AI is not a faster horse
Here are three things AI cannot do for companies.
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BY Ian Buck
When it comes to transformative technology, one of my fave quotes is from Henry Ford, who supposedly said: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Whether he actually said that may be up for debate, but the statement certainly rings true.
When asked to improve something, many people ask for a faster version. But when a big enough technological jump happens, the result can be much more than a better version of what existed before. The car wasn’t a faster horse; it answered a different question altogether.
AI is today’s disruptive technology, and I see two very different approaches and attitudes emerging. Some organizations use AI to optimize how they’ve always worked, while others use it to rethink why they work that way in the first place.
This subtle distinction will likely be one of the next decade’s biggest economic disruptors.
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3 things AI can’t do for a company
I’ve noticed that shift in how organizations design work, how leaders make decisions, and how brands differentiate themselves.
1. AI doesn’t speed up workflows
AI workflow use cases are easy to spot, with faster first drafts, meeting summaries, and research analysis. Are these useful? Yes, absolutely, but they don’t fundamentally change the work.
Most workflows were designed for a world where information was harder to access, iteration was expensive, and expertise was less available. But these constraints have changed drastically. So it’s more useful to ask, “If I were designing this process today, knowing AI exists, would I build it this way at all?”
The companies that will see the biggest gains are redesigning workflows. When we launched our own company from scratch, it was as a new kind of ad agency with AI-powered workflows. For example, we combined strategy and creative into a single AI-powered process, saving weeks of time that traditionally ad agencies would have billed for.
Our new AI chief of staff (called Goodie, naturally) automates and handles all our administrative duties, freeing up a huge amount of time to focus on the work. After nearly three years, our financials show that just from these two workflow changes alone, the entire business model for an ad agency is fundamentally changed, forever.
2. AI won’t provide a shortcut to faster decisions
Another pattern I keep seeing is that people expect AI to help them make decisions faster. In theory (better information, faster), that may make sense, but in reality, it often simply exposes how the humans in the loop made decisions at human speed in the first place.
This can manifest as unclear ownership, competing priorities, or the discomfort of committing to a decision that might be wrong. We see this because even when we’ve rebuilt how the work gets done, the humans in the loop can still throttle it. For example, a strategy plan used to take six to eight weeks.
With our AI stack, we can now deliver a sharper one in three to five days, but we’ve learned to tell clients two weeks anyway. Not because we need the time, but because their own internal math for what “good” costs won’t let them trust anything faster than that without assuming it’s worthless. Just another example of the bottleneck being permission, not speed.
3. AI won’t make your brand more distinctive
This one affects me most in my job. AI is incredibly good (and will only get better!) at producing content that sounds polished, professional, and appropriate for almost any category. But as more brands rely on similar models, tools and prompts to create their marketing material, the average quality might improve slightly. But distinctiveness will not.
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Brands will stand out because they have something only they can say. A clear point of view, a strong creative judgment, and the confidence to take a less-traveled road. The good news here? AI will actually make human perspective more valuable.
This is actually a key component of our beliefs. Three years ago, we developed a long-term brand strategy for Jamieson Vitamins, a global vitamin brand, based on exactly this. We doubled down on authenticity, shooting TV commercials in their factories, using only real employees in all content, and delivering copy based on how real people speak.
The strategy continues to evolve over the years, but remains consistent: Jamieson stands out in a crowded market through humanness and authenticity.
What this means for the marketer
The obvious response to AI is to use it to produce the same work faster, create campaigns more efficiently, reduce production time, and deliver more with fewer people. But advertising has operated on a singular commercial model since the Mad Men era: the billable hour.
Marketing agencies sell time because it’s the easiest thing to measure. Hours became a stand-in for expertise, creativity, and strategic thinking. The digital revolution couldn’t affect it, and neither could the social era. But AI has started to force the conversation.
When execution takes less time, clients should care less about how long something took and more about the thinking behind it. That’s a meaningful shift and creates an opportunity to rethink how marketing agencies structure pricing and demonstrate value. Namely, judgment, creativity, outcomes, and partnership. That’s a completely different model than the old one.
What’s worked best for us—and what our clients like the best—is simply project-based billing. Chief financial officers love it because every dollar spent ties directly to a tangible delivery. Chief marketing officers love it because their teams meet only with the most senior agency talent. We love it because it lets us scale based on the work we’re getting paid for, not headcount sitting around the office looking for something to bill.
So, yes: Every organization should be looking for ways to free up time, but it’s worth asking what that time is being freed up for. AI can absolutely help us work faster, but its greatest value is helping us imagine better ways to do it altogether.
Ian Buck is the cofounder of BaD Mktg.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ian Buck is a marketing and communications leader with 25+ years of experience across PR, social, digital, advertising, and content. As founder of BaD Mktg, an AI-powered full-service creative agency, he helps brands turn cultural insight, emerging technology, and big ideas into campaigns that connect emotionally, earn advocacy, and drive impact More
