AI’s threat to knowledge work has emerged faster than everyone expected. Agencies and studios with teams of copywriters, coders, designers, strategists, and researchers now face an ultimatum that is no longer optional: Embrace and thrive or ignore and sink.
We’re now seeing entire disciplines and services being folded into prompts and workflows. Work that took months has become days. Either horrifying or liberating, depending on where you sit.
We’re in the midst of a real-deal scenario. I hate hype, but when you’ve experienced something firsthand, there’s a difference.
The idea-to-execution gap is becoming alarmingly common across all disciplines. If you are able to articulate clearly what you want to achieve, there’s a good chance your work is on the hook.
Meet Al
Lowercase “L”, not a capital “i”. Like Alpuccino or big gay Al.
Al is the new kid on the block and is basically fucking with the program on every conceivable level.
Between 2020 and 2024, Al was innocently learning in the background, appearing occasionally with glimmers of brilliance. Harmless, intriguing.
From 2024 to 2025, Al became novel and useful. Good for chats and fixing code. Still needing supervision, but growing up fast. Useful, novel.
At the end of 2025, Al clocked off for some family time… he was chill… we thought.
It’s now February 2026, and since returning, Al has become an unhinged Akira-like beast working 24/7, performing any manner of task, passively accelerating life, modifying the fabric of reality, and causing high anxiety for human potatos.
It’s Al’s journey we’re now strapping in for.
Grief cope
We’re now simmering around the bargaining phase of your standard grief process timeline, where we attempt to regain control through deals, promises, or “what if” thinking.
You see, in the 2 months that might go down in history as the Al’s AGI puberty moment, minor cracks are emerging from his work patterns.
Al creates everything and anything you ask him to; that’s his superpower. And he’s fast. Al’s also got clones that work on their own accord, powering through challenges, no token spared.
It’s all very impressive sounding, so where are the cracks?
Well, here’s a glimpse into Al’s wrath:
If you know what those numbers represent. You likely felt a slight burning sensation in your chest.
Volumes upon volumes of output are stacking up. Humans are paying for it literally with cash and physically with time.
We’re starting to assess. This is good and healthy.
Getting real
Switching gears for a second. In the brass tax business world, where people don’t live on X and haven’t been seduced by Al’s charm, the following remain true (short-term):
Real businesses still exist
Real businesses must compete
Real businesses struggle with the idea of AI
If we assume that AI will eventually be everywhere, then simply having AI do things won’t be a competitive edge.
In the service game, companies will rapidly start layering AI into their workflow. It will be a subtle internal-only thing at first (it is now), but soon it might become front and centre. Agencies and studios will start underbidding for work, driving down the collective value.
In a growing landscape of flakes, charlatans, and AI-fueled charlatans, there are big opportunities for folks who understand service in the truest sense.
Also, a stern reminder that if you’re just flogging the AI horse but the work isn’t objectively better, then it’s not going to fly.
Experience in the Loop
Manpower (resources) and industry intel (knowledge) were previously limiting factors for agencies and studios; this is now fading fast and means the game is levelling out.
So what becomes a true differentiator?
The biggest value in service will literally be the actual service. Your offering and the experience of that offering can be an edge.
I can guarantee that in the next 1-2 years, the appetite for firms to take businesses on the journey will be through the roof.
No matter how good the tech is, it’s worth very little if no-one’s brought in on the journey.
Where real business takes place, AI is seeping in, but slowly.
So while adopting AI is not really an option anymore. How you connect it with your client and their world is invaluable.
