Madvertising by AdQuick — Advertising, Marketing & Ad Tech Podcast · AdQuick

Jeremiah Owyang - The state of AI | E72

·35 min·2 clips

Jeremiah says an AI agent will eventually sort inboxes, file expenses, and answer first-line replies.

1. Madvertising by AdQuick turns to Jeremiah Owyang on the state of AI in Silicon Valley and its effect on advertising and marketing. 2. Jeremiah Owyang appears as a web strategist, early Silicon Valley blogger, and venture capitalist, while Adam hosts from AdQuick and AdQuick sells out-of-home ads. 3. The episode asks what the AI cycle means for marketers, startups, and workers as billboards, agents, and large language models reshape the market. 4. Jeremiah says he has lived in Silicon Valley since dot com and sees AI billboards covering about 75% of signs along Highway 101. 5. He says there are about 200 in-person AI events per month in the San Francisco Bay Area and about eight hackathons per month in San Francisco. 6. He cites a directory with 40,000 AI projects and says the number grew from 3,000 in a little over two years. 7. Jeremiah compares earlier eras where companies bragged about employees, independent contractors, or users with the current era where companies brag about AI agents per human worker. 8. He says some fast-growing startups have around 10 AI agents per worker and roughly 20 employees, are less than five years old, and generate significant revenue. 9. He contrasts average SaaS revenue per employee at about $200K with AI-native companies reaching about $3 million per employee. 10. He uses Mark Benioff’s announcement that Salesforce would cut 4,000 customer care jobs as an example of the pressure on traditional SaaS. 11. Jeremiah says the best response to rapid change is to learn how to learn fast and to use AI agents as a daily skill. 12. He gives an example from Composio, where an AI agent parsed event data in about 20 minutes instead of the two or three days a marketing analyst might need. 13. He says junior workers should become managers of AI agents quickly, while still keeping human oversight in the loop. 14. Jeremiah says OpenAI hiring a content strategist makes sense because content quality and timing still matter even when models can generate text. 15. He predicts people will value work that clearly has a human touch and a distinct brand voice, even when AI assists the process. 16. He says in-person experiences, community building, and public speaking will matter more for marketers because people want to connect physically in the age of AI. 17. The interview is direct and analytical, with Adam pressing for practical implications and Jeremiah answering with market examples and career warnings. 18. The tone stays conversational but specific, moving from billboard observations to labor-market concerns to technical definitions of AI agents and RAG. 19. Listeners in marketing, ad tech, and Silicon Valley operations will get the most from it. 20. Listeners wanting a lightweight AI trend roundup without career stakes may skip it.

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