Can AI Really Replace Marketers?

Nishant:

What do you think is the future of marketing? Is the traditional way of building brands going to be toppled, and are we entering an era that's only AI-agent led?

Karan:

The shortlist is going to be done by AI and its various avatars — but the final choice will still be made by people, based on trust, authenticity, honesty, originality, meaning and purpose. The one real difference is that earlier you were marketing only to your end consumers; now you also have to keep in mind how you're reaching out to the algorithms.

Karan:

Earlier there was only SEO; now we talk about AEO and GEO. The attempt is to put content out there in a language the agents understand and value better — the language of details, backed up with sources.

Karan:

The agents can propose the biggest number of properties suitable for you, but the property you finally purchase is the decision you make after you've met the person representing it. Ultimately it's one human trusting another — and AI is not going to replace that.

Karan:

The more this world gets digitised, the more people will crave human connection. Is this authentic, or is it AI-generated? That's a fascinating paradox, and it's only going to explode as we go further into this world of technology.

Nishant:

What's your creative process — do you ideate in your head, or do you still write it yourself?

Karan:

Of course I still write. Then I give it to AI and say: tell me what I'm missing, open up a perspective I'm not seeing. I work with these tools as sparring partners — I throw a punch, they throw one back, and at the end of the exchange I feel richer in knowledge. Just don't outsource your judgment or your thinking to it.

Karan:

Two years from now, people won't even be discussing AI — it'll be omnipresent, like the calculator or Wi-Fi. We need to identify these tools, work with them, befriend them, and build a healthy, symbiotic relationship — because human beings shape technology, not the other way around.