Can we please shut up already about AI replacing young talent?

Yes, AI is powerful. Yes, it’s changing how agencies work. But if you’ve spent more than five minutes in advertising, you know we’ve lived through this kind of hype cycle before.

I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been told we were all about to lose our jobs. First, the web was going to kill the industry. We called it “cyber,” which dates me pretty accurately. Then it was social media. Then influencers. Even the metaverse was supposed to ruin us.

And yet, we’re still here.

The part of the AI conversation that actually concerns me is the claim that it will replace young talent, interns in particular. If there’s one thing this industry cannot afford to lose, it’s the next generation of people entering it.

I care deeply about interns because I started as one in 2004 at TBWA\Chiat\Day New York. Like many people in this business, it was my first real introduction to how ideas get made. It was where I learned that the bravest creative often wins, and that being fearless in your thinking can be rewarded. Most importantly, it was where I learned that perspective matters.

Those experiences I gained not only shaped my path in advertising, they guided my future as a creative leader and mentor.

Later in my career, I launched an internship program designed to bring more BIPOC talent into the industry. The goal was to expand access to a field that has historically struggled with representation and to give young talent a real pathway into creative careers.

The program became a launchpad for dozens of people who might not have found a way in otherwise, people who went on to agencies like Wieden+Kennedy, Johannes Leonardo, and 72andSunny.

That program was discontinued after I left—a reminder that these pipelines don’t sustain themselves. They require intention, and too often, our industry chooses not to prioritize them.

When that happens, those entry points disappear—or get quietly replaced by automation—narrowing the pipeline even further.

What interns bring into the room

Creativity will always be a human business. Interns walk into the room with references the rest of us have never heard of, and with viewpoints that have not yet been worn down by years of client meetings and good ideas slowly dying. They bring cultural intuition and insights you will not find in trend reports, because those insights come from corners of the internet the rest of us did not even know had corners. They ask questions everyone else is too tired to ask. They challenge assumptions. They reconsider what the rest of us accept too quickly.

That is what pushes ideas forward. That freshness is essential to creative thinking and problem-solving.

AI can do a lot. But it cannot do that. And it certainly cannot replicate the curiosity of someone encountering this industry for the first time.

The rise of AI should push our industry to double down on developing human talent, not reduce opportunities for people to enter the business. If we want advertising to stay relevant to culture, to audiences, and to the real world, we need to keep creating pathways for the next generation to enter the room.

Read: AI is reshaping entry-level roles—how agencies and schools are retooling

Because every creative industry eventually faces the same question: Where will the next generation come from?

Investing in young people may be the most important thing we do.