Everything AI can’t do for your brand.

soona's CEO Liz breaks down where AI falls short for brand building in 2026, from copywriting to UGC to customer support, and why the human element still wins.

Liz Giorgi
CEO & Co-Founder
March 3, 2026

There isn’t a day that goes by anymore where I don’t receive an email about all the things AI can do for me and my team. From vibe coding my entire software development org to remaking our entire partnership program with “AI creators” instead of real people. To be honest, lots of it is hype.

If you want to know what I am doing with AI, I put together a list of products that I really do love and that are helping my team be its best. And if I had to recommend an LLM to a CEO or executive, Claude would be my pick. (As an aside, it does a great job pretending to be my board members to help me prepare for board meetings. Steal that trick!)

But when it comes to building a brand in 2026 and trying to meet the needs of modern consumers, there are still a lot of areas where your human impact is most needed. Here’s a list of places where I am prioritizing the human element at soona:

• Punching up our copy: AI written copy gets a little too rote and maybe even a smidge too saccharine in a marketing context. To maintain the wit of the brand, we are still doing it the old fashioned way.
• UGC campaigns: There are dozens of AI powered creator tools out there right now. But here’s the truth we aligned around here… If you want a human to buy a product, you shouldn’t try to trick them with a fake human. (Also, the same holds true for human models of fashion and apparel.)
• Customer support: Look, it sounds so silly, but I hate an AI chatbot. It never gets what I am asking. It’s always trying to get me to pick a button or a number. None of which are ever relevant to me! I like real people really hearing me, so we are sticking with that for you too.

What are the things that you want to do in an AI-free way for your business? Our largest clients tell us: “When you need one photo, AI is cool. When you need hundreds of photos that all match and look on brand… soona provides the production operation systems that creates that consistency and quality at scale.”

We hope you agree.

Liz

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