The hottest topic right now is AI. Which won't shock you one bit.

And more and more businesses have been using it. Partly cause we're busy and it helps us offload some of our work. But also because everyone's been talking about how AI is the future and if you're not using it, you're basically a dinosaur waiting for the meteor.

So we're feeling the pressure to catch up and figure it out before we become extinct.

But Let’s Talk About When AI Makes You Look Less Trustworthy

I've noticed something happening with small businesses and AI that I think is worth talking about. In the rush to adopt it, some of us might be accidentally shooting ourselves in the foot and making people trust us less.

A Real Example of How AI Killed a Sale

Let me give you a real-life example. I was recently looking for a nail salon to remove some of my gel nails, so I looked at salons in my area and I found one. As I was scrolling through their website I was so impressed cause it looked professional, until I kept scrolling and my heart sank.

The images they had of their ‘clients’ were AI. The nails and models were AI. I was looking at picture perfect hands that never existed, holding up manicures that were never actually done. And immediately I thought, how could they expect me to trust them when their work wasn't even real?

So obviously I didn't book an appointment cause the AI photos didn't tell me anything except that they knew how to use AI to create an image.

I know you might be reading this shaking your head, but I'm seeing more and more business owners do this.

And This Isn’t About AI Being Bad

Like the title above says, this isn’t a convo about whether using AI is a good or bad thing. Cause we've seen an uptick of people selling paintings, artwork, etc. just using AI and people are still buying.

But the real question is, can you market something that was made with AI in a way that still makes people trust the product even if they know you used AI?

Cause this is where a lot of business owners are falling short.

Talking About Your Values vs Actually Living Them

Let me give you another example with fashion brands.

Imagine scrolling through a fashion brand's Instagram (even if you're an Instagram hater, just humor me for a second) .

Every post talks about body positivity, celebrating all shapes and sizes, loving yourself as you are. But every single model is AI generated. Here's what this communicates: "We'll talk about loving real bodies, but we won't show them."

There's a disconnect between the message and the execution, and once you notice it, it's hard to unsee as a consumer.

The Real Problem

So AI in itself isn't the problem. The problem is that we're not stopping to ask "how does this make me look to the people I'm trying to reach?"

And I'm saying this with empathy cause I know running a business is hard. You're juggling a million things. Sometimes you just need to get something done and move on to the next thing.

But decisions revolving AI are worth thinking about a bit more, especially the ones that affect how your customers or clients see you.

Two Questions to Ask Before You Hit Publish On Something Created With AI

So before you use AI for something customer/client facing, maybe just pause and ask:

1. Does my audience actually need to see something real here?

If you're a service provider, probably yes. People want proof you can do what you're claiming. If you're selling products, people want to see what they look like in real life. If you're building a brand around being human, people want to feel like there's actually a human there.

2. Is there a weird disconnect between what I say I value and what I'm actually doing?

Cause disconnects make people uneasy, even if they can't quite put their finger on why.

Something to keep in mind as a small business owner…

I’m gonna guess that you've put so much work into building your business. You've shown up. You've delivered quality. You've built trust with your audience.

So don't let yourself be put in a situation where all of that could get undermined by using AI in a way that might not actually be serving you.

I know it's easy to look at these examples and think "duh! you shouldn't use AI like that" but honestly when you're the one doing something in business that's not the best idea, it's not always super obvious. Really good examples of this: the Sephora ad with Mariah Carey that came off tone-deaf, or the Sydney Sweeney jean ad.

If big companies can mess up despite having an insane amount of people working on something, then we have to admit it can happen to us too as small business owners.

Maybe in the near future people won't give a damn about whether something was created with AI or not (especially as AI gets scarily good enough that just like our grandmas and aunts can't pick up on an AI images on Facebook, we won't be able to either). But right now? People can still tell. And right now, it still matters.

If you forget everything I said, I want you to remember this…

Most of the time people don't buy from you cause you use the latest technology or the latest tools. They buy from you cause they trust you. And trust is built through consistency between what you say and what you do. And trust, right now, is a huge currency.

You might have heard people say we are living in a trust economy. This in 2025 feels very much true (and if you're reading this in 2026 or beyond, I'm sure it's even truer).

So I'm not saying never use AI. I'm saying be more intentional about when and how you use it.

Think about how your audience will see and feel about it, so that when you do use it you're not breaking their trust but continuing to build it.

And I'm gonna wrap this up with a quote from Jenna Kutcher's Goal Digger blog:

"In an era where AI is dominating the digital space and content creation has never been faster, the question isn't just how to get noticed it's how to be trusted."

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