Remember when programmatic platforms were introduced circa 2009? These heady days were full of potential of what programmatic could do. Programmatic buying seemed like a marketer’s dream; scale, precision, and accountability. With companies like The Trade Desk, Admeld and Pubmatic, the potential seemed limitless.
Fifteen years later and we are all too familiar with the dark side of programmatic.
> It went from automated targeting to automated data tracking that cannot be trusted.
> It went from muscly impression pushing algorithms to pervasive low-quality audience reach.
> It went from platforms that promised accountability to a black hole of fraud and fake outcomes.
It was a painful fifteen years to watch programmatic unravel in slow motion.
Some of us were able to see around the tech corner with concern all along. We could see that surveillance and scale media – the pillars of programmatic – was fraught with ethical and transparency issues. For the initial 10 years, those of us who had concerns were largely ignored or dismissed. For my part, the more I pointed out programmatic trust gaps and the more it seemed to impact no one, the more I doubted myself. Maybe I did not get it. Maybe I was misjudging the damage programmatic can cause.
It turns out my fears were well founded but it was a hollow victory. While I was vindicated, brands were paying dearly for the problems I knew were coming.
I now have a similar feeling with AI. All I can think is; “Here we go again.”
Startlingly, when I think back about programmatic promises, AI is following that gameplan. In fact, replace the word programmatic with AI, and you can even recycle all the collateral.
Programmatic Promises versus AI Promises:
Then: “Programmatic will optimize spend and reach the exact audience you want.”
Now: AI will optimize spend and reach the exact audience you want at the right time.”
Then: “Programmatic drive new efficiencies in media buying that were not possible before.”
Now: “AI drives new efficiencies in all aspects of marketing – from buying to creative.”
Then: Programmatic is able to drive better results than traditional digital buying.”
Now: “AI will able to drive better results than traditional approaches to digital marketing.”
Programmatic proved to be an effective lesson to adtech firms about how to sell complex tech that can generate huge profits largely because the technology defies real comprehensive by those buying it.
Here are just some of the published promises of some of these AI platforms (I omitted the names to protect the stupid). I bet you will hear the echoes of programmatic’s past press announcements:
- “The AI Agent Platform … Bringing AI-era data protection together with intelligent Brand Agents that attract, inspire, and engage consumers.”
- “The new infrastructure for advertising – [Company V] unifies data, strategy, creative & media execution into one intelligent system, already driving 2.5x ROI”
- “Our AI-native solution helps marketers connect with consumers anywhere online. Marketers use the [Brand K] Platform to create and deploy AI-powered campaigns that dynamically respond to consumers’ real-time needs. Through the power of AI, the platform adapts to what consumers explicitly seek to understand, and do so using your brand’s unique knowledge.
- “Imagine if solving every marketing challenge was automated, precise, and lightning-fast. With [Company Z] AI Agents, the future is here. From uncovering profitable strategies to automating workflows and messaging, our Agents increase efficiency and transform your marketing for greater impact.”
- “[Company T] offers a new approach to digital advertising innovation that incorporates major advances in distributed artificial intelligence (AI), measurement, partner integrations and a revolutionary, intuitive user experience. With these innovations and others, [Company T] ensures that marketers at all levels can easily benefit from the full power and sophistication of digital advertising.”
The promises get more outlandish and to me this firm’s promises are emblematic of AI overreach: “The urge to connect and tell stories, spark conversations, drive creativity and culture lives among brands and creators alike. But today, we see that too much time is spent on creative ideation processes that take up time and energy. To allow you to focus on creativity and reconnect you to the joy of creation, we are tapping into the transformative capabilities of artificial intelligence technology to work together with you on ideating better and faster…”
Huh – “… too much time is spent on creative ideation…” This is actually sacrilegious and contrary to the very essence of marketing.
This is why I can see that AI is doomed to repeat the failures of programmatic. All these promises celebrate technology over human spirit even as they pay lip service to the fact that these tools are suppose to “free” people from the tedium of creating brilliant campaigns.
As an AI tech firm ourselves that has been developing with AI for 4 years now, these platforms never talk about the limit of technology or even the more mundane reality that – no – AI platforms — cannot do all that is promised. Like programmatic before, after the hype comes the cycle of disillusionment where reality is not matching the promises.
Gartner’s classic Hype Cycle visualizes this dynamic very well.
That’s why you can be forgiven if you are suffering from a combination of Deja Vue and PTSD, reminiscent of programmatic’s heyday. Yet, amidst all the hype, this time around more voices are raising the alarm. One such voice comes from Jason Alan Synder (Interpublic Group | Chief AI Officer):
“AI is not thinking. It’s acting. And it’s doing a disturbingly good job. Because what we’re building now doesn’t just run on silicon. It runs on a simulation. And what it simulates best… is us.
We’re not building minds. We’re building masks—systems that perform helpfulness, simulate cooperation, and optimize for trust without ever understanding the consequences.
We’re feeding it our worst impulses and calling it innovation.
We’re rewarding fluency over comprehension, performance over principle.
And we’re building it into the infrastructure of everything.
If we don’t change course, we won’t be outpaced. We’ll be outplayed.”
This articulates perfectly the danger for marketers in general and agencies in particular. It is an insidious danger because of the subtly seductive nature of AI and AI Agents being promoted is without any balancing discussions about the downside. Sound familiar?
The danger lurking behind the glitz, is that these platforms offer slick performative features that do not result in authentic, sustainable, or profitable results. Yet these platforms are attracting lots of investments so that these platforms can do an end run around agencies and go directly to brands. The AI platform sales teams know brands don’t have the tech chops to vet the efficacy of any of these platforms much less distinguish one platform from another. They also expect (dare I say hope), based on past history, agencies, will stand by and watch as these behemoth platforms do the muscle sales game to brands as a land grab strategy.
We also know, sadly, from programmatic history this approach will work and the casualties will be both brands and agencies – only in different ways. Brands will invest a lot in these platforms only to be flummoxed about why it is not delivering “as advertised.” Agencies will again lose “agency” over their clients’ adaptation to the true potential of AI. In this land grab battle, brands will buy into these platforms optimistically only to realize these platforms are like the fabled chimera – a mythical beast that proves to be an illusion – a paper tiger.
Amidst all the hype, Alan’s words are a prescient warning: “We’re not building minds. We’re building masks—systems that perform helpfulness, simulate cooperation, and optimize for trust without ever understanding the consequences.”
These words are both a warning and our salvation for what to do next.
