If you attended ASAE’s Annual Meeting this year, you already know: AI dominated the agenda. From keynote sessions to hallway chatter, artificial intelligence is top-of-mind for association executives.
And for good reason. AI tools promise to reduce manual work, streamline operations, and deliver personalization at scale. But here’s the concern many leaders voiced in D.C.: what happens when AI takes over too much?
Associations exist to build communities, advocate for members, and strengthen professions. Those goals rely on authentic human connection. The challenge is balancing efficiency with empathy—using AI as an accelerator without flattening the member experience into something robotic.
That balance is what we call human-centered AI.
Human-centered AI isn’t about resisting technology. It’s about using AI to support, not replace, your staff’s creativity and strategy.
In practice, that means:
Automating repetitive tasks (renewal reminders, list pulling, segmentation) so staff have more time for strategy.
Personalizing communications without losing tone or authenticity.
Giving boards and executives faster access to insights so they can make confident decisions.
The focus stays on people—members and staff alike. AI is the assist, not the headline act.
It’s easy to get swept up in the hype. Many tools promise instant efficiency with just a click. But overreliance on AI introduces real risks:
Tone mismatch: A generative tool can’t always capture the nuances of your brand voice. Messages risk sounding generic—or worse, tone-deaf.
Loss of trust: Members can spot when a message feels automated. If every touchpoint feels templated, they may disengage.
Compliance and accuracy: AI outputs aren’t always accurate. In regulated fields, that’s a risk associations can’t afford.
That’s why AI must be grounded in a strategy that centers humans—your staff, your members, and your community.
The sweet spot for AI is taking the busywork off staff plates so they can focus on strategy and relationships. Here are three areas where AI delivers real value without sacrificing authenticity:
AI-driven workflows can automate reminders, apply grace periods, and segment renewal campaigns by member type. Staff don’t need to chase down data or send one-off emails—the system handles it. But messaging still comes from the association, written in a voice that feels familiar and genuine.
AI can spot patterns in behavior (event attendance, benefit usage, lapsed engagement) and create lists automatically. This enables personalized campaigns that members actually value—without staff spending hours in spreadsheets.
By combining AI-driven scoring with AMS data, associations can see who’s likely to renew, who needs a nudge, and where to focus outreach. That empowers staff to spend time where it matters most.
At Cannolai, we believe AI should enhance human creativity, not erase it. That’s why our AMS is built around automation that feels authentic.
Here’s how Cannolai + HubSpot keep members at the heart of engagement:
Automated but authentic renewals: Cannolai manages renewal rules, grace periods, and invoice triggers. Your message is delivered in the right tone, at the right time.
Segmentation that adapts: Cannolai member data syncs directly into HubSpot lists, making it easy to personalize without manual list-pulling.
Insights without overload: Instead of raw data dumps, Cannolai surfaces clean, structured data—so AI-powered workflows in HubSpot stay accurate.
The result: associations get the efficiency of automation and the authenticity of human communication.
Picture this: an association membership director spends two days each month pulling renewal lists, segmenting them by member type, and scheduling reminder emails. Staff is burned out, and by the time emails go out, some members are already dropped.
With Cannolai + HubSpot:
Lists build automatically based on renewal status.
Renewal emails deploy as triggered workflows.
Staff can spend those two days planning an onboarding campaign or developing new benefits.
The AI didn’t replace the staff—it gave them time to do higher-value work. That’s the heart of human-centered AI.
AI isn’t slowing down. In fact, it’s accelerating. But association leaders are right to be cautious. The real opportunity isn’t automating everything. It’s automating the right things—the tasks that free staff and boards to do the work that only humans can do: building trust, growing communities, and leading industries.
Members don’t want to feel like they’re interacting with a bot. They want to feel seen, valued, and heard. With the right AMS and strategy, associations can deliver personalization at scale without losing authenticity.
Cannolai is more than an AMS—it’s your partner in building a human-centered AI strategy. By integrating membership management with HubSpot’s automation tools, we help associations:
Save staff time by automating repetitive workflows.
Maintain authenticity by keeping tone and messaging human-driven.
Act with clarity thanks to accurate, connected member data.
That’s how AI becomes an advantage instead of a liability.
AI is here to stay. But the future isn’t “AI-run associations.” The future is human-centered AI—technology that handles the repetitive tasks while people focus on creativity, community, and connection.
With Cannolai, associations get the best of both worlds: automation that feels authentic and insights that drive strategy.
Because the real promise of AI isn’t replacing humans—it’s empowering them.