2025 AI Predictions You Can’t Afford to Miss
What AI Means for Marketers in 2025 + Grading My 2024 Predictions
Welcome to the Savvy AI newsletter. Three to four times a month, I explore what the AI Era means for marketing and business. In this space, I also share excerpts from my recently launched book on Marketing with AI. If you find the insights valuable, feel free to share the newsletter with others and encourage them to subscribe.
Now that CES is behind us, it's time to explore what the year holds for Marketing with AI—and AI more broadly. This week, I share my predictions for 2025. You can also view my 2024 predictions here and tell me how you think I did.
But first, in exciting news, AI Trailblazers is partnering with ADWEEK to launch the AI Trailblazers Power 100, an initiative honoring leaders shaping the future of marketing with AI. Nominate top talent by January 31 at 3 p.m. ET, and join us in celebrating the individuals from brands, agencies, and the adtech and martech ecosystems who deserve recognition.
2025 Predictions to consider
Here are predictions on the state of AI adoption, drawn from conversations with scores of business leaders, my own research as I wrote Marketing with AI for Dummies and reflecting on my career in marketing and innovation. These trends underscore the transformative potential of AI, from enhancing creativity and decision-making to redefining workflows and democratizing access to advanced marketing. As we look ahead to 2025, it’s clear that leaders must move beyond merely training teams and running experiments—they must embrace AI as a genuine thought partner, a driver of efficiency, and a catalyst for innovation.
Below are the pivotal shifts marketers to consider to thrive in this rapidly evolving business landscape. Otherwise, the change will be forced upon us by other leaders in the enterprise and it may simply get ugly in the c-suite.
1. AI Reasoning Will Invade Decision-Making
By the end of 2025, marketers will increasingly rely on AI for decision-making, shifting from human oriented decisioning to more automated intelligence. Advanced LLMs capable of phd level reasoning will be integrated into the martech and adtech stacks and will be used to analyze first, second, and third-party data to uncover customer trends, optimize channel and bidding strategies, manage lifetime value dynamics, and predict consumer behaviors with extraordinary precision.
For example, an AI will autonomously identify high-value customers likely to churn, develop targeted offers and accompanying creative for them, optimize delivery timing based on real-time behavior analytics, and adjust bidding strategies across multiple platforms to maximize return on ad spend. It may even recommend (or make autonomous) inventory adjustments or product bundling strategies to ensure stock levels align with predicted customer preferences, achieving seamless marketing and operational synergy with minimal human input.
Probability - High.
2. AI Creativity Will Rival Humans in Video Advertising.
The creative potential of AI in video advertising will rewrite the rules of advertising, with AI capable of producing polished, and increasingly compelling ads in record time. We already saw Coca-Cola’s recent AI-powered holiday ad, which tested very well with System 1 even though it was polarizing for us within the industry. Similarly, the Toys ‘R’ Us video created with Sora also demonstrated AI’s potential. A particularly interesting example comes from Rudolph Pokorny at Rocket Mortgage this week though. In just three hours, as an experiment, he created a minute-and-a-half-long video ad with AI. While the ad retained a distinctive AI look, the storyline plus the speed and ease of production was impressive (see how he did it and the tools used).
AI won’t just accelerate production; it will also elevate the quality of storytelling, potentially reaching a point where distinguishing between AI-created ads and human-crafted ones becomes nearly impossible. Moreover, while we may resist this change, it will become increasingly difficult to determine which are more effective. Why? Because human taste and comfort with AI-generated video is evolving—we are no longer as unsettled by it as we once were. That’s assuming we can even tell the difference at all.
Probability - Medium.
3. The New DIY Era of Marketing is Here.
AI tools are ushering in a new era of marketing, empowering solo marketers and small teams to accomplish tasks that once required entire departments. With easy-to-use tools, individuals can now develop creative campaigns, produce diverse content, adjust assets, distribute ads, and analyze performance—all autonomously and in record time. Take Adobe's recently launched "Firefly Bulk Create" as an example. This app allows users to resize up to 10,000 images or replace their backgrounds with a single click, eliminating the traditionally time-consuming process of editing each picture individually. Such capabilities are democratizing marketing, enabling smaller brands with fewer resources to compete with established brands.
Just as TikTok launched the creator economy—individuals who could shoot videos and build their own distribution networks—AI is birthing the era of the DIY marketer. These marketers will do much more with less, wearing multiple hats as they become both strategic and tactical, generalists and specialists, orchestrators and worker bees—all at once. This shift will redefine the marketing landscape, leveling the playing field and sparking innovation across industries - especially among small and medium sized businesses.
Probability - Medium.
4. AI Becomes a Marketer’s True Thought Partner.
AI is rapidly evolving into a reliable collaborator, enhancing our ability to brainstorm, innovate, and execute with unprecedented speed. For example, a marketer can leverage AI to generate hundreds of ad concepts and recommend the most effective messaging—all within hours. By delivering both creative inspiration and a critical perspective (when asked), AI becomes the thought partner we all seek.
Why will this shift be even more significant in 2025? Because companies are increasingly integrating AI into their workforce, investing in enterprise subscriptions to tools like Google Gemini, OpenAI, and Microsoft Co-Pilot. Additionally, these companies are embedding AI into core software licenses, making it more accessible and indispensable.
On the user side, relying on AI to solve both simple and complex problems is becoming second nature, especially as it nears artificial general intelligence (AGI), a topic prominently discussed at Davos this week. It leads to faster solutions, especially as AI grows more advanced and delivers insights with fewer hallucinations. As we continue refining our collaboration rhythms with AI, the benefits only multiply—humans and AI are learning how to work together effectively as one team. All it takes is to embrace AI as a thought partner and learn how best to communicate and partner with it.
Probability - High.
5. Open-Source AI Will Lead to New Super Skills.
If fine-tuning open-source LLMs becomes a common practice, it will enable marketers to unlock unprecedented control and precision in their work. Open-source AI platforms will transform marketers into tech-savvy innovators, allowing them to fine-tune models for specific needs, master advanced prompt engineering, leverage chain-of-thought reasoning, and build enhanced retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions. These capabilities empower marketers to create hyper-targeted campaigns, deliver highly personalized customer experiences, and develop AI-driven strategies tailored to the real-time demands of their brands.
By automating manual tasks and offering real-time, contextually relevant insights deeply specific to the needs of the business, fine-tuning LLMs doesn’t just boost efficiency—it opens new avenues for creativity and innovation. Marketers will be better equipped to anticipate customer needs, craft optimized messaging, and design campaigns that are more impactful and adaptive. As these tools become more accessible, they will redefine the role of marketing teams to be even more technologically oriented, enabling them to thrive in an increasingly dynamic and competitive landscape.
Probability - Low.
6. AI Will Run Entire Marketing Campaigns.
In 2025, fully autonomous marketing campaigns will become more of the norm, driven by platforms like Google Performance Max, Meta Advantage Plus tools, and Amazon Ads. These AI systems will manage every aspect of campaign execution—from audience targeting and creative development to real-time optimization and performance reporting—requiring only minimal human guidance. Marketers will take on the role of strategic overseers, setting business and marketing objectives while AI handles the execution with precision and speed.
For example, a global fashion retailer running a summer collection campaign might rely entirely on AI tools to segment audiences by region, weather patterns, and purchase history. The AI will dynamically generate and test ad creatives tailored to each segment—such as showcasing lightweight fabrics in tropical regions and versatile layering pieces in cooler climates. It will choose and optimize the appropriate channels and adjust budgets in real time based on sales performance and engagement metrics, ensuring optimal ROI. By the end of the campaign, marketers will receive detailed insights into what worked, using those learnings to inform future strategies. This will redefine how marketing teams operate, prioritizing strategy and innovation over execution.
Probability - High.
7. Search Will Still Lag in the GenAI Revolution.
Search engines are grappling with the challenges of integrating generative AI, hindered by entrenched user habits, revenue dependencies, and legal hurdles. Platforms like Perplexity AI must develop robust ad models to compete with established players, while ChatGPT’s limited monetization focus and sometimes seemingly lack of product focus, leaves untapped potential. Meanwhile, Google is cautiously evolving its search engine, incorporating generative AI while safeguarding its lucrative ad business. This transition highlights the complexity of balancing innovation with profitability and focus in an industry poised for disruption.
In 2025, Google is likely to maintain its dominance by leveraging its deep integration of generative AI into search, but without fully replacing traditional results. Its cautious approach stems from protecting the $175 billion ad business, which depends on the current search format to generate clicks and conversions. Unlike newer platforms like Perplexity AI, Google is incorporating AI enhancements that complement, rather than overhaul, its existing ecosystem, ensuring a more evolutionary transition. For instance, its AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) focuses on providing synthesized, conversational answers alongside conventional links, blending familiarity with innovation. This hybrid model positions Google to stay competitive while maintaining user trust and preserving its advertising revenue streams, even as the broader search landscape continues to evolve.
Probability - High
8. Misinformation Will Become an Even Greater Threat.
The rise of AI-generated content is intensifying the risks of misinformation, posing significant challenges to marketers and where and how they advertise. Meta’s controversial decision to step away from third-party fact-checking will further amplify the spread of misinformation. This creates a precarious environment where false narratives can circulate unchecked, particularly during critical events like elections or major brand campaigns. Marketers will face heightened pressure to monitor content ecosystems for inaccuracies that could harm their brands. Additionally, the proliferation of AI-generated celebrity "deepfakes" adds another layer of complexity, as fake endorsements or appearances can deceive consumers and tarnish both the celebrity's and the brand's reputations.

Businesses will need to address shifting consumer perceptions of platforms where misinformation thrives, potentially reallocating ad spend to more trusted, brand safe environments. Meta’s policy change highlights the growing tension between platform profitability, political alignment and public trust, requiring marketers to remain agile, vigilant, and careful in navigating this increasingly complex digital landscape.
Probability - High.
9. Witness the Era of True AI Agents.
The emergence of AI agents capable of complex multi-step autonomous tasks will transform industries. For instance, an AI agent could handle event planning by negotiating with vendors, identifying locations, verifying safety certifications, managing invitations, ordering food and beverages, and staying under budget—a process that would take event marketing teams hours if not days and weeks. These agents interact seamlessly through structured data protocols, streamlining operations and setting a new standard for efficiency. While not yet ubiquitous, such advancements foreshadow a future where agent-to-agent interactions redefine how businesses operate and innovate.
For example, in 2025, Google’s Gemini AI agent is expected to exemplify this shift by taking multitasking and problem-solving to new heights. Gemini combines conversational capabilities with deep integration into tools like spreadsheets, calendars, and email, allowing it to act as a true autonomous assistant. For instance, it could plan a corporate product launch by scheduling meetings, drafting promotional materials, coordinating logistics, and even analyzing competitor data to refine positioning strategies—all without direct human intervention. As these agents evolve, they promise to handle increasingly complex tasks, freeing businesses to focus on strategy and creativity while redefining operational workflows.
Probability - Medium.
10. AI Will Force a Reset: Teams, Budgets, & Playbooks.
The adoption of AI is reshaping corporate structures, driving efficiencies while challenging traditional workforce models. In the tech sector, rising profits coexist with layoffs, reflecting the shift toward leaner, AI-driven operations. Companies like Klarna are leading the charge, overhauling workflows to capitalize on AI’s potential. LinkedIn job postings reveal surging demand for AI-related expertise, signaling a broader industry trend toward re-skilling. This transformation compels organizations to rethink their playbooks, embracing agility and innovation to thrive in the AI era.
For instance, Klarna has integrated OpenAI’s GPT models to enhance customer experience, automating interactions such as product searches and personalized recommendations. This shift not only improves efficiency but also changes the role of human workers. Employees who previously handled customer support tasks are now focusing on refining AI models, analyzing data insights, or developing strategies to better serve customers. By automating routine operations, Klarna demonstrates how AI agents are not just tools but catalysts for redefining workforce priorities, reallocating budgets, and fundamentally altering corporate playbooks.
Probability - Medium.
Grading my 2024 Predictions
See the grades below and view the full explanation of the 2024 predictions. What do you think of the following? Rather than self-grading the predictions, I chose to ask ChatGPT-4 and below is how it graded last year’s predictions. What are your thoughts?
Where I’ve been
Last week, I had the pleasure of joining a virtual fireside chat with Greg Shove of Section School. Greg recently hosted Scott Galloway on 2025 trends and will speak with Reid Hoffman next week. In our conversation, we discussed the impact of AI on job roles, strategies for career growth, its influence on customer relationships and practical ways to leverage AI for more effective marketing. It was a dynamic discussion on AI's role in the future of marketing.
Marketing with AI for Dummies continues to draw attention, sparking speaking engagements and advisory opportunities focused on AI education, inspiration and marketing roadmapping. If you need support—whether for a speaking event, team education, or strategic planning—don’t hesitate to reach out.
What I’m reading
Edelman Trust Barometer Launch (Edelman)
AI search platforms characterize brands differently (Ad Age)
Amazon’s Gen AI Lets Buyers Build and Target Custom Audiences (Adweek)
Here are real-world use cases for AI agents (Venture Beat)
Recent Savvy AI Articles
Fires & Falsehoods: A Tale of Two Crises (January 2025)
Omnicom’s Big Move, Brand Clarity, & Looking Ahead (December 2024)
Search Wars Part 2. Google May Win (December 2024)
Marketing with AI for Dummies launches! (November 2024)
8 Questions that should worry you (June 2024)