Humans of AI: Presented by WRITER

When the Funnel Collapses: Rebuilding Marketing with AI Agents | Christian Westcott

For decades, the inbound marketing playbook was clear: create content, rank on search engines, and capture leads. But what happens when that machine breaks? In this episode of Humans of AI, hosts Alaura Weaver and WRITER CMO Diego Lomanto sit down with Christian Westcott, a search industry veteran who watched the traditional top-of-funnel collapse as AI search engines changed how buyers find information. Instead of denying the shift, Christian reframed his entire role. We explore the messy, uncomfortable, and necessary process of tearing down your own expertise to build something new. Christian shares how he moved past the fear of obsolescence to build AI agents that eliminated 95% of his team's operational friction, saving 80 hours a month on QA alone. More importantly, he reveals how he's pioneering new ways to measure and capture "AI visibility" in a world where traditional attribution is getting cloudier. If you're a marketing leader trying to figure out how to adapt your team's workflows for the AI era, this episode offers a pragmatic, optimistic look at what's possible when you stop improving the past and start inventing the future. Listen to discover: * Why the shift from search to AI is a move from productivity to differentiation. * How to identify the "cluttered pantry" workflows in your team that are ripe for AI automation. * The reality of building AI agents: why false positives and iteration are part of the process. * How to measure success when traditional attribution models no longer tell the whole story. * The "Monday Morning Action" you can take to start transforming your team's work today. Watch the full unedited conversation on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvxG3djReI2cyaem0wi12L9ybD63bViHU] Read the recap blog post [https://writer.com/blog/category/humans-in-the-loop/humans-of-ai-humans-in-the-loop/] Subscribe to Humans of AI for more stories from people navigating the intersection of business and artificial intelligence. Watch the full video interview on the WRITER YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC281-zvPEcDSUJecVImA-KA] for bonus content and deeper insights. Learn more about WRITER at writer.com. [http://writer.com/]

The Guardian of Taste: Why slowing down is the ultimate AI strategy with Robert Rose

We all hit the "skip intro" button. We're conditioned to move faster, ship more, and check another box. But what if speed is the wrong metric to optimize for? In this episode of Humans of AI, we sit down with Robert Rose, co-founder of the Content Marketing Institute and former Silicon Valley CMO, to discuss AI in marketing — we're using it to train "button pushers" instead of developing craft. Robert argues that AI is the first technology in 20 years inviting us to slow down, get deeper, and become more creative. He shares his framework for using AI as an "argument room" to pressure-test ideas, why the CMO must become the "guardian of taste," and how to find the valuable friction that differentiates your brand in a sea of AI-generated sameness. In this episode, we cover: * Why 30% of a marketer's time is spent configuring tools instead of telling stories * The danger of "AI theater" and using AI to do more activities without adding value * How to use AI to pressure-test your thinking and find your blind spots * Why the CMO's new role is the "guardian of taste" * How to build quality into your process from the beginning Listen to the full episode to learn how to stop being a button pusher and start making things that matter. WRITER [https://writer.com/] WRITER on Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/company/getwriter/posts/?feedView=all] WRITER on X [https://x.com/Get_Writer/highlights] About the Guest: Robert Rose Robert Rose has spent 15+ years helping marketing teams figure out what actually matters‌ — ‌and cut the rest. He's the Chief Strategy Advisor at the Content Marketing Institute [https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/], founder of consulting firm Seventh Bear, [https://www.seventhbear.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorZ91V_s6bu0ODTgB8PlKIZks68Od8NfAtECOggVr7QQTFHPa_W] and the author of five books on content and marketing strategy. He's guided over 500 companies, from Salesforce and Adidas to Roche and NASA, on how to build marketing that earns trust rather than just attention.  He co-hosts the This Old Marketing  [https://www.thisoldmarketing.com/]podcast, teaches the official Content Marketing Strategy certification for the American Marketing Association, and is known for one guiding principle — modern marketing shouldn't rely on spammy funnels, soulless automation, or whatever the latest hack is that'll be obsolete by next Tuesday.  In other words, he’s exactly the right person to talk to about what it means to be a marketer when AI can generate infinite content on demand. Subscribe to Humans of AI for more stories from people navigating the intersection of business and artificial intelligence. Watch the full video interview on the WRITER YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC281-zvPEcDSUJecVImA-KA] for bonus content and deeper insights. Learn more about WRITER at writer.com. [http://writer.com/]

The Speed of Action: Bruno Aziza, IBM

Companies spend years building dashboards that told them what to know. Now they’re building AI that tells them what to think. But what companies actually need is AI that takes action on their best ideas. Bruno Aziza, VP, Enterprise Software at IBM, shares why so many AI deployments fail — and the frameworks that separate successful implementations from expensive pilot programs. His insight: one customer now has "50 humans and 150 agents" on their team . The question isn't whether agents will reshape work. It's whether we're building agents that actually do the work. Key frameworks from this conversation: → Agent Minus: The essential pre-agent infrastructure (rules, tools, workflows) that make agents work  → Agent Plus: Orchestrating hundreds of agents across vendors and systems  → FOMO vs. FOMU: The psychological traps killing AI adoption The rule Bruno lives by: "Process useful: automate. Process not useful: eliminate." Most organizations skip step two. Subscribe to Humans of AI for more stories from people navigating the intersection of business and artificial intelligence. Watch the full video interview on the WRITER YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC281-zvPEcDSUJecVImA-KA] for bonus content and deeper insights. Learn more about WRITER at writer.com. [http://writer.com/]

When AI optimizes for the wrong thing — with Nicole Alexander, former Meta executive

What happens when marketing AI stops finding the right customer and starts finding the right moment of weakness? Nicole Alexander, former Global Head of Marketing at Meta and author of "Ethical AI in Marketing," [https://www.strandbooks.com/ethical-ai-in-marketing-aligning-growth-responsibility-and-customer-trust-9781398622296.html] takes us inside one of the most uncomfortable truths about modern marketing technology. Nicole reveals how optimization algorithms don't just target demographics anymore — they identify emotional vulnerability. We explore the distinction between growth as a physics problem and responsibility as a human problem, and why the assumption that efficiency equals ethics is fundamentally broken. Nicole shares her framework for building AI systems that scale without exploitation, explaining why the question isn't "Is this ethical?" but rather "What constraints would make this sustainable?" She offers a provocative reframe: the conversion that destroys trust isn't a win — it's technical debt on your customer lifetime value. This conversation challenges marketers to rethink how they measure success, engineers to redesign how they optimize, and leaders to consider what it means to build AI that serves people rather than simply converting them. Key Takeaways: * Why AI-driven systems ask "What vulnerability is the most profitable lever to pull?" * How algorithms engineered for time spent inevitably reward outrage * The business case for treating trust as a technical constraint, not a review step * Why guardrails should be part of optimization itself, not added later Nicole Alexander is a Professor at NYU, author of "Ethical AI in Marketing," and former Global Head of Marketing at Meta, where she led teams building some of the world's most sophisticated marketing systems. Subscribe to Humans of AI for more stories from people navigating the intersection of business and artificial intelligence. Watch the full video interview on the WRITER YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC281-zvPEcDSUJecVImA-KA] for bonus content and deeper insights. Learn more about WRITER at writer.com. [http://writer.com/]

The AI reinvention test: Front CEO Dan O'Connell on building for the future, not the past

What does it take to reinvent a 10-year-old company when AI changes everything overnight? Dan O'Connell, CEO of Front, knows the answer‌ — ‌and it's not what most boards want to hear. Dan shares the framework he's using to lead Front through an existential transformation from legacy player to AI-first platform. Drawing on lessons from building TalkIQ, scaling through Google's hypergrowth, and growing Dialpad from dozens to over a thousand employees, Dan reveals how pattern recognition becomes your superpower when navigating change at scale. Dan's framework isn't just about AI‌ — ‌it's about building the kind of organization where everyone knows their role, understands the mission, and can move fast without losing control. Whether you're leading a startup or transforming an enterprise, this conversation will change how you think about structure, transparency, and what it really takes to build AI-first. In this episode, you'll discover: * The three-part diagnostic for determining if your company needs AI-first reinvention (Spoiler: If you're asking, you probably do) * Why structure and process don't slow innovation—bad structure does  * The leadership mistake Dan made in his first 90 days that became his most valuable lesson • How transparency drives decision velocity and distributed decision-making at scale  * Why Front is betting that human touch becomes the competitive advantage when automation becomes table stakes  * The paradox of alignment: Why being explicit about what you're NOT doing matters as much as what you are Subscribe and Listen:🎧 Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humans-of-ai-presented-by-writer/id1844701896?ls=1] | Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/69CjWEzRMqIHWQ8J4YzECa] | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvxG3djReI2eK8ECRRIXNEqO0T8_0j2Fs] Learn more at writer.com [http://writer.com]  Subscribe to Humans of AI for more stories from people navigating the intersection of business and artificial intelligence. Watch the full video interview on the WRITER YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC281-zvPEcDSUJecVImA-KA] for bonus content and deeper insights. Learn more about WRITER at writer.com. [http://writer.com/]