Beyond AI: how human curiosity and empathy uncover compelling stories
AI? It’s clever, but not that clever.
AI is a brilliant tool. It can produce an audio summary of a 200 page document in seconds. It can create a year’s marketing plan in moments. It can be a great sparring partner to challenge your thinking.
But it can’t gather stories the way humans can. It can’t use emotional intelligence to interview people. And it can’t discern the stories that will resonate with your audience.
Authentic stories beat recycled facts
- AI can’t help someone to feel safe enough to share their story.
- AI can’t identify the story behind the story.
- AI can’t catch the off-hand comment that becomes your strapline.
- AI can’t draw out the quote that stops people scrolling.
- AI can’t help you build relationships with people by listening to their stories.
Recycled facts don’t change hearts and minds. Authentic stories do. And for that, you need a human being with empathy and excellent interviewing skills.
Finding the story
The Leathersellers’ Foundation, a grant funder based in the City of London, asked me to write an article about social mobility, based on their support for The Brilliant Club. This award-winning charity supports students from less advantaged backgrounds to access the most competitive universities and succeed when they get there.
My interview with Jasneet, published by The Leathersellers. Photo: Jayne Lloyd
To write the story, I interviewed Jasneet, a civil engineering student at UCL, who had taken part in The Scholars Programme run by The Brilliant Club.
As we chatted, it emerged that Jasneet had overcome huge challenges to gain a place at UCL, which is consistently ranked among the world’s top ten universities. He’d arrived in the UK from Kabul aged 13, with no education and no English.
Thanks to his determination to succeed, and with the inspiration and support of The Brilliant Club, he rapidly caught up with his education and achieved a place at UCL.
When I first met Jasneet, I had no background details or prepared angle. The story developed as we talked, with me using my natural human curiosity to explore the elements that would resonate with readers.
Where humans win over AI
Let’s look at a few areas in more detail where human skills win over AI.
AI can’t set the scene
- It can’t decide which angle will turn this from a good piece into a ‘must read’ for your target audience.
- It can’t interview people to gather the raw content you need for any kind of written output – from a social media post to a white paper, an article, case study or charity fundraising appeal.
- It can’t take in the sensory details that will set the scene for readers – what you can see, hear, touch, taste or smell.
AI can’t connect on a human level
- It can’t help the interviewee to relax by chatting about their day and finding ways to connect with that person.
- It can’t discern the difference between someone who’s been interviewed a hundred times and someone who’s being interviewed for the first time.
- It can’t help to put the first-time interviewee at ease by explaining what will happen and giving them a sense of agency over the process.
AI can’t gauge the atmosphere
- It can’t be empathic, drawing on lived experience, memories and cultural understanding to connect with an interviewee.
- It can’t pick up on visual and audio clues to gauge the mood and decide which question to ask next and which to leave for later.
- It can’t interpret silence.
AI can’t spot opportunities
- It can’t follow the flow of a conversation, know when to tell a joke and when to keep quiet.
- It can’t ask questions that elicit opinions, interpretations and emotions, not just facts.
- It can’t spot opportunities to explore an unexpected topic or ask an impulsive question that suddenly bubbles to the surface.
AI can’t fill the gaps
- It can’t notice when the interviewee is hesitant on a particular subject and try to find out why.
- It can’t ask the ‘stupid’ question that will help readers understand a particular acronym or reference.
- It can’t hold the end result in mind, constantly assessing whether the interview has produced all the information you need for the final piece of written work, or whether you need to dig deeper.
My experience as a journalist
For several years, I wrote articles for national newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, The Times and Esquire.
This experience transformed me into a story detective, able to spot telling details, follow unexpected leads and create compelling narratives.
Now clients hire me to discover the stories that will connect with their people, customers and supporters.
Stories in action
Once you have your story, you can adapt it for multiple uses, such as:
- Charity fundraising appeals
- Grant applications
- Customer case studies
- Pitches
- Testimonials
- Impact reports
- Annual reports
- Thought leadership articles
- Social media
- Your web site
- Internal comms / employee engagement
From CEOs to trauma survivors
Clients trust me to speak to people at all levels – both inside and outside their organisation.
During my career, I’ve interviewed C-suite execs at all kinds of companies.
In my work with charities, as well as talking to charity leaders, I also interview people who engage with charities. Increasingly, this involves co-creating narratives to help people reclaim their stories.
What people say about my work
“Fiona gives me time, peace of mind and simplicity.”
Emma Hardy, Communications Director, IWF
“Fiona ran a ‘Writing for Impact’ workshop for us that was engaging, informative and fun.”
Katie Eustace, Employee Engagement, Emperor
“Fiona brings energy to our team and her enthusiasm and creativity are contagious!”
Elisabeth Michau, Fundraising & Communications Consultant
How can I help you?
- Brief me, I’ll deliver. I handle everything: prep, interviewing and writing a story that’s ready to publish.
- Group writing training. I train your team in interviewing and writing skills so they can find and write stories for you.
- One-to-one coaching. I work intensively to help people reach their goals, from improving their writing or interviewing skills to assessing AI output.
Ready to stand out?
Let’s chat. You can reach me on 07974 221635 or at fiona@wordspring.co.uk