After completing several earlier interventions, I began to realise that I cannot understand this topic only from the perspective of design and experiments—I must also enter the real context of brand practice. Therefore, the interview with Yan became a key moment in my research. It not only broadened my understanding of AI’s actual role in branding, but also forced me to re-examine my assumptions about AI co-creation.
1. What I learned from the interview
Yan’s viewpoints are highly realistic: the value of AI has never been about producing “visual effects,” but about reconstructing how brands express themselves and how users experience them.
Three of his key insights deeply influenced me:
① Future brand competition is no longer about “texture quality,” but about “emotional resonance.”
Using the case of Tomson Riviera’s AI-generated Antarctic film, Yan explained that brands no longer insist on “perfect photorealistic texture,” because what users truly remember is the emotional narrative, not pixel precision.
This made me reconsider:
The industry has already shifted from “realism” to “emotional storytelling.”
It pushed me to re-evaluate the role of AI imagery in branding:
AI is not simulating reality, but constructing atmosphere, emotion, and imagination.
② AI allows individual creators to be seen — a new pathway for brand–user connection
Yan offered a disruptive viewpoint:
“AI doesn’t create viral products — it allows people who already have strong ideas to finally be seen.”
Because AI lowers the threshold of visual expression, individual designers or early-stage brands can, without a team or funding:
- independently generate visual concepts
- directly obtain feedback on social media
- reach like-minded users
- form their own micro-brand communities
I realised that this process of “creators being seen” is essentially the most fundamental form of the brand–user relationship:
“I express → I am understood → A connection forms.”
This directly corresponds to my research question:
AI does not strengthen the brand; it strengthens expression, which then strengthens connection.
③ AI strengthens brand companionship and emotional value rather than replacing designers
Yan said that the involvement of AI makes consumers feel:
“It is no longer about what the brand sells to me, but what the brand helps me express.”
This was the part that touched me most in the entire interview.
It helped me discover a deeper research core:
AI shifts the brand from an “output provider” to a “companion”:
- Users become co-creators
- Products become objects that “represent me”
- Brands become entities that “understand me”
This made me realise that AI co-creation is not about efficiency—it is a psychological process:
→ making users feel “seen.”
2. Critical Reflection
Despite Yan’s emphasis on the positive value of AI, the interview also made me aware of several potential risks and areas that require questioning.
① Can emotional value truly be sustained through AI?
AI can help users participate in design, but human emotions are fluctuating, complex, and multidimensional.
If brands rely too heavily on AI-generated “emotional expression,” will it lead to:
- superficial emotion
- mass-produced emotional value
- user fatigue
- homogenised personalisation
I began to think:
True emotional connection requires more than participation; it requires the brand’s continuous understanding.
AI can generate, but can it understand?
② Could lowering the threshold of creation lead to “content overload”?
Yan believes AI makes independent designers more visible, and I agree.
But I also realised:
- If everyone can produce visuals at low cost
- Does “being seen” actually become more difficult?
- Are users becoming lost in endless content?
This means:
AI does not bring “absolute freedom,” but requires a post-freedom filtering mechanism.
How can brands maintain uniqueness?
③ Is real-time interaction between brands and users truly sustainable?
Real-time interaction seems ideal, but it may bring:
- very high operational costs
- user dependence on “participation”
- designers and brands becoming exhausted
- users expecting real-time attention and immediate feedback
- emotional connection turning into emotional burden
So I reflected:
“Interaction” needs rhythm and boundaries; it cannot rely entirely on AI’s immediacy.
3. Implications for my research
Yan’s viewpoints directly shaped the design of my next intervention (Intervention 6):
① I will test the “user × AI × brand” real-time co-creation model
Through the jewellery co-creation experiment, I want to test:
- When users can communicate with an AI designer in real time,
- Do they feel more “seen”?
- Does emotional value truly increase?
- Does participation lead to conversion (interest, connection, purchase desire)?
This will become key evidence for studying the mechanism of emotional connection.
② I need to build a “healthy AI co-creation framework.”
Yan reminded me:
- Prompts require value-filtering
- Content requires aesthetic consistency
- Data requires health management
Therefore, in my intervention I will include:
- clear guidance
- constrained prompts
- user-controlled expression boundaries
to ensure the “healthiness” of co-creation.
③ I will develop a new hypothesis about visibility and emotional value
The interview made me realise:
Being seen is itself a form of emotional value.
This was something I hadn’t noticed before.
I want to test:
- When a user’s design is printed, displayed, or shared
- Do they experience an “emotional reward”?
- Is this the core of emotional connection?
I will observe this in the intervention.
4. Conclusion
The conversation with Yan shifted my understanding of “AI × branding × emotional connection” from a technical perspective to a cultural and social perspective.
I realised:
- AI is not producing visuals; it is reshaping expressive power
- AI turns brands from “senders” into “resonance builders”
- AI does not create viral ideas; it allows creators and users to be seen
- Emotional connection is co-constructed, not passively received
This interview reaffirmed my belief that the value of AI is not replacement—it is about making human understanding and expression more fluid, more visible, and more heard.
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