The post-pandemic world has ushered us into what feels like a cultural age of anxiety.

During lockdown, our overreliance on social media and disrupted communication patterns were linked to higher rates of clinical anxiety (JMIR Mental Health, 2021). At the same time, deep political divisions and decades of declining trust in institutions became more visible. Pew Research shows public trust in the U.S. government fell from nearly 80% in the 1960s to ~20% today.

This period also accelerated a wave of disruptive economic forces: service industry job losses, government subsidies, massive inflation, and a growing economy that coexists with inequality and a stagnant job market. 65% of Americans say the cost of living has worsened, and 6 in 10 say it has delayed major life goals.

And now AI enters the mix. According to Pew and others, more than half of Americans believe AI will reduce jobs over the next 20 years, while fewer than 20% believe it will have a positive impact on our lives overall.

The emotional weight of this uncertainty is enormous — and it’s a cultural touchpoint brands could acknowledge. Yet few are.

That was until I saw Anthropic’s new campaign: “Keep Thinking.”

It doesn’t avoid our collective tension around fear and anxiety. Instead, it reframes Claude not as a threat, but as a thinking partner. A tool that helps humans solve problems, make progress, and imagine better futures.

The psychology makes this more powerful. Humans are wired for hope. Psychologists call it optimism bias: nearly 80% of people believe their future will be better than their present, which not only propels us forward but has been shown to improve overall health outcomes. Campaigns that acknowledge difficulty while pointing toward possibility hit emotional triggers that resonate deeply.

I was reminded of this at a recent SF One Club panel, where creative leaders in AI spoke about reframing anxiety not as something to suppress, but as a spark for creativity and problem-solving. Studies also show that the more people use AI, the more positive their outlook becomes — priming Anthropic’s core audience of power users to connect even more strongly with the campaign.

In anxious times, optimism isn’t fluff; it’s fuel. Acknowledging uncertainty in our stories while inspiring hope may not just create valuable connections with audiences — they might help spark a bit of genuine optimism in the process.