[vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" row_position_desktop="default" row_position_tablet="inherit" row_position_phone="inherit" overflow="visible" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" flex_gap_desktop="10px" column_element_direction_desktop="default" column_element_spacing="default" desktop_text_alignment="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_backdrop_filter="none" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" column_position="default" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" animation_type="default" bg_image_animation="none" border_type="simple" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid"][vc_column_text css="" text_direction="default"]
Judgement is the new luxury. That's the hard truth at the centre of this second instalment in my series unpacking the AI + Innovation Stage at MAD//Fest this summer: as more decisions get handed to machines, the ability to know when not to is fast becoming the scarcest resource worth protecting.
Jan Schoenmakers of Hase & Igel argued for letting go of reporting, media mix and budget calls, handing them over to a tool like Neutrum.AI so human attention can shift toward creativity instead of spreadsheets. It's a compelling trade: less time spent crunching numbers, more time spent thinking.
Alec Barr on the other hand, focused on the concerns with what happens to the mental space AI frees up if we don't have a plan for it. Drawing on the MIT Media Lab's research into cognitive debt, he warned that outsourcing thinking without a deliberate strategy for reinvesting that time can quietly erode our own judgement, the very faculty that's supposed to become more valuable.
For marketing teams already leaning on AI for reporting and media planning, the lesson isn't to slow down, it's to get intentional. Judgement doesn't scale the way computing power does, and the leaders who protect it deliberately will be the ones still trusted to make the calls that matter.
Two things worth defending down, two more coming next time: creativity and humanity. Read the full piece on MAD//Fest.
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[vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" row_position_desktop="default" row_position_tablet="inherit" row_position_phone="inherit" overflow="visible" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" flex_gap_desktop="10px" column_element_direction_desktop="default" column_element_spacing="default" desktop_text_alignment="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_backdrop_filter="none" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" column_position="default" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" animation_type="default" bg_image_animation="none" border_type="simple" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid"][vc_column_text css="" text_direction="default"]Chairing the AI and Innovation stage at MAD//Fest this summer was one of the most fun rooms I have been in for a while. The tension in the conversation felt properly alive. This is the first of six pieces pulling apart what came up on that stage. It starts with a question Stjepan Zelić asked that split the room in two: has AI made creative work online better or worse?
The honest answer is both. AI lifted the average up to a solid six and made almost everything look the same. The real distance now sits between that six and a ten, and it gets closed by what you stand for, how you do the work, and who you choose to do it alongside. That last point is why I keep coming back to why the people around you matter more than the tool. Read the full piece on MAD//Fest.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row type="in_container" full_screen_row_position="middle" column_margin="default" column_direction="default" column_direction_tablet="default" column_direction_phone="default" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" row_border_radius="none" row_border_radius_applies="bg" row_position_desktop="default" row_position_tablet="inherit" row_position_phone="inherit" overflow="visible" overlay_strength="0.3" gradient_direction="left_to_right" shape_divider_position="bottom" bg_image_animation="none"][vc_column column_padding="no-extra-padding" column_padding_tablet="inherit" column_padding_phone="inherit" column_padding_position="all" flex_gap_desktop="10px" column_element_direction_desktop="default" column_element_spacing="default" desktop_text_alignment="default" tablet_text_alignment="default" phone_text_alignment="default" background_color_opacity="1" background_hover_color_opacity="1" column_backdrop_filter="none" column_shadow="none" column_border_radius="none" column_link_target="_self" column_position="default" gradient_direction="left_to_right" overlay_strength="0.3" width="1/1" tablet_width_inherit="default" animation_type="default" bg_image_animation="none" border_type="simple" column_border_width="none" column_border_style="solid"][vc_column_text css="" text_direction="default"]When I sat down to write about being more human for MAD//Fest's 2026 theme, I kept hitting walls, mostly because animals keep beating us at the things we like to think make us special. So I went looking somewhere else entirely and landed on the octopus, nine brains, one central and eight distributed through its arms, each one able to taste, touch and solve problems without waiting for permission while the whole body still moves as one. Read that again with your own organisation in mind. This piece makes the case for distributed intelligence over centralised control, using Octopus Energy as the clearest example of a brand that already works this way, and ends with a practical list for pushing decisions closer to the edge. It pairs well with why diverse teams outthink brilliant individuals. Read the full piece on MAD//Fest.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
