One of the reasons we enjoy compiling the ZA Group Chat blog series is that it gives us, as an advisory team, the opportunity to challenge conventional thinking within our field of investor relations and communications.
This month, the discussion centres on a subject dominating boardrooms, investor communications strategies, and stakeholder engagement conversations across the globe: Artificial Intelligence (AI).
As somebody who is a former financial journalist, editor, and executive at a listed media business, I have seen firsthand the impact AI is having on the content economy. One only needs to look at the recently published rates from the SA Freelancers Association to see how rapidly content is becoming commoditised.
However, when viewed through a broader investor communications and stakeholder engagement lens, we would argue that AI adoption is evolving into something much bigger than productivity gains. Increasingly, AI use is becoming a reputational issue.
This goes far beyond the popular argument that:
“AI isn’t taking your job – but someone who knows how to use AI will.”
Many organisations have embraced this mantra. If you spend any time on LinkedIn, you’re inundated with introductions to the latest AI start-up. Likewise, if you’ve recently contacted a call centre in South Africa, chances are you’ve spoken to a machine rather than a human being.
May 2026 has delivered several interesting developments that highlight growing tensions between AI, employees, and stakeholders.
Meta, Layoffs and the AI Workforce Debate
The first example comes from the uncomfortable Meta (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) town hall meeting where founder Mark Zuckerberg addressed proposed layoffs affecting approximately 10% of the company’s global workforce — roughly 8,000 employees.
While AI-driven cost-cutting has become a familiar theme over the past year, a more troubling dynamic is beginning to emerge.
At the centre of the Meta workforce debate is tracking software reportedly installed on employee devices.
According to Zuckerberg, the primary purpose of this software is to help AI systems learn the complex tasks performed by experienced employees every day.
In other words, the technology is being trained to replicate — and potentially replace — key staff members.
From a human capital perspective, that creates obvious tensions. From a stakeholder engagement perspective, it creates an equally important question:
How do employees, investors, and customers react when they believe technology is being prioritised over people?
Is AI Becoming More Expensive Than Your Staff?
An interesting narrative is also emerging around the economics of AI adoption.
Reports suggest that Microsoft recently cancelled internal Claude Code licences after developers exhausted the company’s annual AI token budget within a matter of months.
With billions of dollars invested in AI infrastructure, investors are demanding clear revenue pathways.
As a result, many providers are moving away from flat-rate pricing models and introducing token-based charging structures. In simple terms, every query carries a cost.
For organisations that have become heavily dependent on AI systems, this introduces a new challenge.
When the tokens run out, productivity gains can stop almost immediately.
As Jillian O’Malior observed on LinkedIn:
“You traded human beings with tact, thought, nuance, emotional intelligence, and dedication to a purely transactional mercenary who will continually increase its price tag and hold your company’s productivity ransom until it’s paid.”
It is a provocative observation, but one that raises important questions around long-term sustainability.
LinkedIn Pushes Back Against AI-Generated Content
As an investor communications and public relations team, LinkedIn remains one of the most important platforms we use.
It has also become increasingly difficult to ignore the sheer volume of AI-generated posts, comments and outreach messages appearing on the platform.
According to reports from TechRadar, LinkedIn’s Vice President of Product, Laura Lorenzetti, has outlined how the platform intends to reduce the visibility of low-quality AI-generated content.
Her reasoning is straightforward:
“At a time when more people need help navigating work, it’s more important than ever that people can learn from real voices, authentic perspectives, and lived expertise.”
That statement speaks directly to the heart of effective stakeholder engagement.
People continue to place significant value on authenticity, lived experience and genuine expertise.
The more AI-generated content floods digital channels, the more valuable authentic human perspectives become.
If AI Is Doing the Work, Should It Affect Your Pay?
Perhaps the most thought-provoking contribution to this debate comes from South African remuneration specialist Dr Chris Blair.
Blair recently posed the question:
“If AI Is Doing the Work, Should We Still Pay for the Results?”
While his conclusion is ultimately that remuneration should remain focused on outcomes rather than tools, the question itself is fascinating.
Employees are increasingly being praised for productivity gains achieved through AI.
If workers can now produce more output with fewer resources, how should organisations think about remuneration, incentives and performance management?
We recently shared Blair’s article through our Human Capital channels because it raises issues that every employer will eventually need to confront.
Is AI Adoption Becoming a Corporate Reputation Risk?
To be clear, I use AI in parts of my own work and I believe it delivers genuine value in certain contexts.
That said, I have also noticed a shift in my own behaviour as a customer and stakeholder.
Anecdotally, I increasingly choose not to engage with organisations that do not believe I am worth speaking to through a human being.
If your call centre is entirely automated, I often hang up.
Likewise, if your sales outreach is clearly AI-generated, I tend to ignore it immediately.
A common giveaway is when the AI keeps referring to me as the CEO of a company that ceased operating seven years ago.
These experiences create a subtle but important reputational challenge.
The technology may be efficient.
The stakeholder experience may not be.
What Does This Mean for Investor Communications and Stakeholder Engagement?
It feels as though we have reached an inflection point.
While his views have evolved over time, Ken Griffin previously highlighted a concern that deserves attention.
Griffin noted that the AI sector needs to raise more than $500 billion in capital to support the infrastructure requirements and investor expectations surrounding the industry.
Whether one agrees with his assessment or not, the observation raises questions about sustainability, expectations and market hype.
More importantly, it raises a communications challenge.
Businesses are enthusiastically promoting AI adoption to investors, employees and customers.
However, those same stakeholders may begin asking uncomfortable questions:
- If AI is making organisations dramatically more efficient, why are costs not falling?
- Why are customer experiences becoming less personal?
- Why are executive remuneration levels not decreasing?
- Why are employees being asked to do more with fewer resources?
These questions may become increasingly difficult to answer.
The Real Reputational Risk of AI
The reputational risk is not necessarily AI itself.
The risk lies in how organisations communicate their AI strategies to stakeholders.
Customers still value human interaction.
Employees still want meaningful work and job security.
Investors still expect sustainable value creation.
If businesses position AI as a replacement for people rather than a tool that empowers them, they may unintentionally create a rift between themselves and the very stakeholders they are trying to serve.
That is why AI adoption should not only be viewed through an operational or technology lens.
It should also be considered through the lenses of investor communications, stakeholder engagement, corporate reputation and human capital strategy.
How Decusatio Can Help
As AI continues to reshape the workplace, organisations face increasingly complex communications challenges.
Whether you are managing stakeholder concerns around automation, navigating workforce change, developing executive thought leadership on AI, or strengthening your broader investor communications strategy, the way you communicate these shifts matters.
At Decusatio, our Investor Communications and Human Capital teams help organisations balance innovation with trust. We work with businesses to develop authentic stakeholder engagement strategies, strengthen corporate reputation and communicate change in a way that protects both brand value and employee confidence.
If your organisation is grappling with the reputational, workforce or stakeholder implications of AI adoption, click here to contact the Decusatio team and discuss how we can assist.