WPP CEO Mark Read says AI is “totally disrupting” advertising.
Read, who is stepping down, told CNBC the tech is shaking investors and the whole ad game. AI can now churn out content fast, using tools like OpenAI’s DALL-E, Google’s Veo, and Midjourney.
50,000 WPP staff already use the company’s AI platform, WPP Open. Read calls that “my legacy.” 
"I think this AI disruption … unnerving investors in every industry, and it’s totally disrupting our business," Mark Read said at London Tech Week.
"AI is going to make all the world’s expertise available to everybody at extremely low cost. The best lawyer, the best psychologist, the best radiologist, the best accountant, and indeed, the best advertising creatives and marketing people often will be an AI, you know, will be driven by AI."
Read also warned AI will reshape everything from briefs and media plans to how campaigns run. The ad world is already consolidating as a result.
A June 2023 Forrester report showed over 60% of U.S. ad agencies are using generative AI, with almost a third exploring it.
Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Levy agrees AI is driving a “huge transformation” in ads. He points to faster content made by AI and unprecedented personalization at scale.
Levy urged caution, calling AI “just a tool” that should augment humans, not replace them. He admitted some jobs will be lost but said AI will create more overall—echoing past tech shifts like the internet and smartphones.
"Will AI replace me, and will AI kill some jobs? I think that AI, yes, will destroy some jobs," Levy said at Viva Tech in Paris.
"However, more importantly, AI will transform jobs and will create more jobs. So the net balance will be probably positive."
Analyst Nicole Denman Greene of Gartner warns brands to avoid alienating customers worried about AI replacing human creativity.
"Pivot from what AI can do to what it should do in advertising," Greene told CNBC.
"What it should do is help create groundbreaking insights, unique execution to reach diverse and niche audiences, push boundaries on what ‘marketing’ is and deliver more brand differentiated, helpful and relevant personalized experiences, including deliver on the promise of hyper-personalization."
