In a guest column, Thomas Koch places the Gartner forecast that AI will take over most operational media planning by 2028 in context. Despite the expected upheaval his conclusion is largely optimistic.
The forecast that AI will take over most operational media planning tasks within two years has drawn pushback in the industry. In a guest column Thomas Koch argues the figure creates the wrong picture: what is automated is execution, not decision-making.
The objection has a practical core. Booking, delivery management and reporting are rule-based and therefore readily automated. Audience definition, budget logic and the assessment of media environments remain matters of judgement that require defensible assumptions and accountability.
For workforce planning this is not reassurance but a different task. As the operational layer shrinks, the first work to disappear is the work junior staff used to learn on. Without new learning paths, in a few years nobody will be qualified to make the remaining decisions.
What this means for decision-makers
- Separate executing from deciding activities in your workforce planning and forecast each on its own.
- Create new learning paths for entrants as today's entry-level tasks are automated.
- Ask agencies and tool vendors which decisions are made automatically and who is accountable for them.
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