel About AI Content?
AI has quickly moved from novelty, to a staple part of strategy and infrastructure when it comes to content creation.
Captions, summaries, visuals, and even avatars can now be generated at speed, and made to be shockingly lifelike. But the question facing brands is no longer whether AI can create content. It’s whether audiences want to engage with it.
Spark Emotions’ recent Global Content Strategy & AI Sentiment Survey explores how people across markets feel about AI driven content, and what those emotions mean for brands trying to earn attention in crowded environments.
So, How Do People Really Feel About AI Content?
Across markets, attitudes toward AI generated content sit in a cautious middle.
While some audiences are open to AI involvement, especially in the Middle East, the survey found that trust is fragile. Concerns around accuracy, misinformation, and lack of human emotion consistently outweigh enthusiasm for automation.
The data shows a clear pattern:
- People trust human created content more
- Transparency about AI improves comfort, but does not replace trust
- Inauthenticity is one of the strongest barriers to engagement
In other words, audiences are not rejecting AI outright. They are rejecting content that feels detached, generic, or emotionally thin. Human emotion still wins.
Why Content Strategy Cannot Be Optimised for Efficiency Alone
AI excels at speed, consistency, and volume. But human behaviour is shaped by relevance, context, and emotion.
Our research highlights that:
- AI written captions are unlikely to increase engagement. In some markets, they may may even slightly reduce it.
- AI performs best when it adds clear informational value, not personality
This creates a strategic tension. So how can brands win?
Brands that optimise content purely for output risk producing material that audiences scroll past without emotional response. Content strategy in 2026 cannot be built on efficiency metrics alone. It must be designed around how people feel when they encounter content, not just how often it appears.
Authenticity as a Strategic Advantage
One of the most consistent findings across markets is the role of authenticity.
People are more likely to follow and engage with accounts that feel:
- Relevant to their lives
- Aligned with their values
- Human in tone and intent
Our data found that AI generated content becomes a barrier when it feels staged, repetitive, or disconnected from lived experience. This is particularly pronounced when content lacks emotional nuance or cultural awareness.
As Spark Emotions’ Chief Research Officer Andy Bromley explains:
“AI can replicate structure, but it can’t replicate lived experience. When content loses emotional credibility, people disengage quickly, often without consciously realising why.”
What This Means for Content Strategy in 2026
The implication for brands is not to abandon AI, but to reposition it.
Effective content strategies will:
- Use AI to support ideation, efficiency, and clarity
- Retain human oversight for emotional tone and relevance
- Be transparent about AI use where appropriate
- Prioritise trust, not just reach
AI should enhance content systems, not replace emotional judgement. When audiences feel manipulated, misled, or spoken at, engagement drops regardless of production quality.
Key Takeaways
- Audiences remain cautious about AI generated content
- Trust and authenticity are stronger drivers of engagement than automation
- AI works best when it adds value, not personality
- Human emotional oversight remains essential to content strategy
Conclusion
AI is now part of the content landscape, but sentiment makes one thing clear.
People do not engage with content because it is efficient. They engage because it feels relevant, trustworthy, and human.
Content strategies that succeed in 2026 will be those that understand where AI helps and where it erodes emotional connection, designing systems that respect how people actually experience content, not just how it is produced.
Ready to go deeper?
The findings above are just a snapshot. The full Spark Emotions Global Content Strategy and AI Sentiment Survey covers audience sentiment across the UK, USA, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia in detail. You can access the full report here.
