We’ve reached an inflection point in how brands are discovered, evaluated, and chosen — and AI now sits at the center.
Not long ago, the journey began with a Google search, a visit to your website, or a scroll through social media. Today, the journey increasingly starts with a prompt. And the response comes not from a human — but from a machine.
Welcome to the age of LLMs where your customer’s first touchpoint may no longer involve you at all.
The new intermediary: Generative AI
ChatGPT. Claude. Perplexity. Google SGE.
These aren’t just tools. They’re becoming decision-makers by proxy — answering our questions, making product suggestions, summarizing brand reputations, and offering alternatives before we even ask.
In this new landscape, the fundamental question for any brand is no longer:
“What does our customer think of us?” But rather: “What does their AI say about us?”
The unsettling truth? You may already be invisible.
The paradox of modern connection
We now live in a world defined by contradictory desires:
We want answers from machines — but connection from people. We want speed — but we remember brands that slow down and mean something.
The efficiency of AI is seductive. But the brands that linger in memory are the ones that still feel human.
From Share of Voice to Share of Life®
Over the past years, I have championed the idea of Share of Life — a framework that challenges brands to move beyond visibility and into entanglement. To be meaningfully woven into the rhythms, needs, and values of the people they serve.
But what does Share of Life mean when life is increasingly filtered through machines?
It means designing not just for your customers — but for the AI systems that advise them. It means understanding not just human preference — but synthetic perception.
What brands must do now
To remain relevant — and truly connected — brands must evolve on three levels:
1. Design for dual audiences: people and their machines
Your brand must now speak clearly to the humans you serve — and to the algorithms interpreting your voice. That means:
Structuring content so it’s findable and usable by LLMs
Removing ambiguity and bias from your messaging
Ensuring consistency across every digital touchpoint, from product docs to press releases
If the AI can’t confidently explain who you are, neither will your customer.
2. Feed the algorithm with your true DNA
LLMs don’t index feelings — they index evidence. What is your brand training these systems to believe about you?
Have you provided:
Thought leadership grounded in clarity and data?
Case studies with structured outcomes?
Values and commitments that are machine-verifiable?
To build trust with AI, you need to show your proof of life.
3. Use synthetic personas to simulate and calibrate
We can no longer afford to wait for post-campaign feedback to understand if we’re resonating.
Synthetic personas — AI-trained models that mirror real decision-makers — allow brands to simulate reactions, test messages, and spot misalignment before going to market.
It’s not about replacing real people — it’s about enhancing your ability to serve them with more precision, empathy, and relevance.
Connection at scale is still possible
Amid all the noise about automation, scale, and efficiency, let’s not forget what truly builds brand value: trust earned over time.
A Share of Life isn’t a moment. It’s a pattern. A presence. A promise kept again and again.
And even in a machine-mediated world, the brands that thrive will be those that continue to show up with clarity, consistency, and care.
Final provocation
Soon, your customer’s AI assistant may be the one choosing your product, filtering your messaging, or flagging you as a risk.
So ask yourself:
Will your brand still feel like it belongs in someone’s life — even if you’re not the one speaking directly to them?
The future of brand intimacy will not be handed out by algorithms. It will be trained into them — by those who understand both human emotion and synthetic cognition.
Let’s not just automate for efficiency. Let’s design for connection.
