AI is Not the End of Our Story
Dec 6
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Catherine Arrow
Once upon a time, storytelling was the heartbeat of human connection. Crafted by hands and minds, shared across generations, it helped us navigate life, foster relationships and make sense of the world.
Today, storytelling finds itself in the grip of transformation. Artificial intelligence slipped into the scene, generating narratives at speeds and scales once unimaginable. But this isn’t a simple tale of progress. It’s a story of disruption, potential and peril.
So who’s the baddy? AI is not inherently a villain in this story. It’s a tool - a neutral actor seemingly capable of great creativity and grave harm. The real ‘Wizards of Oz’ are the people behind it. Those who develop AI systems, train the models and decide how they’re used are the new storytakers, wielding power over not just content but the connections it forges. And that’s where this story takes a darker turn.
Today, storytelling finds itself in the grip of transformation. Artificial intelligence slipped into the scene, generating narratives at speeds and scales once unimaginable. But this isn’t a simple tale of progress. It’s a story of disruption, potential and peril.
So who’s the baddy? AI is not inherently a villain in this story. It’s a tool - a neutral actor seemingly capable of great creativity and grave harm. The real ‘Wizards of Oz’ are the people behind it. Those who develop AI systems, train the models and decide how they’re used are the new storytakers, wielding power over not just content but the connections it forges. And that’s where this story takes a darker turn.
Who owns the story now?
The general availability of AI raises a critical question - who owns the narrative? In the past, stories were shared openly, evolving with each retelling.
Today, AI scrapes content from across the digital landscape - often without consent - and reassembles it into new forms. This is no innocent process. It reflects the choices and biases of those who control the technology.
This control is not benign. In the wrong hands, it becomes a tool for eroding societal cohesion, amplifying division and spreading misinformation.
The storytelling "Grinches" of our time aren’t stealing Christmas, they’re kidnapping the essence of connection formed by our shared stories and experiences.
Today, AI scrapes content from across the digital landscape - often without consent - and reassembles it into new forms. This is no innocent process. It reflects the choices and biases of those who control the technology.
Let’s be clear. AI isn’t corrupting storytelling. But those who deploy it can. By privileging certain data sets, suppressing others or prioritising profit over truth, they turn stories into tools of influence.
Consider the homogenised, sanitised narratives that AI often produces, stripped of nuance and tailored for mass consumption. These are not stories that build trust or foster connection. They’re mechanisms for manipulation frequently serving hidden agendas.
Consider the homogenised, sanitised narratives that AI often produces, stripped of nuance and tailored for mass consumption. These are not stories that build trust or foster connection. They’re mechanisms for manipulation frequently serving hidden agendas.
This control is not benign. In the wrong hands, it becomes a tool for eroding societal cohesion, amplifying division and spreading misinformation.
The storytelling "Grinches" of our time aren’t stealing Christmas, they’re kidnapping the essence of connection formed by our shared stories and experiences.
The Heart of a Story - What AI Can’t Do
A story isn’t just a sequence of events. It’s a vessel for emotion, a bridge to understanding, a mirror that reflects who we are. AI can’t feel these things. It can predict, replicate and mimic but it can’t truly understand. The stories it creates are often hollow, lacking the empathy and depth that come from lived experience.
This limitation doesn’t absolve us of responsibility. If AI stories feel hollow, it’s because we, as creators, haven’t done enough to guide them. We’ve allowed efficiency to overshadow authenticity, replacing meaningful narratives with content churned out by algorithms. The result? Stories that may look polished, fail to connect and are devoid of meaning.
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AI Storytelling - the ethical stakes are high
Storytelling is an act of trust. It asks the audience to believe in the storyteller’s integrity and to open themselves to new perspectives. When trust is broken, storytelling falters. AI doesn’t inherently break that trust, but those who misuse it do. By using AI to amplify misinformation, reinforce stereotypes or rewrite history, they turn storytelling into a weapon rather than a gift.
Take the example of news curation. AI systems often scrape unreliable sources, blending fact and fiction into narratives that seem legitimate. It is the deliberate erosion of truth. When the line between fact and fiction blurs, the audience’s trust collapses—and with it, the power of storytelling to unite.
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Experiential Storytelling and the Risks of Manipulation
AI opens exciting doors in storytelling, from immersive virtual environments to personalised narratives that adapt in real time. These innovations are powerful but they’re also ripe for abuse. When stories evolve based on audience feedback, whose interests do they serve? Do they inform and inspire or do they manipulate and control?
Imagine a historical re-enactment where the story changes to suit the audience’s biases. This isn’t storytelling as we know it; it’s storytelling as a tool of influence. The potential for manipulation is vast and the responsibility to use these tools ethically falls squarely on us. Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch gave us a glimpse into the distortion and chaos that can ensue and we only have to look a our collective ‘experience’ of social media in the last decade to realise and remember how manipulation of narrative creates societal - and individual - harm.
The Storytelling Divide
AI has given organisations unprecedented power to craft stories but it’s also revealed a critical flaw. Too many organisations focus on the "story of self”, as identified by Marshall Ganz - narratives that centre on their achievements, their goals, their successes. These stories may occasionally satisfy internal stakeholders but they rarely resonate with audiences.
The stories that matter are those described by Ganz as "stories of together"—shared journeys—and the "stories of now," which point towards collective action and hope. These narratives require more than AI can deliver. They demand human insight, empathy and creativity. They demand a storyteller who understands not just the audience’s needs but their hearts.
Stewards of the Story - our new life as Story Governors
If AI has disrupted storytelling it’s time for us to reclaim our role as its stewards. We need to be story governors - guardians of narrative integrity who ensure that stories remain truthful, ethical and inclusive. This isn’t a technical roles, it is a role that comes with societal and moral obligations. As story governors we must safeguard not just the content of stories but the connections they create. It means looking at the content and interrogating its origins. Challenging the source and unmasking the Wizards. This activity on our part is an urgent necessity. Without stewards, storytelling loses its form and instead of cementing community, creating bridges and making sense it becomes a tool of division and corruption.
Not The End
The story of storytelling in the age of AI has just begun. We’re maybe at the intro, not even down to the first page. The choices we make - or fail to make - will shape how we connect, understand and trust each other for generations to come. AI is a powerful tool - but it’s not the storyteller. We are, unless we unwittingly hand that power to those forming darker, scary stories.
We’ve had to live through a lot of slogans in recent times demanding we take back this that or the other and most of them have been focused on ‘taking back’ things that had never actually been taken away. But for our stories? They’re slipping through the cracks of technology and unless we throw them a rope, they’ll disappear into the digital chasm. I think AI is fantastic technology with potential for great benefit. Sadly, it is controlled, developed and deployed by humans. And, as we know, as humans we all have flaws. AI can enhance but not replace human creativity - unless we allow it to be so. And if we do, we’ll have a hell of a job ‘taking it back’. Time then to ‘take back control’ of the stories we tell - let them remain messy, emotional, imperfect and deeply human. Because the best stories aren’t just told. They’re lived.
Storytelling for Humans in 2025
If you would like to be part of the next chapter of Storytelling for Humans in the Age of AI, we have new sessions scheduled for 2025, on demand and live. There's lots to consider - not just how we craft and share our stories but who's kidnapping them, turning them into other tales and generally warping our words. Click through to the course page and take a look - become a new character in our learning adventure.