A former ECD once told me that staffing an agency is like “assembling a race car going 150 miles per hour.” Every person has a purpose. Every role is essential. And the machine doesn’t stop just because someone hops out… or gets replaced. I was new to the industry and still under the illusion that my job as a copywriter was to come up with wild ideas and pitch them with passion. I didn’t yet understand the machinery behind the curtain; the financial pressures, the resource juggling, the need for efficiency. 

But that metaphor stuck with me. It forced me to ask uncomfortable questions: Am I helping the machine, or slowing it down? Am I adding value, or just taking up space? And maybe the hardest question of all… am I replaceable?

Fast-forward to today, we’re no longer in a race car going 150 miles per hour, we’re now in a rocketship hurdling towards the sun (just kidding). The advertising industry isn’t just moving quicker; it’s accelerating at what feels like lightspeed. The rise of generative AI hasn’t just altered the playing field, it’s completely redrawn it. Tools that were once reserved for experts are now available to anyone with an internet connection and a half-decent prompt. The barrier to creation has dropped. The speed to execution? Spooky fast.

Ideas that once took weeks to shape and polish can now be spun up in seconds. Strategy decks that needed hours of research and human insight can now be simulated with a few AI-generated data points. We’re watching projects that once required multiple roles collapse into a single user experience.

And yet, none of this should feel totally foreign. We’ve been living with AI in quieter ways for years. Autocorrect, predictive search, the ominous algorithm… who remembers Clippy? But the AI we’re dealing with now is a different beast. It’s generative, autonomous, and getting more refined by the day. This shift isn’t just technological, it’s psychological. It’s challenging how we see the value in the work we do. 

But here’s the thing, the danger is mistaking access for expertise. Just because anyone can use these tools doesn’t mean everyone knows how to. Efficiency doesn’t automatically equal effectiveness. And speed, without strategy, is just noise.

This moment reminds me of the transition from dial-up internet to broadband. At first, it was a novelty. But once it became the norm, everything changed. It shifted how we worked, how we created, and how we connected. The same is happening now with AI. The novelty has worn off. What remains is the need to accept and adapt.  

That’s the challenge for creatives today. We can’t just resist the tools, but we also can’t blindly embrace them. We have to develop a new kind of creative literacy; one that understands what these tools are good at, and what still requires a human touch.

AI can help us move faster. It can help us get somewhere new. But it’s still a tool. And tools need direction. They need intent. They need people; the human touch. So, what’s your role in this new rocket ship we call normal? Are you helping it break through the atmosphere, or are you just along for the ride?