By: Fouad Bou Mansour: Burson CEO, MENAT

2026’s AI Mandate: Balancing Augmentation and Authenticity to Build Reputation

The era of indiscriminate AI adoption is over. Frenetic experimentation characterised 2025 as the year of the great AI land grab, driven by a feverish pace where participation often stood as the primary metric of success. This is clearly reflected in the data: by late 2024, nearly 60% of Middle Eastern organisations reported fast or very fast AI adoption[1], a stark contrast to the mere 15% taking a more cautious approach. Fuelling this enthusiasm, bold economic forecasts have predicted hundreds of billions of dollars[2] in AI-driven regional growth by 2030, with businesses seeking enhanced productivity, streamlined workflow automation, and unprecedented content velocity.

However, this feverish pursuit of augmentation risked coming at the direct expense of impact, value, and ultimately, reputation. Almost universally (97%), marketers reported that they were “struggling to craft emotionally resonant messaging” to connect with consumers[3].

As the race to integrate AI intensified, a significant and measurable deficit in public confidence emerged. Qualtrics confirmed a notable decline in consumer comfort with using an organisation’s AI for common activities, a sentiment that directly impacts brand reputation. In the UAE, this comfort level plummeted by over 20%[4], further underscored by growing concerns regarding the loss of human connectivity. Despite this, data suggested that nearly half (43%[5]) of UAE consumers still believed organisations would use AI responsibly.

The lesson here is clear: simply leveraging emerging technology is unsustainable without having a deliberate framework in place to drive genuine value and impact.

This brings us to the strategic mandate for 2026 – building reputation through a balanced approach.

This year won’t be about retreating. Instead, it will pivot from the binary choice of human vs. machine to a sophisticated strategy that marries augmentation with authenticity. The central challenge is no longer merely how fast we can implement AI, but where, why, and how we can deploy it to genuinely enhance human capability and unleash new forms of value, without eroding the confidence we’ve built over decades.

For communications leaders, this means moving beyond simple prompts to craft strong human-in-the-loop workflows to solve complex business and communications problems. It means truly empowering people to steer the wheel. Smart diversification of creative strategies will undeniably prevail, leveraging AI for scale and efficiency where appropriate, while consistently championing human-led creativity for high-stakes brand moments.

Looking ahead, successful tech implementation will hinge on deeply embedded solutions that deliver quantifiable business outcomes, aligning with Gartner’s prediction that 40% of enterprise applications will feature task-specific AI agents by 2026[6]. Crucially, this must emphasise AI-enhanced specialists, where technology meets upskilling to amplify human judgment, empathy, and cultural understanding, rather than replacing it.

The winners of 2026 will not be the companies that use the most AI, but rather those that deploy it to drive distinct impact, blending relentless innovation with human insight to build enduring reputation.