Over the past few years, artificial intelligence has burst into the business world with promises of efficiency and scalability. Organizations have learned to rely on algorithms that automate repetitive tasks: from operational management and financial analysis, to customer service or personalization of experiences.
This first wave has been transformative, but also limited. In many cases, automation has remained in a faster version —and often more expensive— than what we already did, without rethinking the processes or decision models.
Today we are entering a second wave: that of intelligent agents. Systems that no longer only execute orders, but also anticipate scenarios, propose alternatives and learn continuously. The difference is subtle, but decisive. We went from asking “what to do with the data” to deciding “what decisions to make thanks to it.”
In this new stage, AI stops being a tool that responds and becomes an intelligence that collaborates. Intelligent agents are capable of interpreting contexts, understanding business objectives and coordinating actions autonomously between different channels.. In marketing, that means something as ambitious as a campaign being able to self-evaluate, optimize its budgets, and redesign its messages based on actual user behavior, without constant human intervention.
From technological fashion to structural change
The risk of this transition is obvious: getting caught up in the AI fad. In recent months, many companies have integrated generic automation solutions under the label of ‘artificial intelligence‘, without a clear purpose or alignment with your strategy.
But AI does not right a wrong briefingnor does it solve on its own the lack of coherence between departments. In fact, it can amplify errors at an unprecedented speed.
Real value comes when AI is applied judiciouslyunderstanding how it can reconfigure the operational structure of marketing. For example, in retail, an intelligent agent can analyze inventories, search trends and conversion data to automatically adjust the media and product mix in real time.
At a mass market advertiser, you can anticipate the impact of a television campaign on online sales and redistribute the digital budget to the latter. In media, you can cross-reference consumption, audience and engagement information to redefine monetization models based on behavior and context.
An opportunity for Europe
The second wave of AI also opens a strategic opportunity for the Spanish and European business fabric. For years, technological leadership in marketing has been concentrated in the United States.
But the combination of stricter regulation, sensitivity to privacy and highly specialized talent in data and applied AI can put Europe in a unique position: develop more ethical, adaptable solutions focused on real value for the business.
This advantage will only be sustainable if there is a commitment to investment in R&D and the creation of alliances between technology companies, agencies, universities and advertisers. Because it is not about competing in speed, but in depth: on how AI is integrated into processesin how it is trained with its own data and in how it becomes a differential asset, not a simple software cost.
The cultural challenge
But the great challenge will not be technical, but cultural. It involves moving from measuring clicks to evaluating impact; from running campaigns to designing ecosystems that learn and adjust; from seeing AI as a specific tool to assuming it as a strategic partner.
And, above all, it implies recovering the human role in what really matters: interpretation, creativity and vision.
Because AI does not replace talent, it amplifies it. It can process millions of data, but it lacks judgment. You can predict, but not decide with empathy. And therein lies the new balance of contemporary marketing: letting artificial intelligence do the invisible and repetitive work, while people focus on what no machine can replicate—intuition, culture and strategy.
The second wave of AI will not be a terrain for the fastestbut for those who know how to build on solid foundations: reliable data, talent with judgment and a clear vision of where to direct innovation.
Because the future of marketing will not be in the hands of those who have the most information, but rather those who know how to orchestrate the dialogue between human talent and intelligent agents. And there, precisely, the competitiveness of our brands and our economy will be at stake.
***Dawn is Customer Customer Officer in Adsmurai
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