Two nights ago, I found myself in a room filled with LLMs, wine (and water), and wonderfully opinionated minds — a roundtable hosted by Future Forward AI, where the conversation spun around deceptively simple questions such as: is AI here to augment us, or to replace us quietly?
We discussed synthetic data. Accountability when things go south. And most provocatively, the new power dynamic at play: as machines become the decision-makers, where does that leave us, and for me, this refers to the growth hackers and the human strategists? Are we evolving into directors of the play… or just the extras no one remembers in the final scene?
This post is my reflection on that night — a deep dive into how AI is no longer knocking on growth marketing’s door; it’s already moved in, rearranged the furniture, and started running the show. From Google’s AI Max to agents outperforming human media teams, the signals are loud and clear: the game has changed.
So pour yourself a strong coffee (or a bold Syrah), and let’s uncork the future of marketing. Spoiler alert: it’s smarter. Not harder.
1. AI Is (Already) Redefining Targeting and Optimisation
Let’s start with the elephant in the ad account.
AI hasn’t just joined the marketing team, it’s rewriting the SOPs. The clearest sign? The way we target and optimise campaigns today.
We’ve moved from AI as an assistant (“Hey, help me clean up this audience segment”) to AI as a replacement (“Hey, you don’t need to build the segment, I already did. And I launched it.”).
AI isn’t just a better spreadsheet. It’s a strategy engine.
It reads signals, interprets intent, allocates budgets, and even rotates creatives, often in real time, across thousands of permutations.
Tools like Google Ads’ Performance Max and Meta’s Advantage+ aren’t just “helpful”—they’re becoming mandatory for anyone serious about scale and efficiency. You feed them assets and objectives, they run with the rest.
The result?
💼 Leaner teams.
🚀 Faster tests.
💰 Smarter bets.
💡 “We used to A/B test. Now we A/B delegate.”
The algorithm doesn’t just suggest. It decides.
2. AI Max: Google Just Gave the Algorithm the Keys
If Performance Max is the autopilot, AI Max is the self-driving car.
And yes, Google is firmly in the driver’s seat.
According to Search Engine Land, Google’s latest launch— AI Max for Search, hands over full autonomy to the machine. No more partial control. It dictates bidding, creatives, audience combinations, placements, and timing. All of it.
It’s not just about doing more. It’s about doing without us.
Why does this matter? Because it marks a tipping point. The marketer’s job is no longer to steer the car, it’s to decide where we want to go and let the machine figure out the how.
Let’s unpack that:
- Algorithmic Bidding: Gone are the days of manually tweaking CPCs. AI updates bids every millisecond based on thousands of signals you can’t even see.
- Predictive Audiences: The AI now predicts intent before users know it themselves. It’s targeting based on probability, not just past clicks.
🧠 “In the past, we optimised based on history. Now, we optimise based on probability.”
Welcome to quantum marketing.
3. AI Agents Outperforming Human Teams: The Tipping Point?
Still not convinced? Let’s talk outcomes.
In a recent case from Adweek, PMG deployed AI agents, built on Mobian’s synthetic personas, for a health brand’s campaign on Fox News.
Now here’s the mic-drop moment:
🧠 Just 18% of the budget went to Fox…
🎯 …but it delivered 34% of total conversions
💸 …at 46% lower cost per conversion.
Why? Because AI agents don’t rely on human gut feelings.
They pick up sentiment, emotion, and micro-signals no spreadsheet can see. They place ads not based on where you think your audience is… but where they actually are.
These agents aren’t replacing interns.
They’re replacing entire departments.
And they’re doing it by:
- Creative Automation: Testing hundreds of variants in minutes. No approvals, no bandwidth issues. Just cold, calculated iteration.
- Personalisation at Scale: AI knows when you’re stressed, sleepy, or ready to buy. Humans still think in personas. AI thinks in probabilities.
🤖 “What happens when the intern, the strategist, and the designer all show up… inside a single AI agent?”
The question isn’t whether AI can run your campaigns.
It’s whether you’re still needed in the room when it does.
4. But… What’s the Role of the Human Growth Marketer Now?
Let’s be clear, this isn’t the obituary for growth marketing.
It’s the redefinition of it.
The best growth marketers today?
They’re not writing copy or pulling audience lists.
They’re orchestrating strategy, interpreting insight, and setting the ethical and emotional compass of the brand.
Your job isn’t to out-optimise the machine.
It’s to ask better questions, shape better stories, and steer the AI toward impact.
Because let’s be honest, if 80% of your job is building dashboards, you’re officially in AI’s crosshairs.
🎹 “AI is becoming the pianist. You? You better be the composer.”
Final Thoughts: The Future of Performance Is Less About Performance
Here’s the paradox: the more AI nails performance (clicks, conversions, cost-efficiency) the less we need to chase it.
Machines are winning the execution game. But they can’t (yet) tell us why we matter. They don’t understand emotion, context, or culture. That’s still our job.
Your role isn’t to out-optimise the machine.
It’s to give it purpose. Direction. Meaning.
In a world of infinite automation, meaning is the new performance.
Key Takeaway:
The future of growth marketing is smarter, not harder.
Let AI handle the how. You focus on the why.
🫶🏻 Thanks for reading till the end.
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