Back to the Futile: Episode 4: from marketing to stewardship

Posted by Mike O'Brien on September 10, 2025 in Ai in Marketing, Postcards from the digital frontier | Leave a comment

15 years (to 2040):

Reality today: Ethical debates about deepfakes, data privacy, and AI bias are already here. The EU is advancing strict regulation. Is it me or are marketers getting younger every year as UK brands face growing scrutiny over sustainability and transparency.

Projection: By 2040, AI may redefine what marketing even means.

• Tesco could run the first fully AI-managed retail ecosystem, optimised not just for efficiency but for human health and sustainability.
• Unilever may operate purpose-driven AI brands, where algorithms design products, set pricing, and negotiate partnerships for the triple bottom line -people, planet, profit.
• Agencies like WPP and Publicis will evolve into stewards, setting global ethical standards, auditing AI systems, and ensuring neuro-adaptive marketing respects human dignity.
• Regulators could enforce “right to explanation” rules, real-time bias monitoring, and transparency requirements stricter than GDPR.

That’s the what.

The why is about legacy. The ultimate question will not be “what did AI help us sell?” but “what values did AI help us scale?”

If the UK gets this right, it could become the birthplace of ethical AI marketing: a model of privacy, transparency, and fairness. A system where technology doesn’t just serve the bottom line -it serves the common good.

Summary: Marketing becomes a system of trust and meaning-making, shaped as much by ethics, law, and consumer agency as by creative or commercial goals. Or… it doesn’t.