Is AI flattening our thinking?

There was something unexpected about Justin Bieber at Coachella.

Not the performance and not the nostalgia.

It was the way he showed up alongside a younger version of himself without letting it feel like a gimmick. It felt intentional and grounded, like a conscious decision about who he’s been and how that version of him shows up today.

And oddly enough, it says a lot about where we are in media right now.

I use AI all the time. It’s made me faster, more efficient and, in a lot of ways, better. It takes things off my plate that used to take hours, but the more I use it, the more I notice a tension emerging. It’s not just about using AI. It’s about knowing when to use it, how to use it, and when to step away from it entirely.

Because the easy path is to default to it, but over time, that starts to shape the work. Not always in obvious ways, but gradually, subtly flattening it.

AI isn’t just supporting media anymore. It’s influencing how we think about it.

A simple example is building a channel mix.

Before AI, you would start with the brief, the audience and your own experience. You would make deliberate choices. Maybe you lean into one channel because you have seen it outperform in ways the data does not fully capture. It was not perfect, but it was intentional.

Now, it is easy to jump straight to AI-generated recommendations. It can model the optimal mix in seconds using historical data and predictions. That is powerful. But if you rely on it too early, you risk landing on the same answer as everyone else because it is built on the same patterns.

The stronger approach is using both.

Build the mix from audience research and strategy first, then use AI to test it. Not to replace your thinking, but to challenge it. To confirm where you are right and to understand where you are choosing to be different

That’s where experience becomes critical. Before AI, this industry required a different kind of rigor. You had to build plans manually, dig for insights and make judgment calls without a machine validating them. It forced you to develop instincts and trust your perspective.

That foundation matters now more than ever.

It’s what allows you to use AI as a tool, not a crutch.

The opportunity in front of us isn’t to resist AI. It’s to be intentional with it. To use it to move faster and work smarter, without losing the part that actually makes the work different, judgment, taste and a point of view.

Because ultimately, the future of media won’t be defined by how much we use AI. It will be defined by how well we know when not to.

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