In this episode of the AI Adoption Podcast, Sean Betts, Chief AI and Innovation Officer at Omnicom Media Group, and I discuss the transformative impact of generative AI on marketing and advertising. Sean shares how generative and agentic AI are reshaping the industry, from producing campaign content to designing synthetic research panels that simulate consumer behaviour. He highlights the rapid advancements in creative applications, the importance of building future capabilities, and the challenges of ensuring responsible AI adoption. The conversation examines the emerging capabilities of using synthetic data, the evolution of agentic AI, and the potential societal and business model disruptions that may arise as AI technologies continue to advance.

“We’re seeing early agents now … they may handle a week’s work in an hour.” Sean Betts

🔎 What you’ll learn:

• How Generative AI is rapidly changing the advertising landscape.

• Why creative applications of AI are being widely adopted.

• Efficiency and automation are key benefits of AI in business.

• Why building capabilities around AI is essential for future success.

• Synthetic data can enhance consumer research significantly.

• Validation of synthetic data is crucial for accuracy.

• Agentic AI represents a new frontier in AI capabilities.

• How AI agents are evolving to perform more complex tasks.

• Bias in AI decision-making poses significant risks.

• Why incumbent businesses may struggle to adapt to rapid AI technological changes.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to AI in Advertising

01:10 Impact of Generative AI on Creativity

03:53 Efficiency and Automation in Business Processes

06:10 Emerging Capabilities of AI

10:10 Synthetic Data and Consumer Research

12:56 The Role of AI Agents

19:34 Guardrails for AI Implementation

22:41 Future of Agentic AI

25:54 Societal Implications of AI

30:47 Business Model Disruption by AI