Revisiting Is It Impossible for Marketers to Keep Up With AI? (Thinks Out Loud)
Thinks Out Loud
· with Stacy Smolen Schwarz
· July 11, 2025
· 17 min
Summary
For ecommerce professionals feeling overwhelmed by AI's rapid advancements, this episode offers a crucial reframe: instead of trying to
Key takeaways
Focus on human-centric skills like creativity, critical thinking, and social intelligence, as these are areas where humans inherently outperform AI and will differentiate your work.
Recognize that AI will increasingly handle repetitive or technical tasks; therefore, prioritize developing skills that allow you to effectively leverage these AI tools without needing to understand their underlying complexity.
Proactively identify tasks in your workflow that could be automated or augmented by AI to free up your time for more strategic and human-intensive activities.
Become a "smart consumer" of AI tools by critically evaluating their pros, cons, ethical implications, and appropriate use cases for your business and customers.
Prepare for the possibility of job displacement by AI, not necessarily by "smarter" AI users, but by businesses opting for cheaper, faster AI solutions. Reinforce your value beyond what AI can replicate.
Themes
ai strategyfuture of marketinghuman-ai collaborationskill development
Does it seem like you are destined to fall behind when it comes to AI? I know for many marketers and e-commerce professionals, especially at small or mid-sized businesses, it can seem that way.
In some ways, it’s not just possible, but actually likely that you will. AI is incredibly fast. It’s incredibly powerful. To think that human beings can outthink AI is not realistic. As I like to say, “You’re not going to out-AI AI.”
But, in a far more meaningful way, I’m don’t think that our inability to keep up with AI is a problem. Because, just as we can’t out-AI AI, artificial intelligence can’t out-human humans.
Instead, there are many areas where marketers can not only keep up—and keep ourselves relevant. They’re also what will set us apart' and set us up fo
Frequently asked about this episode
What does this episode say about ai strategy?
Focus on human-centric skills like creativity, critical thinking, and social intelligence, as these are areas where humans inherently outperform AI and will differentiate your work.
What does this episode say about future of marketing?
Recognize that AI will increasingly handle repetitive or technical tasks; therefore, prioritize developing skills that allow you to effectively leverage these AI tools without needing to understand their underlying complexity.
What does this episode say about human-ai collaboration?
Proactively identify tasks in your workflow that could be automated or augmented by AI to free up your time for more strategic and human-intensive activities.
What does this episode say about skill development?
Become a "smart consumer" of AI tools by critically evaluating their pros, cons, ethical implications, and appropriate use cases for your business and customers.
What does this episode say about ai strategy?
Prepare for the possibility of job displacement by AI, not necessarily by "smarter" AI users, but by businesses opting for cheaper, faster AI solutions. Reinforce your value beyond what AI can replicate.
