Another week passes, and another company broadcasts its AI vision.
On Wednesday, Meta released a suite of updates that help advertisers maximize the value of their campaigns with AI-based campaign steering.
Who doesn’t want the ability to measure ROAS in terms of profit in this economic climate, for example, or optimize not just to a sale but a subscription sign-up or car test drive?
While the new features enable Meta to handle advertiser goals with more complexity, there is still a gulf between what Meta offers and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision, reported in the Wall Street Journal, that by the end of 2026, an advertiser will only need to share a product image and the goal they are trying to reach. Then, Meta will do the rest of the work to build the campaign and make it perform.
If and when marketing gets to this level of automation, where will this leave marketers? We aren’t the only ones thinking about this. Morale at ad agencies is low. Mobile Dev Memo’s Eric Seufert says some will go “extinct” due to AI.
But we argue that there will be a need for AI babysitters (the new entry-level job?). And as platforms become AI black boxes, marketers will use measurement frameworks that keep AI tools honest. They need to ensure that AI media buying tools deliver the performance they claim they drive. Because, as sycophantic agentic platforms have shown us, AI will work hard to deliver an answer that pleases you – even if it’s unmoored from reality.
