AI is increasing productivity for experienced professionals, but it’s also removing many of the learning loops that used to develop judgment. Those loops were never designed intentionally—they just happened because junior people were in the room.
The real challenge now isn’t protecting junior work. Much of that work deserved to disappear.
The challenge is redesigning how judgment is developed when AI handles much of the execution.
Organizations that figure out how to build intentional apprenticeship models around AI will have a huge advantage over the next decade.
There is another perspective to this. Its around whether the process of generation is required to develop the ability to judge. Classic example would be wine sommalier vs wine maker. This analogy essentially compares the wine makers role to AI and sommaliers role to the user. And that we need to be better sommaliers. Eager to hear your take on this. Additionally do you think there could be a difference in developing judgement via generation vs directly developing the skill of evaluation without caring about generation at all?
problem is the industry is only looking inwards and assumes it’s the 1st time this sort of maturity curve has happened. It isn’t. Design in construction and manufacturing went through this same curve when CAD hit years ago. juniors will still enter the industry but there will be a lot less opportunities for them, and it will be their young person’s knowledge and post ai skills that will be their currency, i.e the value they bring to move the industry forward will evolve just as architects and industrial designers did. The real challenge will be the collapse in organizational size and scale, which has already started. We desperately need to be asking what does an automated economy look like and how will value be defined within it ?
People still need to learn. With skills like CAD, the learning shifted to uni courses. But there is only so much you can learn theoretically, and the cost of learning is transferred to the student - and you end up with spiralling student debt.
Apprenticeships and ongoing "osmosis learning" is what careers are built on, and people earn whilst they learn. It's part of the value exchange.
And some of the skills required for an AI future eg critical thinking, judgement, decision-making, risk management, negotiation etc are sharpened in realtime activities, where the stakes are high. Uni courses can teach theory and put you through mock up scenarios, but real learning comes from real life.
i'm losing sleep over this too - pair the timing of AI disruption with the mass quieting and divestment in DEI and we're set for a significant talent gap in the next decade. relieved to see someone else thinking and writing about it so eloquently.
i LOVE the idea of an industry academy. i'm into year four of running a successful trainee scheme that's growing creative talent from the ground-up - there's a formula that works i promise.
It's squeezed at both ends because juniors are recruited less and less, and seniors are the first to go during cuts in a financial downturn. There are fewer and fewer people like those who mentored us early on. They are sent out to an even diminishing pasture. I've been (a relatively busy most of the time) independent for nearly eight years despite myself, on some level - I'd prefer to work in a team. Including doing something I have always loved and have quite a few spectacular careers to show for - shaping the next generation of talent. Despite myself, because it's pretty impossible to get a job interview as a senior in the last three years or so. The market is now flooded with "cut-offs".
It's all super short-termist and unsustainable, in an industry that's doing worse and worse. And clients notice.
The radical transformation requires real creativity this time, because any solution that relies on financial investment isn't going to happen. That money is busy being syphoned off by bigtech drinking the milkshake.
Having spent a few years in and seeing the damage it brought fueling overconsumption and surveillance, I'll not shed a single tear for the ad industry, but the piece applies just as well to a growing number of white collar jobs, so very important and timely anyway.
I wanted to challenge you on this post specifically Zoe. As someone who has shifted from agency to big consultancy, I’m reading your posts with a lot of interest and urgency as I believe that you’re really shedding light on a lot that’s wrong with the creative industry (and encouraging saving a lot of what’s right).
Watching what’s happening with junior talent pipeline here in Big Consulting, it’s not too dissimilar to the agency pipeline dismantling. But what’s different here is the bigger broader questions being asked about our business and purpose: if AI is changing our jobs, what’s the role of our business in the future? Big Consulting is (for better or worse, I’m not judging in this comment) finding comfort in doubling down on purpose and why they exist - making other businesses better, support businesses to grow.
The issue I have as an ex agency person is - the creative industry overall still has its head firmly up its own butt about its role in what matters to businesses, people, society. Holdcos and indies alike cannot genuinely say they are growth partners for FTSE 100 businesses when the majority of their employees can’t read a P&L. Your more recent post about marketing folks being expert in an outmoded model of marketing is even more relevant when you apply it to agency folks.
Don’t get me wrong - I am a huge champion of creativity. I went to art school, I believe in the power of good design to save the world, and the democratization of design to improve quality of life. But even these statements are banal when design can be interpreted in many ways, brand means multiple things to multiple people.
I guess my challenge after all this is - agencies have a pipeline problem. Yes. 1000%. But even if they fixed it, rebuilt the ladder - what are these juniors even growing into? What is this industry even doing? How are they helping businesses? What are ad campaigns for anymore?
I’m ready for someone to really rip up the playbook and work out how to inject creativity and creative thinking into every pore of an organization because WPP sure as hell isn’t going to do it.
Agree - the whole structure has a shelf life that nobody is talking about and it's a very short shelf-life. Not only are we not training the next generation into the work-force, but the amount of 55+ who are unemployed and actively seeking work is increasing in shocking volumes. The working shelf-life is short, and the ladder is indeed being pulled up behind this current generation of workers.
I heard a scary theory the other day. Call it a conspiracy theory if you want. But when you look at the writing on the wall, it's not so very far-fetched.
Between governments and the super-rich, the middle classes are being hollowed out, pushed into increasing poverty through spiralling costs, lack of home ownership, big investors own the land we stand on, expensive university education, lack of apprenticeships, AI can do so much of the 'grunt work', and potentially, if Palantir get their way, the dismantling of the NHS.
The theory? That the super-rich know there isn't space for a middle class - that the economic theory of constant productivity and growth is failing (read Donut Economics). We came out of the Dark Ages through education, and "what's being eliminated is... learning". We are heading back into the Dark Ages, and it's going to happen quickly.
Crazy? Maybe. But when we look at your article through this lens then protecting the health of the eco-system isn't an option, and it's not just about one industry.
Your point about change not happening at scale is true, because this theory shows that too many influential people don't want it to happen at scale.
The theory would confirm that not enough people are losing sleep over it because it's an agenda. In fact, they are getting a better night's sleep.
One question worth asking is whether our Government is on the side of its people, or are they also pulling up the ladder behind them?
And the main principle we, the working people, have on our side is volume and scale. That's what we need to exercise. We can't wait for a leader. We just need to find a way of pulling together to protect society, using our volume & scale to create the future.
Am I a conspiracy theorist? No. But I am a little scared.
Marketing education and the professional arbiters and gatekeepers lost their way many years ago. It is refreshing to see this being pointed out with clarity here.
Zoe, I feel you sometimes read my mind. I swear. This week I witnessed this as I brought junior consultant with me on a 2 day workshop. I saw my young self. We did things differently. We used a lot of AI but I made a point to ensure that my junior talent got the right exposure, coaching and training that I got years back. Part of my responsibility is to train them to be on the right path. Their path is different than the path I went down but nevertheless they need someone to walk them down the path.
Good provocation for agency leaders!. I must admit I feet the pull into future modelling a snr + Ai for efficiency gains, but that thinking was void of succession planning. You’ve made me rethink purposeful jnr employment.
Some of the best strategists I've ever worked with played rugby or some equally brutal team sport. Because they learned on a pitch that you read the play, you lift the people around you, you know when to carry and when to pass. They arrive at the agency already knowing something it takes most strategists a decade to learn, if they're lucky. Strategy is not about coming up with the idea. It's about spotting it. Most of the time, clients just want to believe they knew the answer all along.
AI is increasing productivity for experienced professionals, but it’s also removing many of the learning loops that used to develop judgment. Those loops were never designed intentionally—they just happened because junior people were in the room.
The real challenge now isn’t protecting junior work. Much of that work deserved to disappear.
The challenge is redesigning how judgment is developed when AI handles much of the execution.
Organizations that figure out how to build intentional apprenticeship models around AI will have a huge advantage over the next decade.
There is another perspective to this. Its around whether the process of generation is required to develop the ability to judge. Classic example would be wine sommalier vs wine maker. This analogy essentially compares the wine makers role to AI and sommaliers role to the user. And that we need to be better sommaliers. Eager to hear your take on this. Additionally do you think there could be a difference in developing judgement via generation vs directly developing the skill of evaluation without caring about generation at all?
problem is the industry is only looking inwards and assumes it’s the 1st time this sort of maturity curve has happened. It isn’t. Design in construction and manufacturing went through this same curve when CAD hit years ago. juniors will still enter the industry but there will be a lot less opportunities for them, and it will be their young person’s knowledge and post ai skills that will be their currency, i.e the value they bring to move the industry forward will evolve just as architects and industrial designers did. The real challenge will be the collapse in organizational size and scale, which has already started. We desperately need to be asking what does an automated economy look like and how will value be defined within it ?
People still need to learn. With skills like CAD, the learning shifted to uni courses. But there is only so much you can learn theoretically, and the cost of learning is transferred to the student - and you end up with spiralling student debt.
Apprenticeships and ongoing "osmosis learning" is what careers are built on, and people earn whilst they learn. It's part of the value exchange.
And some of the skills required for an AI future eg critical thinking, judgement, decision-making, risk management, negotiation etc are sharpened in realtime activities, where the stakes are high. Uni courses can teach theory and put you through mock up scenarios, but real learning comes from real life.
i'm losing sleep over this too - pair the timing of AI disruption with the mass quieting and divestment in DEI and we're set for a significant talent gap in the next decade. relieved to see someone else thinking and writing about it so eloquently.
i LOVE the idea of an industry academy. i'm into year four of running a successful trainee scheme that's growing creative talent from the ground-up - there's a formula that works i promise.
What's the trainee scheme you're doing?
It's squeezed at both ends because juniors are recruited less and less, and seniors are the first to go during cuts in a financial downturn. There are fewer and fewer people like those who mentored us early on. They are sent out to an even diminishing pasture. I've been (a relatively busy most of the time) independent for nearly eight years despite myself, on some level - I'd prefer to work in a team. Including doing something I have always loved and have quite a few spectacular careers to show for - shaping the next generation of talent. Despite myself, because it's pretty impossible to get a job interview as a senior in the last three years or so. The market is now flooded with "cut-offs".
It's all super short-termist and unsustainable, in an industry that's doing worse and worse. And clients notice.
The radical transformation requires real creativity this time, because any solution that relies on financial investment isn't going to happen. That money is busy being syphoned off by bigtech drinking the milkshake.
The squeeze at both ends is an excellent point. It's a disaster already, and will only get worse. Governments need to wake up.
Having spent a few years in and seeing the damage it brought fueling overconsumption and surveillance, I'll not shed a single tear for the ad industry, but the piece applies just as well to a growing number of white collar jobs, so very important and timely anyway.
I wanted to challenge you on this post specifically Zoe. As someone who has shifted from agency to big consultancy, I’m reading your posts with a lot of interest and urgency as I believe that you’re really shedding light on a lot that’s wrong with the creative industry (and encouraging saving a lot of what’s right).
Watching what’s happening with junior talent pipeline here in Big Consulting, it’s not too dissimilar to the agency pipeline dismantling. But what’s different here is the bigger broader questions being asked about our business and purpose: if AI is changing our jobs, what’s the role of our business in the future? Big Consulting is (for better or worse, I’m not judging in this comment) finding comfort in doubling down on purpose and why they exist - making other businesses better, support businesses to grow.
The issue I have as an ex agency person is - the creative industry overall still has its head firmly up its own butt about its role in what matters to businesses, people, society. Holdcos and indies alike cannot genuinely say they are growth partners for FTSE 100 businesses when the majority of their employees can’t read a P&L. Your more recent post about marketing folks being expert in an outmoded model of marketing is even more relevant when you apply it to agency folks.
Don’t get me wrong - I am a huge champion of creativity. I went to art school, I believe in the power of good design to save the world, and the democratization of design to improve quality of life. But even these statements are banal when design can be interpreted in many ways, brand means multiple things to multiple people.
I guess my challenge after all this is - agencies have a pipeline problem. Yes. 1000%. But even if they fixed it, rebuilt the ladder - what are these juniors even growing into? What is this industry even doing? How are they helping businesses? What are ad campaigns for anymore?
I’m ready for someone to really rip up the playbook and work out how to inject creativity and creative thinking into every pore of an organization because WPP sure as hell isn’t going to do it.
I 10000% agree with you.
Agree - the whole structure has a shelf life that nobody is talking about and it's a very short shelf-life. Not only are we not training the next generation into the work-force, but the amount of 55+ who are unemployed and actively seeking work is increasing in shocking volumes. The working shelf-life is short, and the ladder is indeed being pulled up behind this current generation of workers.
I heard a scary theory the other day. Call it a conspiracy theory if you want. But when you look at the writing on the wall, it's not so very far-fetched.
Between governments and the super-rich, the middle classes are being hollowed out, pushed into increasing poverty through spiralling costs, lack of home ownership, big investors own the land we stand on, expensive university education, lack of apprenticeships, AI can do so much of the 'grunt work', and potentially, if Palantir get their way, the dismantling of the NHS.
The theory? That the super-rich know there isn't space for a middle class - that the economic theory of constant productivity and growth is failing (read Donut Economics). We came out of the Dark Ages through education, and "what's being eliminated is... learning". We are heading back into the Dark Ages, and it's going to happen quickly.
Crazy? Maybe. But when we look at your article through this lens then protecting the health of the eco-system isn't an option, and it's not just about one industry.
Your point about change not happening at scale is true, because this theory shows that too many influential people don't want it to happen at scale.
The theory would confirm that not enough people are losing sleep over it because it's an agenda. In fact, they are getting a better night's sleep.
One question worth asking is whether our Government is on the side of its people, or are they also pulling up the ladder behind them?
And the main principle we, the working people, have on our side is volume and scale. That's what we need to exercise. We can't wait for a leader. We just need to find a way of pulling together to protect society, using our volume & scale to create the future.
Am I a conspiracy theorist? No. But I am a little scared.
Marketing education and the professional arbiters and gatekeepers lost their way many years ago. It is refreshing to see this being pointed out with clarity here.
Zoe, I feel you sometimes read my mind. I swear. This week I witnessed this as I brought junior consultant with me on a 2 day workshop. I saw my young self. We did things differently. We used a lot of AI but I made a point to ensure that my junior talent got the right exposure, coaching and training that I got years back. Part of my responsibility is to train them to be on the right path. Their path is different than the path I went down but nevertheless they need someone to walk them down the path.
Good provocation for agency leaders!. I must admit I feet the pull into future modelling a snr + Ai for efficiency gains, but that thinking was void of succession planning. You’ve made me rethink purposeful jnr employment.
Some of the best strategists I've ever worked with played rugby or some equally brutal team sport. Because they learned on a pitch that you read the play, you lift the people around you, you know when to carry and when to pass. They arrive at the agency already knowing something it takes most strategists a decade to learn, if they're lucky. Strategy is not about coming up with the idea. It's about spotting it. Most of the time, clients just want to believe they knew the answer all along.