Which marketing tasks should remain human-driven despite AI?

Kellyn Smith Kenny

Chief Marketing & Growth Officer · At&T

Qualitative Data & Insight

Kellyn Smith Kenny says qualitative data and human insight should stay human-driven, because they always need to be at the heart of strategic decisions and creative strategies.

The answer starts at 19:23.

Tom Kaneshige

Chief Content Officer · CMO Council

Human Judgment

Tom Kaneshige argues that human judgment is the part of marketing that will not be replaced, saying it will be more important than ever, so how well marketers integrate AI and human strengths will be key.

The answer starts at 28:53.

Duarte Garrido

Co-Founder & Co-CEO · DOJO AI

Strategic Decision-Making

Duarte Garrido says the decision-making after AI gathers and structures data should stay human, because AI can suggest, spot opportunities or warn, but the human ultimately decides what it does.

The answer starts at 39:53.

Paul Roehrig

Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer · Ascendion

Storytelling

Paul Roehrig says storytelling should stay human-driven, since the human spark that makes campaigns land has to be maintained and nurtured; AI may help but won't give that.

Ryan Gavin

Chief Marketing Officer · Slack

Quality Judgment

Ryan Gavin says people should become orchestrators of work and it is their job to question, inspect, and judge whether work is good or high quality, because AI models are black boxes that cannot be quickly audited.

Marvin Chow

VP of Consumer and AI Marketing · Google

Taste and Judgment

Marvin Chow says taste and judgment should remain human-driven, since marketing leaders still need people with taste, judgment and conviction to decide what a brand or campaign should do.

Dawn Dawson

Chief Marketing Officer · Mortgage Solutions Financial

In-Person Experiential Events

Dawn Dawson says in-person experiential events should remain human-driven, because as AI increases efficiency it isolates people and they need opportunities to connect.

Rachel Thornton

CMO, Enterprise · Adobe

Brand Promise

Rachel Thornton says the brand promise is what marketers must retain and not leave to agents or chance, saying they must first do the work of understanding their brand so they can scale that promise consistently using AI.

Todd Kaplan

Chief Marketing Officer, North America · Kraft Heinz

Consumer Empathy

Todd Kaplan says consumer empathy and understanding real consumer insight are among the biggest traits CMOs should build, because AI does more doing but the thinking won't go away.