Why businesses are investing in human connection in the age of AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) is making it cheaper to create content, code and analysis. But at the same time, companies continue to hold conferences and develop customer communities, developer ecosystems and other in-person gatherings.

These organizations are investing in something that cannot be generated in seconds: trusted human networks. In an economy flooded with digital output, their proposition is not more content, but more meaningful contact.

This is one of the paradoxes of the AI era. As machines make information and analysis more abundant, trust, credibility and belonging may become more important sources of economic value.

The reason is scarcity. Technological shifts often change what is scarce. Industrialization reduced the relative cost of manufacturing and increased the value of brands, design and distribution, for example. The internet lowered the cost of accessing information and made attention more valuable.

AI may create a similar shift – as digital output becomes cheaper, credibility and trusted relationships could become more important. The major scarcity of the AI era may turn out to be trusted human connections.

AI can generate answers, recommendations and synthetic conversations, but trust is not created instantly during these interactions. It develops through repeated contact, shared experience and accountability.

And this matters because trust reduces uncertainty. It helps people decide what information to believe, who to work with and where to take risks. In a world flooded with synthetic content, trusted relationships help people decide what deserves their attention and confidence.

There are early signs that markets may reward businesses that help people form credible, real-world relationships. While some startups are building offline connections, established technology companies are increasingly investing in developer conferences, customer communities and ecosystem-building, alongside product development.

US venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has expanded its Tech Week events into major ecosystem-building platforms, while companies such as Anthropic and Notion have invested heavily in communities and built user and developer ecosystems that bring together customers, builders and partners.

These gatherings help build trust, gather feedback and spread adoption, turning products into communities of practice.

And in a digital economy where tools can be copied and content can be generated quickly, the ability to convene people around shared goals becomes a competitive advantage.

Research from the Mastercard Economics Institute points to continued consumer demand for experiences, including travel, leisure and other shared activities. The rise of supper clubs, membership communities and curated social experiences also points to people seeking experiences that create belonging, shared identity and trust.

This is not only a business or cultural issue. The World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Connection has reported that one in six people worldwide experience loneliness, making connection public health and social cohesion issues too.

Economic connectedness refers to the extent to which people with lower and higher socioeconomic status are connected to one another. Opportunity often travels through relationships because they can provide access to employment, mentorship and information. Research from Harvard University research group Opportunity Insights shows that economic connectedness is among the strongest predictors of upward mobility.

AI can broaden access to knowledge and capabilities. But trust and social capital are built through repeated human interaction. As access to information becomes more equal, the relative value of trusted relationships may increase.

This creates both an opportunity and a risk. If trusted networks are closed, inherited or concentrated among existing elites, the benefits of AI-enabled abundance may not be widely shared. Expanding access to trusted communities is therefore a social goal and an economic one.

The same dynamic applies to innovation. New ideas spread through networks of researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, customers and policy-makers. Innovation hubs tend to depend not only on talent and capital, but also on dense networks that accelerate trust, feedback and collaboration across sectors.

As knowledge becomes more accessible, the challenge for leaders and institutions is to build stronger communities and to create more open pathways into them.

For organizations, this could change the basis of competition. A strong community helps people decide which products to trust, gives organizations faster feedback and turns users, customers or developers into active participants in an ecosystem.

In this sense, community becomes part of how organizations build credibility, distribution and resilience. With this in mind, business leaders must do three things:

Organizations investing in AI should also invest in the relationships that help people use these new tools responsibly. This means building communities of employees, customers, developers, partners and public institutions that can share knowledge, test ideas and establish norms.

In an age of abundant information, trusted networks help people decide what to believe and how to act.

If opportunity increasingly flows through trusted relationships, leaders need to widen access to those networks. Mentorship programmes, open convenings, cross-sector partnerships and pathways for underrepresented groups can help ensure the benefits of AI-enabled abundance are more widely shared.

The goal should not be to build closed communities, but to create more open routes into trusted ones.

Community-building should not be treated as a soft asset or a secondary activity. Leaders should track participation, retention, collaboration and trust, alongside product adoption and productivity gains.

In the AI era, the organisations that convene people could gain an advantage that automation alone cannot provide.

Much of the debate around AI focuses on models, compute and capabilities. But history suggests that when technology lowers the cost of something valuable, attention often shifts toward what remains scarce.

AI is making digital intelligence more abundant. In a world where content, software and analysis can increasingly be generated on demand, trusted relationships and communities may become a key source of economic and social value.

The organizations that thrive may well automate most effectively, but they will also likely be those that build trust, connect people across networks and create the conditions for collaboration in an age of abundant intelligence.

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