This is one of the most comprehensive frameworks I've seen for handling the agentic AI shift, especially your point about ethical oversight as a growing human niche.
One angle I'd add, the marketers winning right now are treating AI like a brilliant but reckless junior employee.
They give it guardrails (prompt constraints, brand voice guidelines)
Audit its work for 'artificial stupidity' (stats taken out of context, tone deaf copy etc)
Reserve final judgment calls for humans (see Pepsi's Kendall Jenner ad that AI would've greenlit faster)
The future belongs to hybrids (I think) part strategist, part ethicist, part tech translator
You nailed it once again, Neela. Obviously, what you share is learned in the trenches. It's advice every marketer should heed. (Many won't, but they should.)
Companies really need to start addressing this now and putting guardrails in place before decisions are made that could land them in hot water. AI is powerful, but it absolutely requires human oversight. I was generating an image on Canva recently, and when I prompted for a white female, every image that came up was of a white female with blonde hair. I never specified blonde hair, yet the system seemed to automatically assume that white women have blonde hair. I also tried a prompt about leaders and leadership, and every image generated was of males, even though I didn’t specify a gender. AI is great, but it comes with built-in biases that we all need to be more aware of.
You are so right about that, Bette. Someone used Midjourney to create images of doctors, nurses, police, school teachers, and kindergarten teachers. Everyone was a 100% stereotype. It behooves us to take on a governance role. That's imperative.
This is one of the most comprehensive frameworks I've seen for handling the agentic AI shift, especially your point about ethical oversight as a growing human niche.
One angle I'd add, the marketers winning right now are treating AI like a brilliant but reckless junior employee.
They give it guardrails (prompt constraints, brand voice guidelines)
Audit its work for 'artificial stupidity' (stats taken out of context, tone deaf copy etc)
Reserve final judgment calls for humans (see Pepsi's Kendall Jenner ad that AI would've greenlit faster)
The future belongs to hybrids (I think) part strategist, part ethicist, part tech translator
Happy Thursday Paul
You nailed it once again, Neela. Obviously, what you share is learned in the trenches. It's advice every marketer should heed. (Many won't, but they should.)
Maybe they will.
I am optimistic today Paul 😂
Happy Friday!
Me, too, now that I've read this - https://raquelhunter.substack.com/p/what-will-marketers-do-when-ai-does. It paints a bright picture for marketers who are willing to adapt.
I really think #4 "Continous Learning" is the trick. Without embracing ongoing learning there are going to be problems in every other venue.
BTW, I like the Technostress tool! Here are my results. It's awesome you developed this for people!
📊 Preliminary Technostress Profile
Here’s your domain breakdown:
Domain Score Concern Level
AI Complexity Overload 15/25 Moderate
AI-Induced Uncertainty 9/25 Low
AI Invasion 6/25 Low
AI Learning Demands 21/25 High 🟠
AI Reliability Concerns 13/25 Moderate
Total Score: 64/125 → Moderate Technostress
Thank, Geoff. I’m glad you liked the technostress tool. I hope to continue improving it, so thanks for the proof of concept.
Companies really need to start addressing this now and putting guardrails in place before decisions are made that could land them in hot water. AI is powerful, but it absolutely requires human oversight. I was generating an image on Canva recently, and when I prompted for a white female, every image that came up was of a white female with blonde hair. I never specified blonde hair, yet the system seemed to automatically assume that white women have blonde hair. I also tried a prompt about leaders and leadership, and every image generated was of males, even though I didn’t specify a gender. AI is great, but it comes with built-in biases that we all need to be more aware of.
You are so right about that, Bette. Someone used Midjourney to create images of doctors, nurses, police, school teachers, and kindergarten teachers. Everyone was a 100% stereotype. It behooves us to take on a governance role. That's imperative.