The AI Reckoning Is Here

I'll admit it – I burn through AI tokens like nobody's business. Between teaching my students the latest AI tools and delivering for corporate clients, I'm running several experiments weekly in every AI marketing platform you can think of. ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Midjourney, you name it. Sometimes the results are brilliant. Sometimes they're total duds. But here's what's keeping me up at night: if the reports about our "free lunch" being over are true, I'm about to be in serious pain. And if I'm worried – someone who tracks every experiment and measures every outcome – imagine what's coming for marketers who've been treating AI like an easy button.

Here's the reality check we all need: While tech analysts debate whether we're witnessing "the biggest bubble ever" or "Computer Industry V2," the practical truth is already hitting. The era of unlimited, subsidized AI is ending. Companies are shifting from flat $20/month subscriptions to usage-based pricing. That sweet deal where you could burn $10,000 in compute costs for the price of a Netflix subscription? It's disappearing fast.

But here's what the doom-and-gloom takes are missing: this is actually good news for strategic marketers. The shift to usage-based pricing will separate those treating AI as a thoughtless shortcut from those wielding it strategically. If you've been building proper workflows, tracking ROI per use case, and understanding what AI is actually good for, you're about to have a massive competitive advantage.

The question isn't whether to use AI. It's whether you'll master it before your budget forces you to.

 🔥 This Week's Hot Takes: AI Marketing Edition

The AI Bubble Debate: Is This the Biggest Financial House of Cards Ever Built? (The Neuron) – UK analyst Julien Garran calls it "the biggest and most dangerous bubble the world has ever seen" – 17 times larger than dot-com. Meanwhile, Marc Andreessen sees "Computer Industry V2" with 800M ChatGPT users proving genuine demand. The truth? Both can be right – we're witnessing a real revolution financed by an unsustainable bubble.

Adobe Goes All-In at MAX 2025: AI Becomes the Creative Foundation (Adobe News) – Adobe unveiled Firefly Image Model 5 with 4MP native resolution, custom model training, and partnerships with Google, OpenAI, and Runway. The big shift: AI assistants in Photoshop and Express that understand design context and can create from conversational prompts.

Entry-Level Marketers Hit Hard as Job Market Slides (Marketing Dive) – Marketing job listings fell 5.2% Q3, with entry-level positions dropping 8.6% YoY. The silver lining? Senior positions holding steady as companies invest in experienced leaders who can "move revenue quickly and predictably."

90% of Businesses Fear Losing SEO Visibility in AI Era (Search Engine Land) – Survey reveals 87.8% of businesses worry about online findability as AI transforms search. Response? 85.7% are already investing in AI/LLM optimization, with 75.5% prioritizing brand visibility in AI answers even without clickable links.

AI Expected to Influence $260B in Holiday E-commerce (IAB) – Nearly 40% of US shoppers now use AI when shopping. Key finding: AI doesn't shorten the purchase path – it reshapes it, creating new high-intent validation moments where marketers can build trust.

Google Launches Pomelli for SMB Marketing (Google Blog) – New AI tool analyzes your website to create a "Business DNA" profile, then generates on-brand social campaigns. Currently in public beta for US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Adobe GenStudio Expands with Major Ad Platform Integrations (eMarketer) – New partnerships with Amazon Ads, LinkedIn, and TikTok. The standout feature: Firefly Foundry lets brands develop custom genAI models unique to their brand identity.

🧪 The Alchemist's Lab: Tools I've Been Testing

Google's Pomelli (labs.google.com/pomelli)

• Function: AI marketing tool that creates on-brand social media campaigns for SMBs

• Marketing Application: Analyzes your website to build a "Business DNA" profile, then generates tailored campaign ideas and ready-to-use creative assets

• Pricing: Currently free in public beta (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand only)

💼 Industry Moves & Grooves

The Creative Agency Reckoning (Digiday) – Agencies that once maintained "red lines" over AI usage are now embracing it fully. As Gut's Christian Pierre notes: "The client that is not using it feels like they are missing out. It is a 180-degree shift."

Zero-Click Search Creates New Marketing Battlefield (Digiday) – Kendra Scott added 8,000 new pages to its site to combat zero-click search, while EGC Group focuses on earning media exposure since LLMs heavily weight news sites. The consensus: "totally collapsing the user journey."

🎓 AI Marketing Master Class Moment

Claude Skills explained: How to create reusable AI workflows Learn how to create custom Claude Skills that function as reusable AI workflows for your marketing tasks. This tutorial covers the fundamentals of building specialized knowledge bases and workflow integrations that extend Claude's capabilities. https://youtu.be/MZZCW179nKM

Understanding Claude Skills is essential for marketers looking to standardize their AI workflows. Think of them as custom instructions that help Claude understand your specific processes, brand voice, and industry context – turning generic AI into your specialized marketing assistant.

🤖 AI Whispers (That You'll Want to Shout About)

The shift from flat-rate to usage-based AI pricing isn't just about costs – it's fundamentally changing who can compete. Startups offering $20/month unlimited AI are discovering what Anthropic already knows: some users burn $50,000/month in compute on $200 subscriptions. This "token short squeeze" is forcing a market correction that will separate strategic users from those treating AI as a magic wand. The winners? Marketers who understand their token economics, track ROI per use case, and build workflows that amplify rather than replace human creativity.

🏆 My Take: What This Means for Your Marketing

Here's your ONE key insight: The era of treating AI as a free, unlimited resource is ending – and that's your competitive advantage. While your competitors panic about rising costs, start tracking your token burn rate NOW. Calculate the actual ROI of each AI use case. Build workflows that use AI for high-leverage tasks (like initial ideation and bulk variations) while preserving human judgment for strategy and brand voice. Your immediate action: Audit your current AI usage, identify your top 3 highest-ROI use cases, and double down on those while cutting the impressive-but-unprofitable experiments.

📊 The Number That Made Me Spill My Green Tea

800 million – The number of ChatGPT users globally, with only 5% paying. That's 760 million people getting subsidized AI at a loss of $8+ billion annually for OpenAI. When this corrects, the shock waves will reshape the entire marketing landscape.

🥊 Battle of the Week: Revolutionary Platform Shift vs Historic Bubble

The Bull Case: 800M users prove genuine demand. Major companies are making "existential" investments. The cost per intelligence unit is falling 9-900x annually. This is "Computer Industry V2."

The Bear Case: Ten AI startups with zero profits gained $1 trillion in market value. The entire industry runs on circular funding. OpenAI needs $1 trillion in four years but the world's top 10 PE firms have only $477B combined.

Lisa's Verdict: It's both – and that's exactly why you need to get strategic NOW. The technology is revolutionary, but the current funding model is broken. Smart marketers will thrive by focusing on sustainable, high-ROI use cases rather than chasing every shiny AI feature. The bubble may pop, but the tools that actually drive business value will survive and thrive.

Before You Go: Hit reply and tell me - what's your biggest AI marketing challenge right now? I read every response and it helps shape future newsletters!

That's a wrap on this week's AI marketing alchemy! Keep experimenting, keep transforming, and remember - true magic happens when we blend AI efficiency with human creativity.

Crafted with passion (and a dash of AI alchemy) by Lisa Peyton | AI Marketer, Professor, and Innovator
Let's connect in the digital realm: https://linktr.ee/lisapeyton

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