Why Consumers Care About Human Connection—And How You Can Meet Them There

InnovationWhy Consumers Care About Human Connection—And How You Can Meet Them ThereByConal Byrne,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)May 18, 2026, 09:30am EDTConal Byrne, CEO iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group. gettyHere’s the big headline: ​96% ​of consumers say content that is “guaranteed human” is appealing—and that’s true across every demographic, regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity and geography. This stat comes from a recent study my company conducted in partnership with Critical Mass Media following the "Guaranteed Human” commitment we made to our listeners that real people will always be behind the music and voices they hear across our iHeartRadio platforms. Now that we’re a few months into this commitment, we wanted to see how the human-first messaging was resonating with audiences.While AI adoption is growing, interest in human-generated content is growing just as rapidly—but those aren’t mutually exclusive concepts. The average consumer is using AI as a tool, which then actually increases their interest in also seeking content generated by humans. That same iHeartMedia and Critical Mass Media study demonstrates that more than 9 in 10 consumers ​say that guaranteed human content is more trustworthy, higher quality and more emotionally connective, and 9 in 10 say this makes “guaranteed human” content more likely to hold their attention.Put simply, 92% of consumers want AI as a tool, yet say that nothing can replace human connection. This is especially key for advertisers to fully grasp in order to reach their intended audiences with the most effective messaging. Decision Makers And Marketers Fall Prey To Echo Chambers As I’ve covered before, there’s often a massive difference in thinking between marketers and consumers due to an innate human bias that makes us believe that our personal belie...