Alex Pollock doesn’t hold back when describing artificial intelligence and storytelling as essentially bread and butter. Skimp on the story, and you will produce technology nobody really wants. It is not only theory either. Think on how much artificial intelligence changes the structures supporting daily life. Consider voice assistants, chatbots, or those recommendation systems available on your preferred streaming service. When they embrace a thread of story, they all perform better—and feel less like soulless robots.

Stories, according to Alex Pollock, are the glue binding complex technology to the messy, beautiful life of actual people. He is not indulging in poetic fun. Research has shown that human brains react to stories far more powerfully than to abstract facts and data. The story behind a chatbot guiding someone over a government website or a virtual health coach offering lifestyle advice can make all the difference between apathy and active involvement.

It gets better: stories provide more than merely AI window dressing. They actively enable increasingly significant means of machine communication with humans. Pollock provides an example from early days of artificial intelligence training data, whereby machines spew responses that, to a computer, make sense but felt ridiculous to people. Engineers discovered users trusted the artificial intelligence more, interacted more, and—probably most importantly—felt a little less alone by teaching the system a sense of narrative. If AI has some personality, even tech critics are more likely to interact.

Alex Pollock does, however, also caution about dangers. Overdone narrative seems contrived and can backfire. Users may roll their eyes at synthetic empathy gone crazy, the charm fades. Furthermore at risk are false narratives, particularly in sensitive fields like public policy or healthcare where artificial intelligence is applied. He is fast to note that while the narrative leads, colors, and provides clarity without distorting the truth, the facts always stand strong.