Last week, I interacted with three AI-powered customer support assistants - one from a bank, one from an airline, and one from a retail brand.
Different industries. Different customer promises. Different brand personalities.
Yet after a few exchanges, I noticed something striking: they all sounded exactly the same. The responses were efficient, polite, and grammatically perfect. But they were also generic. If you removed the logos, there was little to indicate which brand I was speaking to.
That observation stayed with me because it points to one of the most overlooked challenges in the AI era. As organisations accelerate AI adoption, most conversations focus on technology. Which model are we using? How many leads can it generate? How many queries can it handle?
All important questions. But there is another question that deserves equal attention:
Does it sound like us?
For decades, organisations have invested heavily in building distinctive brands. As custodians of Brand and Communications, we have defined positioning, sharpened messaging, codified values, and developed tone-of-voice frameworks designed to make brands recognisable, trustworthy, and memorable.
Yet many organisations are now deploying AI assistants and chatbots that communicate in a language that could belong to virtually anyone. Ironically, at a time when technology is becoming more sophisticated, many brand experiences are becoming less distinctive.
Think about some of the world's most respected brands. Apple is associated with simplicity and clarity. Tata has built its reputation on trust and service. Nike communicates with ambition, confidence, and inspiration. Their identities are expressed not only through products, campaigns, and visual design, but through the way they communicate.
As AI becomes a primary interface between organisations and stakeholders, those distinctions matter more than ever. The reality is that today's chatbot is no longer a support tool tucked away in a corner of a website. Whether it's EVA, JIA, Kaya, Niki, or any other digital assistant, it has quietly become one of the most influential voices of your brand. For many customers and increasingly employees, it may be the most frequent interaction they have with an organisation.
Every response shapes perception. Every interaction either reinforces trust or weakens it.
This becomes even more important when we consider the scale of AI-powered interactions. A marketing campaign may reach millions, but AI systems now conduct millions of individual conversations, often without direct human intervention.
That makes tone of voice a strategic business asset.
A luxury brand should not sound like a budget retailer. A healthcare provider should not sound like a fintech platform. A company that prides itself on empathy should not communicate with robotic efficiency alone.
Because tone of voice is not a cosmetic layer applied at the end of implementation. It is an expression of culture, values, and personality. In many ways, it is the human side of the brand.
Yet AI implementation is still largely viewed as a technology initiative. Technology teams build the engine. Digital teams deploy it. Business teams measure efficiency and outcomes. But the responsibility for how an organisation sounds cannot rest with technology alone.
Brand, Communications, Customer Experience, and People functions are the custodians of organisational voice. Their involvement is not optional; it is essential. As communicators, we have spent years helping organisations find their voice. The challenge now is ensuring they don't lose it.
So where do communicators come in?
Most AI chatbot projects begin with a quest for efficiency, speed, and scale. That's understandable.
The challenge is that once the chatbot goes live, it quickly becomes much more than a technology tool. It becomes a communication touchpoint.
- One simple starting point is to stop treating tone-of-voice guidelines as documents meant only for agencies and copywriters. AI needs access to the same brand cues. If your brand is known for being reassuring, optimistic, direct, or empathetic, those traits need to be intentionally built into AI responses
- Another useful exercise is to compare your chatbot's responses with your existing communications. Place a chatbot response next to your CEO's message, website copy, or customer communication. Do they feel like they come from the same organisation? Often, the answer is revealing
- Communicators can also help identify moments where tone matters as much as information. A customer reporting a service issue, a candidate exploring a career opportunity, and an employee seeking guidance on a sensitive workplace policy may all require the same factual accuracy - but not the same emotional response
- Finally, one would recommend that organisations should periodically review AI conversations the same way they review campaigns and communication materials. Not to assess whether the technology is working, but to evaluate whether the brand is showing up.
Because the real question is not whether AI can answer correctly. It's whether it can answer in a way that feels unmistakably like your organisation.
Every organisation is investing in AI. Very few are investing equal effort in governing how AI represents their brand. As reputation is built one interaction at a time, increasingly those interactions are being mediated by machines.
Which brings us back to a deceptively simple test:
If someone removed your logo, would they still recognise your brand from the way your chatbot speaks?
(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication)
