When everyone has AI, thinking becomes the differentiator

In a world increasingly shaped by AI, strategy isn’t becoming less important — it’s becoming indispensable. WPP’s move to produce ads with AI may make execution faster and cheaper, but it also highlights a more profound shift. As AI takes over tasks, the need for real strategic thinking only intensifies.

We’ve seen industry upheavals before — dot-com, social media, programmatic, in-housing, now AI. Through every wave, one truth keeps resurfacing: technology can replace tasks but not leadership. When answers become cheap, thinking becomes priceless.

AI automates the doing — direction becomes the advantage

When expensive film gave way to free, limitless smartphone photography, images became abundant and almost disposable. As execution became effortless, the value shifted to the skills that stayed scarce — designing the image, shaping the narrative, exercising judgment and capturing something authentic.

The number of photos has skyrocketed, yet people still hire photographers for essential moments such as weddings. Not because they want more pictures, but because they want more meaning. Great photography creates meaning, not images — and the same is becoming true across marketing.

What AI commoditizes

• Speed.
• Data processing.
• Task execution.
• Ideas on demand.

What becomes valuable

• Choosing the right direction.
• Judgement and evaluation.
• Strategy, orchestration.
• Taste, originality, differentiation.

With AI automating the doing, deciding what to do becomes both the bottleneck and the differentiator. With good strategy, AI becomes an exponential advantage. With bad strategy, it becomes an exponential failure.

In recent months, several clients said they chose to work with our team because of our thinking. They spoke with multiple agencies, many offering similar AI-enabled services and sometimes race-to-the-bottom pricing, but we were the ones who made them pause and think differently.

Dig deeper: AI can scale your brilliance — or your mediocrity. Here’s how to stay smart.

The question determines the outcome

While it may seem counterintuitive, choosing the right question is more important than generating the right answer. A bad question answered perfectly with AI is still a bad outcome. The quality of thinking before the AI interaction determines the quality of the results that follow. In a world where AI generates abundant outputs, selecting inputs becomes increasingly critical.

This reminds me of my training in creative problem solving. Clarifying the right problem is one of the highest-leverage skills in strategy, leadership, marketing and innovative work. It’s also one of the most underrated. 

The problem you choose determines your entire strategy. Problem definition dictates:

• What questions you ask.
• What data you collect.
• What solutions are possible.
• What skills you need.
• How you allocate budget.
• How you measure success.

For example, in the 1920s, if you asked, “How do we breed faster horses?” it would have led to incremental improvements. However, if you asked, “How do we move people across town faster?” it would have led to the invention of cars. Often, the breakthrough isn’t a better solution. It’s asking a different question.

Why meaning, not output, is the human advantage

As AI becomes more capable of generating endless variations of content, copy, imagery and experiences, it’s tempting to assume creativity itself is becoming automated. But what AI produces is not creativity, it’s pattern replication at scale.

Sure, AI can generate options. But, it can’t decide which ideas are brave. It can’t sense when an insight feels emotionally charged. It can’t understand the cultural tension that makes a message land powerfully or fall flat. 

When execution becomes effortless, the creative act shifts from producing output to curating possibilities, shaping narrative and elevating ideas that stand out in a sea of sameness. Brands will need creatives who can push beyond what the model suggests, feel where a breakthrough lives, recognize when an idea is too safe or too familiar and know how to infuse work with the specificity and humanity AI cannot invent.

AI doesn’t quite understand what it means to be human. As AI becomes more prevalent, certain fundamental strategic tasks will continue to persist. This means setting the mission, negotiating human interests, creating culture, aligning stakeholders, building coalitions and managing politics. 

Dig deeper: AI can’t create meaning — that’s still marketing’s job

Direction is the scarce resource

Many worry that AI will replace human roles and make strategic work less relevant. The opposite is true. As AI accelerates execution, the pressure on leaders, teams and individuals to make smart, well-framed decisions increases dramatically.

We often talk about AI as though it replaces human cognition. In reality, it amplifies it. If you can think clearly, AI makes you more powerful. If you cannot think clearly, it magnifies the consequences of poor judgment.

We are moving into a world where:

• Critical thinking is a competitive skill.
• Judgment is a strategic asset.
• Strategy is a multiplier.
• Leadership is a differentiator.
• Original thinking becomes priceless.

When the cost of producing answers falls to zero, the world competes on questions, choices and clarity. In that world, strategic thinking becomes the ultimate differentiator. Remember, you set the direction. AI accelerates it.

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