The human perspective

As I pack up my bags to leave Copenhagen after spending some awesome days at #NAMS25, I’m reflecting on the conversations that dominated the event. Amid all the panels and presentations, one question kept surfacing: what happens when AI replaces us?

This isn’t speculation anymore as it’s become the underlying theme at almost every industry summit I’ve attended this year.

When we attend these events we seek human connection, perspectives and experiences. We want someone genuine being present and delivering insights that make our spider-senses go “what the heck!?”.

Nordic AI Media Summit 2025 delivered on this and went beyond.

But it got me thinking about other summits and presentations I’ve attended over the years.

Sometimes we feel immediately uncomfortable when someone is clearly just reading from a script. When the delivery sounds like a Dalek monotone or presentations lack visual pizzazz, we mentally check out and struggle to stay present even though the content is great.

We need a story or person we can connect with, whether positively or negatively, that demonstrates there’s an actual human sharing their personal perspective. It reminds me of that odd feeling when someone accepts an award via pre-recorded video. We feel cheated of the authentic experience we expected.

At NAMS25, these discussions about human authenticity intersected with questions about our future roles. If AI will replace much of what we do professionally, what remains uniquely human?

I believe this tension will reshape news media. AI will handle the facts, the police reports, the sports scores and the basic who-what-where of breaking news.

What remains uniquely human is our ability to provide context through lived experiences. AI can’t share what it felt like to be in the office the day after the last US election, how your commute to work was obstructed by someone removing a bridge.

Our future does not lie in competing with AI on data, but in the human connection, the unique local view of the community, what they have experienced and how to tell that story in the right context.

That perspective will be hard for algorithms to replicate.