who’s afraid of AI?

“Spark the Change” — this is what Touch Summit told us this year, and honestly, over these two days, one important change definitely happened within me: I realized that I’m not even using 1% of AI’s potential. There are dozens of tasks I could simplify if I truly befriended AI tools.
If you felt the same way, I recommend reading till the end — today we’re wrapping up Touch Summit 25 and sharing the key ideas that matter most to our industry.

 

Will AI Replace Us?

The rise of artificial intelligence triggered a wave of existential questions:

 

Will AI replace us?
Will we lose our jobs?
Will entire professions disappear?

 

I heard these concerns repeatedly during Touch Summit as well. And it makes sense — we’re living in an AI boom and everyone is trying not to “fall behind.”

 

Summarizing the speakers’ insights, here are a few ideas — not meant to scare or soothe you, but to help us face the truth clearly:

 

Human and AI are not competitors — they are complements.

 

Human creativity & empathy
+
AI’s data processing & pattern recognition

=

Millions of solved problems.

 

Speakers presented countless examples of how AI speeds up the development of animated videos, game design, and creative production in general. AI is now deeply woven into the advertising industry, too — but the crucial point is this:

 

AI should be used as a tool, not as the source of creative ideas.

 

My favorite quote came from Anastasia Kim, Creative Lead at Google:
“AI is the engine. Humans are the drivers.”
It’s up to us how we steer AI’s capabilities and where we choose to go.

 

Yes, some positions will disappear and new ones will emerge — but as Alex Brunori reminded us, this isn’t “because of AI.” This is simply the history of humanity evolving. No need for panic.

 

 

Are We Even Using AI Correctly?

Everyone wants to stay ahead, implement AI, “keep up with innovation.”
But in reality, many implement AI for the sake of novelty, not because it’s needed.

 

One speaker shared a story:
“People come to me and say: ‘Let’s add some AI in there,’ — with no goal, no plan.”
This is what happens when companies treat technology as a trend, rather than a meaningful upgrade.

 

But here’s the truth: AI is not a trend. AI is a revolution.

It requires serious understanding, learning, and purposeful use.

 

If you think this is just a temporary hype bubble that will soon fade…

It won’t.

It will only grow stronger.

 

Advertising Without Strategy Is Just Activity

How many times have you seen a beautifully executed TVC or campaign… and had no idea what brand it belonged to or what message it was trying to convey?
Aesthetic visuals + nice music + a poetic script ≠ effective communication.

 

This reminds me of a story shared in our #marketingminds series by Nuka Shevardnadze, Managing Partner at Playmakers:
“When I worked on the client side, we launched a campaign that didn’t reflect the brief, the brand message, or the platform at all. But I was charmed by the agency’s bold creative idea. The result? Short-term and ineffective.”

 

As Mauro Mazzei said perfectly:
“Creativity without strategy is art. Creativity with strategy is advertising.”

 

 

Brand is KING

In a world where AI synthesizes information and offers direct answers, the only reliable way to stay visible and recognizable is to build a truly strong brand. Meanwhile, traditional search is weakening - for example, 69% of Google searches end with zero clicks. But search through social platforms and AI models is skyrocketing. If you want to remain relevant, you must evolve - and you must be discoverable wherever your consumer is.

 

 

AI Agents Are the Future

AI agents are autonomous AI units that take a task, create a plan, and execute it with minimal (or zero) human involvement.

 

For example, you can assign an AI agent to:

 

• monitor digital-media updates every week
• prepare a LinkedIn post summarizing them
• and deliver it to you automatically

 

Your agent will simply handle it.

 

This is the future — and we need to start preparing today.

 

In Summary

Over these two days, dozens of local and international experts from more than ten countries — including leaders and strategists from Google and Meta — stood on stage. Their knowledge is especially valuable for a small market like ours.

 

A huge thanks to the Touch Summit team for the incredible work!

 

And finally…

This article was not written by AI.

But if it had been…

Would you have noticed?