Who gets fired first when AI Agents become a reality?

AI is reshaping advertising roles and responsibilities. Kevan Yalowitz, Global Software and Platform Lead at Accenture, examines which positions face disruption as agentic AI becomes mainstream. He discusses how NotebookLM and similar tools are transforming basic research functions, while emphasizing that technology-savvy professionals who leverage AI will thrive regardless of their position in the organization. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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  From advertising to software as a service to data, across all of our programs and clients, we've seen a 55% to 65% open rate.

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  Getting brands authentically integrated into content performs better than TV advertising.

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  Typical life span of an article is about 24 to 36 hours.

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  If we're reaching out to the right person with the right message and a clear call to action, then it's just a matter of timing.

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  Welcome to the Martech Podcast, a member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. In this podcast, you'll hear the stories of world-class marketers that use technology to drive business results and achieve career success. Here's the host of the Martech Podcast, Benjamin Shapiro.

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  I'm Benjamin Shapiro and joining me today is Kevin Yalowicz, the Global Software and Platform Lead at Accenture, who is going to explain how AI is reshaping the advertising landscape. All right, moving on to our last question. Who gets fired first when agentic AI becomes a reality?

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  You're not going to like my answer on this.

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  Oh, not the podcast host?

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  No, it's you and me.

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  Oh, shit.

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  Both of us. Fire up Notebook LM. We would have had this podcast done without either of us being present.

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  I could not disagree more. There is a room for human speculation and personality and that's, look, we're not just stuffed golf shirts. Come on.

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  I joke, I joke. I totally agree with you, but it is actually really compelling where we are seeing material gains in things like podcasting that really weren't the case even two years ago. So I agree with you fundamentally, but my interest has been piqued by Notebook LM.

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  To me, the answer is the laggards. And this could be anywhere in your organization. It could be your entry level job, your mid-market, could be your executives. The people that don't understand how to use artificial intelligence to do what they do better are going to go the way of the dodo bird. If you don't understand how to use the technology to become more efficient, you're a dinosaur. So to me, it's not, well, the marketers are gone or the finance people. It's not any specific business function. It's not any specific role. It's a question of whether you know how to use the tools or not. It's, do you know how to use a typewriter? When it first came out, the people that could do that and that could type quickly became super powerful.

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  That's exactly right.

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  I'm answering my own questions. Anyway.

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  I like your point, though. I think your point about laggards is spot on. There are types of work, though, that I think are more susceptible to disruption by Gen AI than others. Basic research, like that's something now that you just talked about that. You're doing that today. We are doing that today. And even if you're not a laggard in that space, those that are doing that work as their primary job probably need to pivot to figure out as they become a leader, what are they doing differently? And how are they moving to a different role?

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  Yeah, I think that there's always going to be the everybody's term de jour, human in the loop. Somebody's going to need to know what they're researching. Somebody is going to need to ask the questions that need to be answers. And so, again, in research, in creative, in all these things, podcasting, where everybody says, oh, that that role's going away. Now, there might be less people doing it. And the people that are going to be doing it are the ones that understand how to use the tools to do it the best.

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  A hundred percent agree with that.

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  All right, Kevin, I appreciate you coming on the podcast and telling us a little bit about the advertising space and speculating about what the world's going to look like in the future. How can people get ahold of you and give me anything that you have to promote?

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  Well, we have some very interesting research on how this space is evolving. You can find me on LinkedIn, Accenture.com. Both are great ways to reach out to me and I'm happy to talk about all these topics in detail.

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  All right, and that wraps up this episode of the Martech Podcast. Thanks for listening to my conversation with Kevin Yalowicz, the Senior Managing Director of Global Software and Platforms at Accenture. If you'd like to get in touch with Kevin, you can find a link to his LinkedIn profile in our show notes or on martechpod.com, or you can visit his company's website, which is Accenture.com. If you haven't subscribed yet and you want a daily stream of marketing and technology knowledge in your podcast feed, hit the subscribe button in your podcast app or find us on YouTube and we'll be back in your feed every week. All right, that's it for today, but until next time, my advice is to just focus on keeping your customers happy.

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  Thanks for listening to the Martech Podcast, an I Hear Everything production. Looking to launch or scale a podcast like this one for your brand? Then visit ihereverything.com.