Q&A: AI can produce more content, but can it build trust?

The race to adopt artificial intelligence is transforming marketing, but are businesses confusing faster content production with genuine progress? As calls grow for greater restraint in AI development, chief marketing officers face mounting pressure to demonstrate meaningful returns from their investments. Producing more content at lower cost may improve efficiency, but it does not necessarily strengthen customer relationships or brand credibility. The real challenge is determining where automation adds value and where human expertise remains indispensable.

To help to unpick this topic, Digital Journal spoke with Andrew C. Wheeler is Chief Executive Officer of Skyword. Wheeler leads the company’s strategy and operations. With more than two decades of experience in high-growth marketing and technology organizations, he helps global brands rethink how they build authority and drive results.

The interview examines why marketing leaders need to move beyond AI-driven productivity and focus instead on originality, accountability and measurable business outcomes.

Digital Journal: Some AI leaders are calling for a slower pace of development. Should CMOs take that as a signal to slow their own AI strategies?

Andrew Wheeler: I doubt the pace will slow in any meaningful way. The companies urging restraint are still building ever more capable systems, and the incentives to keep going are strong. CMOs should plan for continued change, not a pause.

I wouldn’t tell marketing leaders to slow their AI strategies. I’d tell them to be clearer about the problems they’re using AI to solve. Using it to produce the same work at lower cost, whether that’s more articles or more answers to more queries, can feel like progress without changing whether buyers understand or trust the brand. AI can’t fix a weak strategy. The advantage comes from figuring out where it improves the work and delivers better results.

DJ: Where should marketing leaders apply the brakes before automating faster?

Wheeler: Start with the claims you put your name on. Before publishing, teams need to verify the information and make sure they can support the claims. A brand is accountable for what it publishes, regardless of which tool produced the first draft.

The same discipline applies to autonomous workflows. Before giving AI agents more responsibility, be clear about what they can do, how much they can spend and who is accountable when something goes wrong. Review content for accuracy and appropriate use of source material. Build these safeguards from the start. Otherwise, teams can spend more time fixing AI’s mistakes than they saved by using it in the first place.

DJ: How does the rush to adopt AI risk reinforcing an outdated content strategy?

Wheeler: The old playbook was built around the click. Pick a keyword, publish a page, work on its ranking, count the visits. As AI changes how people find information, many teams are swapping keywords for conversational queries and calling it a transformation. Too many teams are still treating this as a volume game.

AI search and discovery call for a different playbook, one focused on the unique perspective your brand adds that buyers can’t get elsewhere. If your content repeats what every competitor says, it gives buyers little reason to choose you and AI engines little basis for recommending you over someone else. AI engine optimization can help with discovery, but it needs something worthwhile to surface. Original evidence, informed judgment and expert explanations give the AI engines what they need to include the brand in responses.

DJ: If AI development does slow, what should CMOs do with that breathing room?

Wheeler: I doubt we’ll see any breathing room, but if we do, CMOs should use it to take stock of what their AI strategies have actually delivered. Which workflows save meaningful time? Which improves the quality of the work? Which just makes it easier to publish more generic content? An honest audit can reveal where the team has confused activity with value.

Then put the time into building the brand’s authority in the categories where it has real expertise. Develop original research, draw out the unique knowledge of people who work directly with your customers and establish a clear perspective on the decisions buyers face. AI can help organize, analyze and curate insights from that knowledge, but the real advantage comes from having something distinctive and credible to say. That work doesn’t depend on the next model, so it can start now.

DJ: What should remain in human hands as AI takes on more content work?

Wheeler: People need to decide what the brand has to say and be accountable for it. That starts with drawing out expertise: what someone learned while implementing a solution, what worked, what didn’t and what they would do differently. Original research and firsthand experience give buyers information they can’t get from another summary of what’s already been published.

AI can help prepare for an interview, identify gaps and adapt an expert’s insights for different audiences. But someone needs to challenge the interpretation, check the conclusions and make sure the content reflects what the expert actually meant. Marketing leaders should use the time saved through automation to get more of that expertise into their content.

DJ: How should CMOs measure whether their AI strategies are working?

Wheeler: Measure efficiency and business impact separately. Producing an article in half the time is a useful gain. You also need to understand whether that article helps buyers evaluate their options, trust your expertise and choose your brand.

Traffic still matters, but look at who’s coming, why they’re coming and what they do next. For AI discovery, look beyond citation counts. Is your brand showing up in conversations relevant to your buyers? Is it being described accurately? Is it being recommended for the problems you’re best equipped to solve?

Then connect those findings with what you’re hearing from customers and sales. Are prospects mentioning AI in how they found you? Are they arriving better informed? Is your content helping move decisions forward? No single metric will answer all of that. You need enough evidence to understand what’s working and where to invest next.