Ad Age
Jul 24, 2025
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By Cory Halberstadt, Ars X Machina (AXM)
Excerpt:
The idea that AI might take over advertising isn’t new, but its scale, speed and urgency are.
AI has shaped this industry since the 1950s, but today’s wave of tools, from ChatGPT to Perplexity, has pushed it into the spotlight and onto the boardroom agenda. AI is no longer limited to platform optimization and targeting. It’s now generating copy, designing creative and making real-time decisions at scale.
Platforms are capitalizing. Meta announced fully AI-powered ad creation and targeting tools by 2026, creating a walled garden within a walled garden. Google and Amazon are close behind.
Their pitch is clear: Let the platform do it all.
This has triggered a familiar question. Are agencies still necessary in an AI-driven ecosystem? Absolutely. AI doesn’t eliminate the need for agencies but redefines what makes us indispensable.
AI may automate portions of campaign management and even streamline creative production, but it cannot replicate the strategic thinking, cross-channel orchestration and brand stewardship that marketers and agencies deliver.
While platforms such as Meta offer increasingly sophisticated automation, and new AI tools will indeed enable more cross-platform coordination, it still takes a strategic partner to translate those capabilities into cohesive, business-aligned execution.
Agencies don’t just react to AI, they harness it. They go beyond platform features to bring greater value, integrating strategy across channels, between tools and in the context of broader marketing goals.
Agencies layer human insights and market understanding on top of AI outputs to guide smarter, brand-specific decisions.
Agencies connect measurement systems and align outcomes beyond siloed dashboards and build proprietary tools that flex AI capabilities to fit a client’s unique needs.
AI delivers speed and efficiency, but human creativity, context, and strategy transform that efficiency into meaningful business impact. Together, humans and AI generate results that are greater than the sum of their parts.