At Marketecture Live III, AI came up in conversation a bit. A tad, even.

My colleague Ari Paparo wrote a column about it earlier this week. He used the title I was going to use for mine. He’s also smarter than me. You should read it.

There were some terrific takes on AI, like when Joanna O’Connell, Omnicom Media Group’s Chief Intelligence Officer, said, “Gen AI platforms are not just information engines. They are influencers.”

It’s true. And daunting. So much of the content we need to create now has to be to influence these influence gatekeepers: the AI engines themselves.

We also had Mark Grether, SVP and GM at PayPal, talk about how AI is used in PayPal’s retail media ad network. What struck me even more was when he pointed out that ad revenue now constitutes 42% of Kroger’s EBITDA. It makes me wonder when Kroger will start cutting its small margins on groceries just to generate more traffic for its ad network. The margins on the ads are way higher, so why not open mini Krogers everywhere, support them with ads, and undercut the competition?

There was also U of Digital announcing its AI Literacy Alliance. Even though AI might be lowering some of our kids’ reading scores, “structured, practical education” about AI is something we’re all needing more of.

And then there’s Jeremiah.

I’m a little biased, as Jeremiah Owyang, Blitzscaling Ventures’ General Partner for AI Investments, has been my friend ever since we spoke on a Frost & Sullivan panel 20 years ago. (Fun fact: It was my first speaking gig.) So I was excited to have him present his talk, “When Agents Become the Customer.” You can request his slides here.

The first of his insights is that you have to understand and map how your company culture is reflected in terms of openness or hesitance toward AI. He described these cultural segments as Resisters, Followers, Forwards, Firsts, and Natives. In AI-first cultures, for instance, one has to see what can be done by AI and then only hire if AI can’t fill that role.

Understanding that cultural baseline will also help determine an organization’s pace and approach for adopting what Jeremiah calls Web 4.0. He defines it as, “The agentic internet where autonomous AI agents decide, act, transact, earn, learn, and replicate with minimal or no human intervention.”

If scares the heck out of you, it should. Or, to quote my favorite movie line as it pertains to AI, think of the moment where Aragorn asks Frodo in the first “Lord of the Rings” film, “Are you frightened?” When Frodo says yes, Aragon responds, “Not nearly frightened enough.”

Some of this won’t be that terrifying in practice. An AI agent autonomously maximizing yield from ad inventory on a publisher’s page is an evolutionary step of the history of ad tech described in Ari’s book Yield. But the replication? That seems like the stuff of Michael Crichton, with a smattering of “Big Hero 6.”

Where do humans fit in with this?

The best answers I found were from the brand marketing leaders like Julie Rice, Chief Experience Officer at Weight Watchers, and Tim Ellis, the NFL’s Chief Marketing Officer.

My favorite such example came from Brandon Marshall, a former NFL player who is the founder of I Am Athlete. He told the story of how he started the My Cause, My Cleats initiative with the NFL because he wanted to support mental health awareness by sporting lime green cleats. While at the time he was fined for breaking league rules, his persistence helped change NFL policy and turn this into a program where more than 1,000 players have participated to advocate for their favorite causes.

Fresh ideas. Determination. Passion. Persistence. Showing up. Yeah, you can have some persistent agents and code them to have whatever personality you want, but AI agents weren’t going to change league policy. Marshall did.

The agents are coming. But they’re sure not taking some of these speakers’ jobs. And maybe there’s some hope for the rest of us.

— David Berkowitz, Chief Community Officer, Marketecture Media

Who: Brand Managers, Product Marketers, CPG Executives, Innovation Leads

What: L'Oréal is integrating NVIDIA’s machine learning framework into its R&D and marketing pipeline to predict how ingredients interact at a molecular level. By simulating these variables in virtual environments, the brand claims it can move from a laboratory concept to a finished product up to 100 times faster than traditional methods.

Why it matters: AI is moving upstream from making ads to making the products themselves, allowing brands to respond to micro-trends in skincare and beauty with physical inventory in weeks rather than years.

(Oui Speak Fashion)

Who: Market Researchers, CMOs, CPG Marketers, Creative Strategists

What: Coca-Cola is moving AI from experimental creative into marketing operations, using the tech to run synthetic focus groups and idea generation. By simulating consumer reactions to various campaign angles before they launch, the brand is attempting to pivot from price-driven growth to "persuasion-led" demand.

Why it matters: One of the world's largest spenders is betting that AI's biggest value isn't in the final output, but in the rapid testing of ideas that never see the light of day.

(Business Insider)

Who: Brand Safety Teams, CMOs, Content Marketers, Regulated Industries, Corporate Communications

What: A new Gartner marketing survey found that half of consumers prefer brands that avoid using generative AI in consumer-facing content. The message is not “don’t use AI,” but “don’t make people feel tricked.”

Why it matters: The AI trust gap is still very real, so brands need transparency, selective use cases, and a clear customer benefit when AI shows up publicly.

(CMSWire)

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