Everyone is blaming AI for the death of craft. The music is generic. The clothes fall apart. The furniture is disposable. And somewhere in Silicon Valley, the algorithms did it. Except they didn’t — not alone, anyway. Take a good look in the mirror.
We chose speed over quality. We rewarded the cheapest option. We clicked past the handmade listing to buy the one that arrived tomorrow. We optimized everything, including the soul out of our brands. AI didn’t kill craft. We let it die — and then handed AI the shovel.
As someone who is about to replace my “high-end” dishwasher for the third time in ten years, this issue has never felt more personal. But as an agency leader, I also see it in modern brand-building — a quiet death of what used to be my industry’s fundamental devotion to craft. And it’s not just about materiality, lighting, camerawork, writing, design, and other creative elements. What’s dying — or maybe never nurtured by too many companies — is the crafted wrapper that brings the story behind a brand or product to life: the meaning it creates in a customer’s life. That’s as vital to brands as artistry is to the craft of handmade goods.
What’s missing is the human element — the part that gives brands, products, services, and even marketing a heart and soul. We can intuitively tell when things are created by people who care and, increasingly, when they’re not. And while the lack of craft across sectors and industries is tragic, it’s also an important opportunity for those brands willing to be held to a higher standard to bring better value to customers — offering them a real competitive advantage.
The Craft Killer
When it comes to this crisis of craft, there’s plenty of blame to go around. Most of it is us. We’re both told and shown from a very young age that success is only measurable by tangible standards, like money earned or things accumulated. Before long, we default to shortcuts in order to optimize: A “good product” is evaluated only by strong features and benefits. “Good marketing” is defined only by how well it drives purchases. What’s less valued are the intangibles that are at the core of craft: service, human interactions, art and design, storytelling and entertainment.
Then things got worse when everything went digital. If you make anything digital, you make it measurable, which seems more trustworthy and valuable — especially in a business setting. But while craft is an intangible, immeasurable thing, it’s also the love language of humanity, driving connection on a deeper level.
And now, there’s digital on steroids in the form of AI. The correlation between increasing automation and declining craft isn’t hard to trace — because we drew it ourselves. I pay for a bag of chips at the airport via a screen. Same at the baseball park. I order at a restaurant via QR code and only signal the waiter if something has gone wrong. I don’t need to go to the bank to cash a check. And I can even skip the critical thinking needed to do customer research. That means no serendipity, no delightfully unpredictable human interaction, no evidence of imperfection meeting ingenuity, and no surprising solutions that you couldn’t predict. The result is not just cynically optimized, low-quality products and brand experiences, but countless “blands.”
We built this. And we can unbuild it.
Celebrating Craft
It doesn’t have to be this way. Craft today can show up in everything from product design to an email or web experience or packaging. Studies show that people are hungry for it — with 59% of customers affirming that it drives brand loyalty and other data suggesting that creative craft boosts marketing effectiveness. That means a 100-year-old brand like our client Radio Flyer can reclaim its heritage by imbuing craft into their digital and physical spaces, just as they do their products, shining a light on the craft they embody every day. Krispy Kreme can replace its promotions and flavors-of-the-month marketing with craft-oriented storytelling that centers the mesmerizing delight of watching its signature donut roll off the conveyor belt. Fashion brands can invest in creativity instead of speed. Musicians can push beyond what AI can replicate. All it takes is a commitment to the principles that make craft more than an afterthought — or worse, no thought at all.
Serve a Need. Always
Brands, products and the content surrounding them can’t simply exist for their own sake. Everything needs to be driven by a basic need — one that’s felt by a brand’s most beloved customer. Then, every time a customer interacts with a brand — whether in person or virtually, in a huge retail experience or in a short follow-up email — they must leave that interaction feeling like their problem is being solved. Making money for yourself or saving money for the customer can’t be the only value you offer. And that “need” you’re fulfilling should be unique, not the same one that every other competitor in your category is offering.
Know Your Weaknesses
You can’t know what details to focus on if you don’t know where your deficiencies lie. So be honest. Where have you been most lazy in your brand experience offering? Email? Checkout? Marketing? Store design? Customer service? Employee culture? All of the above? Answering honestly is what lets you apply craft in the places that need extra attention and where customers will appreciate it most.
Start Small
Quality is in the cracks and details, not just in the massive overtures. Often, it’s the big brand moments that get prioritized, while small ones are overlooked, despite the fact that they’re where craft can make the biggest difference. For example, I follow an influencer who helps women like me dress better. Her suggestion: get dressed in your normal clothes, then add three unique items — a belt, fun earrings, and a statement shoe. Brands should do something similar, following this “rule of three” across their major communications channels, customer journey touchpoints, products, and more.
None of this is anti-progress. We can still use measurement and digitization and AI as tools, just not as the craft itself. True craft comes from heart and passion and takes real investment in time, energy, and money to get right. It’s also essential, so brands can’t afford to abandon it in favor of efficiency. The brands that embrace craft will bring joy, love, awe, and literal humanity to the world, building relationships as beloved and durable as their products.
AI didn’t take craft from us. We gave it away. The question is whether we’re ready to take it back.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
