Synthetic Spokespeople — Can AI Build Trust in PR?

Farrell Tan:

AI-generated spokespeople are no longer a novelty — they’re part of the communications mix. From virtual brand ambassadors to voice-cloned executives, synthetic personas now represent companies, products, and causes across industries. The question isn’t whether brands will use them. It’s whether audiences will trust them.

In Southeast Asia, where communication depends on emotional intelligence, cultural fluency, and relational nuance, synthetic spokespeople introduce both opportunity and risk. They offer scale, consistency, and cost efficiency. But they also challenge the foundations of credibility, empathy, and accountability that underpin public relations.

Synthetic spokespeople are engineered for flawlessness. They don’t fatigue, improvise, or require media training. They can switch languages mid-sentence, tailor tone to platforms, and replicate brand messaging with mathematical precision. For communications teams managing large stakeholder ecosystems, that efficiency is tempting.

Yet, trust isn’t built on precision; it’s built on presence. And presence is grounded in lived experience. A synthetic persona, no matter how technically refined, lacks the ability to relate to human struggle, instinct, or vulnerability. That absence matters, especially in markets where authenticity and empathy drive connection.

The ethical implications are multiplying. Do audiences know when they’re interacting with an AI avatar? Who takes responsibility when a digital spokesperson misleads or offends? And is it ethical to simulate empathy? Or to act as if one feels without the capacity to actually feel?

In Southeast Asia, those aren’t theoretical concerns. They touch the very heart of communication practice. Here, relationships aren’t transactional; they’re emotional contracts built over time. A single misstep, an ill-timed statement, an insensitive tone, can fracture public trust far faster than automation can repair it.

Synthetic representation, then, must come with guardrails. Transparency should be the first rule. Audiences have the right to know when they’re engaging with a non-human entity. Second, every synthetic spokesperson must remain subject to human override — capable of being paused, corrected, or withdrawn when the situation demands. Third, emotional calibration must go beyond sentiment analysis; it must align with regional norms and cultural sensitivities, from tone to timing.

AI is redefining communication efficiency, but trust isn’t a data point — it’s a relationship. Synthetic spokespeople can deliver messages. Only real people can build meaning. As PR leaders explore synthetic communications, their challenge is not just to scale voice, but to preserve soul.

The technology may speak for brands. But it’s humanity that makes audiences listen.

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Farrell Tan is Founding Director, Orchan Consulting Asia

Written by: Editor