As someone who works in the advertising industry, I’ve had my fair share of experience with artificial intelligence (AI). From my learnings from platforms like ChatGPT, topical research and hours of industry discussions, I’ve come to terms that AI is both exciting and a little scary, but one thing I don’t believe is that it’s going to take our jobs. Not yet, anyway. Let me explain why.

AI CAN’T REPLACE THE TRUST THAT RELATIONSHIPS ARE BUILT ON.

In the agency world, we spend months, years even, building relationships with our clients in order to garner their trust. The idea that we are all going to blindly trust AI to solve our problems is laughable. Sure, AI can be a useful tool, but somebody has to check its work. Clients place a high value on the human relationships they have with their agency partners, and AI is not even remotely advanced enough to handle all the nuances of their advertising. There is too much at stake to unquestioningly believe that AI is infallible, especially when we know it can have implicit racial and gender bias, relies on human oversight, and sometimes, just flat out gets it wrong, like we’ve seen with early Bing and Google offerings. We aren’t ready to completely trust the robots and that’s a good thing, especially when it comes to job security.

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HELP WANTED? AI IS OUR FRIEND, NOT OUR FOE.

But that’s not to say that AI doesn’t have its place in our industry. In a world where the conversation is shifting to a 4-day work week, agencies are still struggling to figure out the 5-day work week. And the challenges we face in trying to balance staffing needs while keeping fees low are only getting worse as clients facing economic headwinds are under more and more pressure to reduce agency fees. If AI can reduce workloads and help us achieve better work-life balance, I’m all for it. There’s plenty of work to go around, why not take advantage of AI to automate tasks and help us make smarter, quicker decisions.

For example, AI can help us with predictive modeling, allowing us to make data-driven decisions about where to allocate budgets and what messaging to use. And it can help us with ideation, by analyzing data and providing insights on what type of messaging and visuals are resonating with our target audience. It has the potential to make us smarter, faster, and more efficient, while also allowing us to focus on the things that truly matter, like creativity and strategy.

AI can also help us stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies. As the advertising industry continues to evolve, it’s important for us to stay ahead of the curve and be able to adapt to new developments. AI can provide us with insights and data that can help us understand consumer behavior and preferences, as well as identify new opportunities for growth.

There is a saying, “AI is fast, accurate and stupid; humans are slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination” – and that is how we see it as marketers. We as an agency can be mindful of AI’s limitations and continue to rely on our own human intelligence and expertise. After all, at the end of the day, advertising is all about understanding human behavior and connecting with people on a personal level. And that’s something that AI can never fully understand.

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DEJA VU, ANYONE?

Anyone else feel like we’ve been here before? In my 20+ years in the industry, I’ve heard many times that new technology is going to replace my job. First, it was digital, then programmatic buying, and now AI. Programmatic buying, for example, when it first emerged, many people were afraid that it would replace the need for human media buyers. But in reality, it’s just another tool in our toolkit. We still need media buyers to make strategic decisions and ensure that everything is running smoothly. And I believe the same thing will happen with AI. AI can help us with tasks like data analysis, targeting, and optimization, but it won’t replace the need for human intelligence and creativity.

There are real concerns about job loss and re-skilling and it’s true that AI may make some jobs obsolete, but it will also create new opportunities. The truth is, our jobs may change and evolve, but we as human beings are adaptable and can change and evolve with them. AI will certainly change the way we work, but I believe it will ultimately help us come up with new ideas and strategies to better serve our clients and stay ahead of the game.

In conclusion, while there may be concerns about the impact of AI on the advertising industry, it’s important to remember that it’s not a replacement for human creativity and intuition. Rather, it’s a tool that can help us work more efficiently, make smarter decisions, and ultimately provide better results for our clients. It’s true that AI can automate tasks and make certain processes more

efficient, but it’s unlikely that it will completely replace human jobs in the near future. By embracing AI and all that it can offer, we can stay ahead of the curve and continue to provide valuable insights and creative ideas that drive business growth.