AI & COMMUNICATIONS / 01
Where Does Value Come From When AI Makes Production Abundant?
AI is reducing the cost of many production activities in marketing. At the same time, good judgement is becoming more valuable.
That is the real shift happening today, and many organisations are still responding to the wrong part of it.
The conversation has centred on efficiency, integration and leaner operating models: remove duplication, simplify structures, invest in technology and deliver more with less.
What often gets removed in the process is not only capacity, but judgement under incomplete information.
AI performs exceptionally well when the task is clearly defined. Leadership rarely is. The hardest commercial decisions are usually made before the brief is written, when information is incomplete, priorities compete and there isn’t an obvious answer. That’s where judgement creates value.
I’ve seen this play out across 18 years working with agencies and brands in the Middle East. The people who develop that judgement over years of experience are often the hardest capability to protect as organisations become leaner. In many cases, it quietly walks out of the building with them.
Every leadership team is under pressure to become leaner and get more from technology. That’s understandable. The risk is losing the people who ask the right questions, spot the real problem behind the brief and are comfortable making decisions without all the answers. The work still gets done, but conversations quietly shift from direction to delivery.
For agencies, that’s an even harder balance. Margins tighten, expectations rise and reducing headcount becomes the obvious answer. The challenge is making sure whoever remains still has room to think, challenge ideas and help clients solve the right problem—not just deliver what was asked.
Efficiency is necessary. Removing the wrong layer of capability is expensive.
The organisations that come through this period stronger will be the ones that can still distinguish between production that has become abundant and judgement that has not.
So — do you agree? Or is AI already closer than we think to winning the judgement game too?