Anup Oommen, Editor, Campaign Middle East.Through the first quarter of 2026, Campaign Middle East has been politely declining certain thought leadership opinion-editorial article submissions from people – even though they meet our caveats for: exclusivity, regionally relevance and non-promotional content. Why? Because these articles have been red flagged as 100 per cent AI generated.
A cursory read shows that they are well-rationalised but fail to resonate the sentiments of the industry, fail to evoke emotion, and are bereft of empathy for those facing the challenges they allude to. The irony?
Even submissions preaching authenticity, trust, credibility, and human discernment are authored by AI and attributed to individuals. We reply with a simple email requesting a more human touch. The reworked articles that land in our inboxes not only sustain the incredible performance of our website, avoiding platform penalties for AI slop, but also inspire fascinating conversations in the market.
Consider this an analogy for everything that our latest Campaign Middle East magazine is about: it juxtaposes the call for meaningful messaging, memories and moments that matter during Ramadan with a call for augmented intelligence – rather than artificial intelligence – with human-in-the-loop oversight, ethical and bias review guardrails, and clear autonomy boundaries.
The feature articles on AI and automation in this issue are not slop or noise. They clearly frame the cracks within the industry; explain why these cracks must be fixed before the pressure of AI is placed on them; and provide a precise roadmap for those looking to kickstart or accelerate their AI journey. While these pieces stays centred on operating models within marketing, skills, governance and measurement, they are not a pure tech play either.
The biggest takeaway is the human touch. Think about it: As we enter an era when AI agents talk to AI agents and make purchase decisions on behalf of consumers – the differentiator will be humans who can convince other humans to override agentic AI suggestions and choose specific brands.
In an era when attention is currency and trust is gold, people who tug on human heartstrings may find more success than a tool that targets at the right time. In an era when generative AI is perfecting linguistic accuracy, humans with lived experiences, cultural nuance and local context still come up with the most memorable taglines.
After all, AI may write the textbook, but the teacher reads the room. A lab report leads to an AI prognosis, but a doctor detects what is unspoken in the room. This editor’s note can either state the obvious or remind you that you matter.
Your knowledge, your upbringing, your jokes, your weird way of thinking that we call creativity, your years of hard work, your resilience in a constantly evolving industry, your empathy for those around you, the sum of all your experiences and emotions – they matter. People matter. You matter.
