The office of the future is not an AI office.
Now that every creative agency has embraced AI, the technology itself is no longer a distinction. The new scarce resource is judgment. He advocates for a new understanding: Creative Intelligence.
Every creative agency has embraced it by now. One creates images with Firefly, another writes texts with Claude, and a third generates complete videos in minutes. Impressive, for sure. But let's be honest: that is not transformation. That is an old agency with new software.
The question is no longer who uses AI. Everyone uses AI. The question that truly matters is a different one: who knows when AI is wrong?
Creativity has become cheaper, not worse
Twenty years ago, a client paid an advertising agency for ideas. Today, that same client receives a thousand in one minute. And a closer look reveals the problem: most of them look alike.
AI has democratized creativity. As a result, creativity is becoming cheaper. Not worse; that is a misconception that stubbornly continues to circulate in the trade press. Just cheaper. And, as with any commodity, the value then shifts to what remains scarce.
The new scarcity is judgment. Cruyff couldn't have said it better. Because a machine effortlessly thinks of a thousand solutions, but does it know which one wins? Which headline makes someone stop scrolling? Which package gets picked up from the shelf faster? Which button do people actually press?
No. That is experience. Psychology. Context. Commercial intuition. That is what I call Creative Intelligence: CI instead of AI.
Four questions that make a difference
Making has become a commodity. Anyone can make, anyone can prompt. The value of an agency is shifting to four questions that no machine can reliably answer. What problem are we actually solving? What idea deserves to be made? Why will this work? And how do we choose?
That is not production. That is intelligence. And that is what I want to be paid for as an agency: not for hours, but for judgment.
AI provides answers. CI asks better questions. And that distinction is commercially anything but academic. Companies rarely go bankrupt due to bad answers. They go bankrupt due to wrong questions.
Psychology over pixels
After 25 years in this field, I know one thing for sure. The agency of the future is not an AI agency. It is a place where AI is present, but never in charge. Where psychology is more important than pixels. Where observation is more important than output. And where ideas are not judged on originality, but on impact.
The agencies that understand this have nothing to fear from any tool in the coming ten years. The agencies that confuse AI with strategy will become a commodity themselves.
Curious to see who recognizes this.
