Credible Leader tip: Use AI to help, not take over your communication

I made four AI deepfakes of myself and used them to MC a recent conference.

Not because I wanted a day off – I was still there speaking on stage – but to make a dramatic point to my audience. 

Some people thought I’d simply recorded a video of myself. In fact, I used AI to animate a still image and clone my voice delivering four different scripts.

I wasn’t suggesting my clients do this themselves, but I wanted to make them aware of the technology that’s rapidly transforming how people interact with businesses and government organisations.

AI video capability has come a huge way in a few short years. There are some situations where using it is time-efficient and appropriate.

But if you’re a leader who sometimes records video to communicate with teams or external audiences (and I recommend that you do!), your people need to know it’s the real you. 

One of the problems of AI editing platforms is that they love to automatically remove all your ums and ahs. These are the elements that make you human.

Yes, it’s good to have a degree of polish in your presentation. But let’s not get to a point where everyone’s videos are so sanitised and devoid of natural phrases that people simply can’t tell if we’re a living creature or an animated image.

 Credible leaders understand they need to stay in the communication driver’s seat – using a degree of AI where it’s most efficient but never compromising connection and authenticity.