What are ‘sensitive’ organizations and why are they crucial in the age of AI?

The true promise of artificial intelligence (AI) is to help us sense what people need and respond with empathy, not just efficiency.

The future, therefore, belongs to “sensitive organizations” – those that use AI to understand what matters to people and strive to meet unmet needs with clarity and precision.

“Sensitivity” must now be the guiding principle of strategy.

Our culture has fundamentally misunderstood sensitivity – equating it with reaction, when in fact it is better understood as responsiveness.

Nature exemplifies sensitivity, from sunflowers following the sun’s path across the sky to help them optimize light absorption, to octopuses rapidly changing the colour and texture of their skin to blend into different environments.

In biology, sensitivity is the key function that allows living organisms to detect changes in their environment and respond in ways that increase their chances of survival. It’s really no different in business and society.

A sensitive organization is one that:

Sensitivity should be the strategic anchor in organizations. In this new age of AI, efficiency and scale aren’t what will put you ahead; it’s sensing real demand and responding meaningfully to your audience.

Yet, too many companies are wired for the opposite. They operate as if it were still 1950, relying on top-down messaging, mass advertising and the assumption that scale alone can manufacture desire.

This misalignment leads to what I call the “consumer information gap": the vast distance between what companies think they know about their customers (usually within narrow product categories) and what actually motivates those customers in the rest of their lives.

Most organizations rely on "intent" data – behaviours such as abandoned shopping carts or recent product searches. But intent data only captures the final stage of the decision journey. It reveals little about what people care about, believe in or dream of.

What companies need is "interest" data: patterns of engagement that signal identity, values and shared passions. This includes the content people consume, the influencers they follow and the communities they align with.

AI is now capable of making sense of this rich, non-obvious data at scale, revealing nuanced, human insights that previously eluded us.

But this is where AI is often misused.

To fix this, organizations must reframe how they think about AI’s role and their own. That shift begins with the idea of “sense and respond.” This means continuously detecting emerging needs and swiftly designing meaningful responses: an adaptive loop between listening and acting.

Sensitive organizations use AI to think more clearly as well as act faster.

They combine two capabilities:

Take NYX, part of the L'Oréal group. Facing declining market share, they used AI to study how audiences engaged with content well beyond cosmetics, revealing deep passions for gothic fashion, cosplay, Halloween and mystical spirituality. These insights weren't obvious from sales data or search trends.

NYX acted boldly: launching a new product line in partnership with Netflix's The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Within 24 hours, the range sold out without any paid media.

This wasn’t just a savvy brand tie-in; it was a case of deeply understanding audience passions, then using AI to align marketing, product and creative teams around a shared vision.

Another example is LEGO, which has embraced co-creation by tuning into online fan forums and influencer communities. AI helps them identify emerging subcultures and design modular products that resonate with micro-audiences around the world.

However, sensitivity isn’t just outward-facing. To respond effectively, organizations must also align internally – across teams, functions and geographies. That’s where AI can play a powerful, often overlooked role.

One of GenAI’s most underappreciated qualities is its power to create internal alignment. When cross-functional teams can prompt GenAI with natural language and instantly see creative outputs – prototypes, campaign ideas, mood boards – they reach consensus faster. The monopolies of decision-making break down. Creativity becomes distributed.

This is not just speed, it’s alignment. It enables teams to act boldly with a shared purpose and not just incrementally.

To become truly sensitive, organizations must rethink their data strategy and measurement mindset:

In the Industrial Age, companies tried to create demand. In the Digital Age, they harvested data. In the AI Age, they must listen deeply and respond intelligently.

In a world of infinite content and dwindling attention, organizations need more than speed. They need precision, trust and emotional resonance.

The most successful companies will be those that use AI to identify underserved communities, align internal teams around shared insight and deliver content, products and experiences that reflect what people actually care about, based on cultural and emotional drivers, not outdated assumptions or static personas.

That is what it means to be truly sensitive – and why this capability will define the next generation of business leadership.