AI Is Accelerating Content Creation but Engagement Still Lags New PhotoShelter Research Finds

Andrew Fingerman, CEO, PhotoShelter

Photo Credit: PhotoShelter

AI has officially become part of the modern marketing workflow, but new research from PhotoShelter suggests something many communicators are already feeling. The ability to produce more content has outpaced the ability to make it matter.

CommPRO recently sat down with PhotoShelter CEO Andrew Fingerman to discuss the company’s latest survey of nearly 400 marketing and communications professionals and what it reveals about how AI is reshaping content workflows.

The findings show a clear tension. While 69% of professionals are now using AI in their content workflows and 54% say it has become an essential creative partner, 41% report difficulty driving engagement, 46% struggle to reach wider audiences and 45% say it is harder to stand out.

“There is enormous pressure on marketing and communications teams to produce more content, faster than ever before,” Fingerman said. “AI has accelerated creation, but it hasn’t improved every part of the process.”

In fact, the research shows that while AI is removing barriers to production, it is exposing new weaknesses in the systems surrounding content. Nearly half of the respondents say content gets stuck in review and approval cycles, and 70% say those delays are impacting revenue generating work.

Fingerman pointed to a growing disconnect inside organizations. Leadership often views AI as a solution that is driving efficiency, while the people responsible for producing content experience a different reality.

“Executives believe AI is solving the problem, but the creators will tell you it is not happening as fast as expected,” he said. “The output has increased, but the workflows around that output have not kept pace.”

That imbalance is creating what he describes as a hidden cost of faster content. As production scales, bottlenecks shift downstream into approvals, compliance and governance. The result is not just operational friction but creative fatigue.

The data reinforces that concern. While 78% say AI is saving time and professionals estimate it frees up roughly 15 hours per week, much of that efficiency is being redirected into producing even more content rather than improving performance.

At the same time, marketers are increasingly aware of the risks. Eighty percent worry AI will flood the market with generic content, and nearly all respondents agree human oversight remains essential to preserving originality and trust.

“Speed alone doesn’t create impact,” Fingerman said. “Brands still need human judgment and strong creative direction to produce content audiences actually engage with.”

That may be the most important takeaway for communicators right now. The industry has largely solved for creation, but not for differentiation.

There is also a broader shift underway in how audiences consume and evaluate content. As AI generated media becomes more common, Fingerman noted that trust is becoming the first filter.

“The audience is asking a new question when they see content,” he said. “Is this real?”

For communications leaders, that question raises the stakes. Producing more content is no longer enough. The challenge is ensuring that content is credible, distinctive and worth attention in an environment increasingly saturated with AI generated output.

The opportunity now is not just to adopt AI, but to rethink the entire content lifecycle around it. That includes automating workflows, reducing friction in approvals and freeing creative teams to focus on ideas rather than volume.

Because if AI continues to accelerate production without improving performance, communicators risk optimizing for output instead of impact.

And in today’s environment, impact is the only metric that matters.