"Programmatic marketers may not understand AI but they're even more unsure of themselves. That was the undercurrent at this week's Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit in New Orleans. Onstage discussions, offstage pow wows and the usually candid town halls all pointed to the same tension: everyone talking about AI, yet few felt equipped to shape what comes next. The dynamic landed with real force. This moment isn't about automation muscling out humans."
"AI agents meant workflow support for some, optimization logic for others and near-automy for a select few. Agenctic carried the weight of infrastructure for engineers, while everyone else heard automation. That fractured vocabulary hasn't just muddled expectations, it's blurred the industry's ability to gauge its own preparedness, even as most acknowledge AI's very real limits. Because readiness depends on what you think you're preparing for."
Programmatic marketers are broadly uncertain about AI and unsure of their own readiness. Conversations at the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit revealed a common tension: widespread AI talk but limited confidence in shaping its direction. AI appears in multiple forms—workflow agents, optimization algorithms, infrastructure for engineers, and automation—leading to a fractured vocabulary and muddled expectations. Readiness varies by function: agencies explore generative planning, DSPs evaluate deterministic automation, engineers debate web plumbing for model-native systems, and executives imagine embedded intelligent assistants. Each path demands distinct skills, operating rhythms, and guardrails. Conflating these paths obscures actual preparedness gaps and specific conceptual challenges.
Read at digiday.com
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