I’ve been working at the intersection of technology and creative strategy since 2019, when I helped position Harry Yeff’s AI-powered vocal work for the United Nations AI for Good summit.
Tools change, questions don’t
The fundamental questions of strategy haven’t changed. Who is this for? What do they need? Why should they care? AI gives us faster ways to gather data, but it doesn’t ask better questions. That’s still the strategist’s job.
Where AI actually helps
Consumer research is where I’ve seen the most impact. Pattern recognition across large datasets of behavioural data - the kind of work that used to take weeks of manual analysis - can now surface initial hypotheses in hours.
But hypotheses aren’t insights. An insight requires context, empathy, and the kind of lateral thinking that comes from having sat across the table from real people in real conversations.
The risk of automation
The risk isn’t that AI replaces strategists. It’s that organisations mistake AI-generated patterns for strategy and skip the human interpretation step entirely. Speed without understanding is just noise.