Dr Gabor Maté was not the obvious choice for a technology conference stage.
The bestselling author of The Myth of Normal and Order of Canada recipient, known internationally for his work on trauma, addiction, and mind-body health, sat down with Hasan Piker, journalist and political commentator, at Web Summit Vancouver in May 2026.
Their conversation ran 40 minutes, double the standard slot, and it centred on loneliness.
Maté framed it as a structural condition of modern life, one rooted in how people evolved. Humans lived in small hunter-gatherer groups, wholly connected to one another. The whole clan raised the children. Communality, cooperation, and connection were requirements for survival. We evolved expecting them.
“Any society that increases human isolation tramples on essential human needs,” he said.
When asked how to fix it, he was clear. “We can never go back. But we can be aware of what we have lost… How can we create structures?”
It was an unexpected message for the setting that primarily showcased tech and artificial intelligence. It was also not the only time it surfaced.
The observation appeared across multiple sessions, from content creators explaining why they organise in-person meetups for their online audiences, to Formula 1 executives describing how they build a fan community beyond the race. Work is isolating. People are searching for something real. They find each other digitally and then want to meet in person.
What Maté described from the stage is what associations do, every day, by design.
Built for Community
Governments and researchers have reached the same conclusion.
The United Kingdom has maintained a Minister for Loneliness and Social Connection since 2018, a formal government acknowledgement of what has become a recognised public health priority. The European Commission committed nearly €3 million to LONELY-EU, a research and policy initiative launched in February 2025 to address social isolation across the EU. In November 2025, Euronews shared the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data, showing that nearly 10 per cent of Europeans say they have no close friends. Among young people and men, the figures are higher.
Governments are now funding and staffing the problem. Associations have been solving it quietly for much longer.
At its core, an association is a community of like-minded professionals from the same industry. Its events create connections and the programmes facilitate shared learning. Their overall networks provide ongoing points of contact for people who would otherwise navigate their fields in isolation. The annual congress, the working group, the mentorship programme, and the member directory all address exactly what Maté described on stage.
Most associations call these things programmes, benefits, events. They are also the structural answer to what governments are now spending millions to find.
Authenticity Has Become a Competitive Advantage
The growing tension between content that is real and content that merely looks real ran through many sessions at Web Summit. Speakers described what many called “AI slop” or the flood of synthetic, undifferentiated content that now moves through digital channels at scale.
Bobby Berk, an interior designer and Queer Eye cast member, suggested an alternative. “Authenticity has turned into a brand strategy,” he said. What creators and organisations need to focus on instead, he argued, is “verifiable humanity” or the consistent, traceable, human voice that earns trust.
Association members are the verifiably human expertise that their industries need. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) has provided its members with a practical framework to address this. Its 2025 Gold Paper on ethical AI in communications sets a clear standard for disclosing when AI is used and for having human experts fact-check the output. Be transparent with audiences about what was written by a person and what was not. Any association that creates or curates content can use it as a starting point.
As AI lowers the cost of generating content, the associations that protect the quality and human authorship of their communications will become more valuable to members. The associations that treat this as a production question rather than a strategic one will find it harder to stand out.
As AI lowers the cost of generating content, the associations that protect the quality and human authorship of their communications will become more valuable to members.
Members Are Looking for a Trusted Anchor
Fifty-eight per cent of people globally say they can no longer reliably tell what is true from what is false online.
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025, published by the University of Oxford, found that traditional media is steadily losing ground to social platforms and algorithmic feeds. Also, who is accountable?
For members, the association is a different kind of source. They share an industry and a professional language. That closeness takes years to build and is genuinely difficult to replicate.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) recognised this and, in April 2025, launched Eurovision News Spotlight. It’s a collaborative fact-checking and open-source intelligence network involving 18 European member broadcasters. EBU’s Director of News, Liz Corbin, shares: “In a digital-first world, we face a worsening crisis of inaccurate, false and synthetic information that tests our certainty of truth and reality.”
Association members face the same challenge every day. Knowing which sources to trust, which content is accurate, and where to turn when the information is unclear. Associations can be that anchor.
What Association Leaders Can Do
Based on these themes, there are several opportunities for associations.
Meet members where they’re literally at. Formula 1 executives at Web Summit described connecting with audiences through run clubs and yoga sessions, in addition to race-day programming. Associations already do this through working groups and peer networks. It’s worth reviewing the event strategy to see whether those touchpoints are designed for genuine connection or primarily for content delivery.
Talk to your most engaged members. A fashion tech brand reminded the audience that a hundred members who genuinely love what you do will tell you more than one million who follow passively. Emotional connection cannot be outsourced to AI. Associations are well placed to have these conversations directly. What is working? What is not? What would make it better?
Build authenticity through consistency. Bobby Berk’s argument at Web Summit was that authenticity must be provable and repeatable. Associations that show up in the same voice, across every communication, build something LLM content cannot match.
Treat AI like a graduate student. Capable, useful, but prone to error and always needing human review. For associations producing member communications, research, or publications, the human-in-the-loop is always required.
Invest in the direct member relationship. Email and newsletters emerged at Web Summit as one of the more trusted channels. It’s simple technology, a direct connection with no algorithm between sender and reader. Associations that treat owned channels as a strategic asset are building something social platforms cannot take away.
Check how you show up in AI search. A brand discovery session introduced Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), alongside the more familiar Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). When members search via AI and LLM tools, does your association appear? And does it appear accurately? The gap between the two is widening.