![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/shutterstock_2466905937.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA Validation of Direction<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me tell you about a room I was standing in earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was presenting at the Executive Connection Summit in Scottsdale. I laid out where I believe AI is heading: agents replacing cognitive roles, automation compressing headcount and purpose-built tools replacing off-the-shelf software. I told the room that traditional CRM, as we know it, wouldn\u2019t survive in its current form. Think about what a CRM actually does: it records customer interactions, books meetings, logs follow-ups, stores communication history and tries to give your team visibility into relationships. Now consider that AI can already record every customer meeting, transcribe and summarize it in seconds, automatically create meeting minutes, book the next appointment, and draft and send follow-up communications. And it does all of it without being asked twice. The CRM was built to compensate for human memory and human inconsistency, and AI eliminates both. The platform isn\u2019t the point anymore\u2014the intelligence is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One executive looked at me and said, \u201cI think your ideas are far-fetched.\u201d I nodded and left the session. What I didn\u2019t know at the time was that while I was in that room making the case for AI\u2019s future, Matt Shumer was publishing the essay that validated everything I had just said. On Feb. 9\u2014the same day I sat down with Jennie Fisher of GreatAmerica for a fireside chat on AI at ECS\u2014Shumer released \u201cSomething Big Is Happening\u201d to the world. I didn\u2019t see it until the following morning, when it already had millions of readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That essay has now been read by 80 million people. I\u2019m not going to summarize it here, but you should certainly read it (shumer.dev\/something-big-is-happening). Then send it to your leadership team. Send it to your family. Send it to every executive you know who\u2019s still on the fence about whether this AI moment is real. Shumer published it in February 2026. The world it describes has continued accelerating every single day since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since that ECS presentation, I\u2019ve heard from other attendees, one of whom told me, \u201cI heard you speak, and you scared the crap out of me.\u201d A vendor in the room gave me a nickname that has apparently stuck: the Mad AI Scientist. I want to be clear that I\u2019m not doing anything exotic, and I\u2019m not a researcher or engineer. I\u2019m a marketing executive who made a decision four years ago to take this seriously, started building and hasn\u2019t stopped. What feels alarming to some is simply what happens when you\u2019ve been paying attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where Shumer\u2019s Essay Matters Most<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Shumer cites data from METR that measures how many hours of expert human work an AI model can now complete autonomously, end to end. A year ago, that number was ten minutes. Now, the most recent measurement is approaching five hours of expert-level task completion, and that capability is doubling every four to seven months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has publicly stated that AI models \u201csubstantially smarter than almost all humans at almost all tasks\u201d are on track for 2026 or 2027. He\u2019s also predicted that 50% of entry-level, white-collar jobs could be disrupted within one to five years. These aren\u2019t the words of a futurist blogger; this is the CEO of one of the two most consequential AI laboratories in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scott Galloway, the NYU Stern marketing professor and sharp analyst, has argued recently that AI is no different than prior technology waves\u2014it destroys some jobs and creates others\u2014and that we\u2019ve survived this cycle before. With respect, I disagree on this single point. When Galloway\u2019s historical framework was formed, no machine could write its own code, build the next version of itself or hold a conversation indistinguishable from a human. Now machines can do all three. We\u2019ve never had to adapt to a technology that can think, reason, communicate and soon navigate the physical world with that same intelligence. That changes the comparison fundamentally. Every tool we\u2019ve ever adapted to before extended human capability. This one replaces it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adapt\u2014or Get Left Behind<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve spent the past year in conversations with executives running businesses from $3 million to over $8 billion in annual revenue. All of them\u2014regardless of size, geography or vertical\u2014are wrestling with the same reality. They know they need to act on AI. They\u2019re watching enterprise-level layoffs ripple through the industries above them, and they\u2019re wondering when the pressure reaches their level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s the honest answer: it already has. This industry has always been a late adopter of technologies including managed IT, digital marketing and cloud services. We were behind the curve every time. AI will follow that same pattern for most. The difference this time is the cost of waiting is higher, and the recovery window is shorter. Dealers who start building today will have a structural advantage within 18 months that will be very difficult for laggards to close. This is my fair warning to every executive I\u2019ve worked with and respected over the years in this channel\u2014the tsunami is coming. It\u2019s moving faster than you think, and I care too much about the people in this industry to stay quiet about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now let\u2019s talk about how to build, because doing it wrong is nearly as dangerous as not doing it at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MIT\u2019s NANDA Initiative published a study last year, \u201cThe GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025,\u201d that found 95% of enterprise generative AI pilots delivered zero measurable impact on profit and loss. Thirty to forty billion dollars invested across hundreds of deployments, and the vast majority produced nothing. That number doesn\u2019t surprise me; most organizations deploy a tool, announce it internally and wait for results that never come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At AIS, every AI project we launch must pass at least one of three filters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the answer to all three is \u201cno,\u201d we don\u2019t build the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That discipline is how our internal LinkedIn outreach automation\u2014a workflow I originally built for our own sales team\u2014became a commercially available tool accessible to any dealer in the channel. I\u2019m not a coder, but I was able to build it using the AI tools available today. We used it internally first, tested it under real conditions, improved it and only when it proved its value did we make it available externally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Build for yourself. Prove it. Then sell it. That\u2019s the only AI development model I\u2019ve seen consistently work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reimagine Rather than Replace<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I want to say something that requires more than strategy. It requires honesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This past year, we fundamentally restructured how AIS approaches content operations. What had been a traditional, labor-intensive content management function became an AI-driven content ecosystem\u2014one capable of researching faster, managing full editorial workflows, generating images, building schema code and operating continuously at a scale that was impossible just a few years ago. The annual cost: under $1,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I want to be clear about what that means, because there are two truths here, and executives need to hear both of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first truth is one Marissa, who\u2019s been part of our team and family for years, would tell you: her role didn\u2019t disappear\u2014it transformed. She now plays a more strategic role than ever before by overseeing, directing and refining the network of AI systems and workflows that power our marketing operations. The technology expanded what our team can produce. Her human judgment, brand stewardship and operational oversight are what make the system deliver actual business value. That evolution is real, and it matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second truth is the one every executive in this channel needs to sit with: the traditional version of that role\u2014the one defined by manual production tasks, repetitive content scheduling and execution-level output\u2014has been replaced. Not paused. Not supplemented. Replaced. The position that existed two years ago no longer exists in that form, and it\u2019s not coming back. That\u2019s the honest version of what AI is doing inside businesses right now, including mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I teach every person on my team is that the way we survive what\u2019s coming isn\u2019t by resisting the machine. It\u2019s by learning to direct it with intelligence, curiosity and purpose. Rather than managing people the way we once did, we\u2019re going to be managing agents, workflows, platforms and systems. The professionals who come out ahead will be the ones who skill up, take ownership of these tools and make themselves indispensable as the human layer that AI can\u2019t replace\u2014skills such as judgment, creativity, relationships and accountability. That\u2019s not a consolation prize but rather the highest-value work in the organization. But you have to choose to go get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking Forward<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Every business in this channel needs one thing right now: an AI architect. One person who owns the strategy, understands the tools and is accountable for moving the organization forward. I\u2019ll spend the next article in this series walking through exactly what that role looks like\u2014where to find the right person, what they should own and how to structure them for results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Future articles in this series will cover the practical mechanics of prompting AI effectively, why going all-in is the only rational strategy remaining, what Agentic AI means for your sales floor and service operations, and how to evaluate and build AI tools that survive contact with your actual business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be sure to read Shumer\u2019s essay, then ask yourself: if the water level has been rising around my business for four years, where does it stand right now? And what are you going to do before it reaches your chest? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve been in marketing for over 30 years. I watched the mobile phone reshape how we communicate, and I saw the internet rewrite every rule of commerce. Both times, the business world split into two camps: those who moved and those who waited. The ones who waited paid for it, some with their businesses. Four years ago, marketing got a gift: AI. And when I tell you I went all in, I mean all in\u2014not because it was trending but because I recognized the pattern. This wasn\u2019t a feature upgrade or a new platform to learn; this was a category shift, the kind that happens once or twice in a career. What I didn\u2019t fully appreciate then is how much faster and more consequential this particular shift would become. Here\u2019s what separates this moment from every previous technology revolution in business history: while cell phones changed how we communicate, and the internet changed how we transact, AI is changing what humans are needed for. And it\u2019s doing something no prior technology has ever done \u2014 it can walk, talk, listen, think and recreate itself. It\u2019s already doing many of these things better than we can, and soon it will do them even better. That\u2019s not a projection but rather a trajectory already in motion. A Validation of Direction Let me tell you about a room I was standing in earlier this year. I was presenting at the Executive Connection Summit in Scottsdale. I laid out where I believe AI is heading: agents replacing cognitive roles, automation compressing headcount and purpose-built tools replacing off-the-shelf software. I told the room that traditional CRM, as we know it, wouldn\u2019t survive in its current form. Think about what a CRM actually does: it records customer interactions, books meetings, logs follow-ups, stores communication history and tries to give your team visibility into relationships. Now consider that AI can already record every customer meeting, transcribe and summarize it in seconds, automatically create meeting minutes, book the next appointment, and draft and send follow-up communications. And it does all of it without being asked twice. The CRM was built to compensate for human memory and human inconsistency, and AI eliminates both. The platform isn\u2019t the point anymore\u2014the intelligence is. One executive looked at me and said, \u201cI think your ideas are far-fetched.\u201d I nodded and left the session. What I didn\u2019t know at the time was that while I was in that room making the case for AI\u2019s future, Matt Shumer was publishing the essay that validated everything I had just said. On Feb. 9\u2014the same day I sat down with Jennie Fisher of GreatAmerica for a fireside chat on AI at ECS\u2014Shumer released \u201cSomething Big Is Happening\u201d to the world. I didn\u2019t see it until the following morning, when it already had millions of readers. That essay has now been read by 80 million people. I\u2019m not going to summarize it here, but you should certainly read it (shumer.dev\/something-big-is-happening). Then send it to your leadership team. Send it to your family. Send it to every executive you know who\u2019s still on the fence about whether this AI moment is real. Shumer published it in February 2026. The world it describes has continued accelerating every single day since. Since that ECS presentation, I\u2019ve heard from other attendees, one of whom told me, \u201cI heard you speak, and you scared the crap out of me.\u201d A vendor in the room gave me a nickname that has apparently stuck: the Mad AI Scientist. I want to be clear that I\u2019m not doing anything exotic, and I\u2019m not a researcher or engineer. I\u2019m a marketing executive who made a decision four years ago to take this seriously, started building and hasn\u2019t stopped. What feels alarming to some is simply what happens when you\u2019ve been paying attention. Where Shumer\u2019s Essay Matters Most Shumer cites data from METR that measures how many hours of expert human work an AI model can now complete autonomously, end to end. A year ago, that number was ten minutes. Now, the most recent measurement is approaching five hours of expert-level task completion, and that capability is doubling every four to seven months. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has publicly stated that AI models \u201csubstantially smarter than almost all humans at almost all tasks\u201d are on track for 2026 or 2027. He\u2019s also predicted that 50% of entry-level, white-collar jobs could be disrupted within one to five years. These aren\u2019t the words of a futurist blogger; this is the CEO of one of the two most consequential AI laboratories in the world. Scott Galloway, the NYU Stern marketing professor and sharp analyst, has argued recently that AI is no different than prior technology waves\u2014it destroys some jobs and creates others\u2014and that we\u2019ve survived this cycle before. With respect, I disagree on this single point. When Galloway\u2019s historical framework was formed, no machine could write its own code, build the next version of itself or hold a conversation indistinguishable from a human. Now machines can do all three. We\u2019ve never had to adapt to a technology that can think, reason, communicate and soon navigate the physical world with that same intelligence. That changes the comparison fundamentally. Every tool we\u2019ve ever adapted to before extended human capability. This one replaces it. Adapt\u2014or Get Left Behind I\u2019ve spent the past year in conversations with executives running businesses from $3 million to over $8 billion in annual revenue. All of them\u2014regardless of size, geography or vertical\u2014are wrestling with the same reality. They know they need to act on AI. They\u2019re watching enterprise-level layoffs ripple through the industries above them, and they\u2019re wondering when the pressure reaches their level. Here\u2019s the honest answer: it already has. This industry has always been a late adopter of technologies including managed IT, digital marketing and cloud services. We were behind the curve every time. AI will follow that same pattern for most. The difference this time is the cost of waiting is higher, and the recovery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4698],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69883"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69883"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69965,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69883\/revisions\/69965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/shutterstock_2645975149.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n