In this opinion piece, The Media Store’s chief operating officer Jacquie Alley discusses the talent crisis the media industry risks creating through its adoption of AI. While agencies are embracing the technology to improve efficiency and automate entry-level tasks, Jacquie argues they could be inadvertently removing the very opportunities that develop their future leaders.
I’ve worked in media for nearly three decades. Over that time, I’ve watched the internet, mobile, search, social, streaming and programmatic transform our industry.
Every one of these shifts changed jobs and ways of working, but none removed the need for talented people, they simply changed what people needed to learn.
Today, artificial intelligence represents the next significant wave of transformation.
It is already helping us research faster, analyse data more efficiently, automate repetitive tasks and improve productivity. There is little doubt it will continue to reshape how agencies operate, how clients buy services and how work gets done. That’s exciting. But I find myself increasingly concerned by one question our industry is not discussing enough.
If AI replaces entry-level work, where will our future leaders come from?
Every leader I know started somewhere.
None of us began our careers presenting to boards, leading agency teams, or sitting across the table from clients discussing business strategy. We learned by doing.
We built reports, compiled research, wrote first drafts, sat in meetings, and learned from our mistakes. Many of those activities are now being automated.
The challenge isn’t the technology itself, the challenge is ensuring we don’t accidentally remove the first rung of the career ladder. Young people are already feeling the uncertainty. A Microsoft Australia study on Gen Z and AI found that 71 per cent of Gen Z professionals worry AI could lead to fewer roles, despite being among the technology’s most enthusiastic adopters. A separate US survey of 1000 Gen Z workers found nearly three-quarters believe AI will reduce entry-level corporate job opportunities over the next five years. What strikes me is that these aren’t people resisting change, they’re asking where they fit.
At the other end of the workforce, I see a different concern.
Too often, there is an assumption that experienced professionals will somehow be left behind. Yet an Urban Institute report on AI and older workers cites research showing that 92 per cent of workers over 50 are interested in learning new professional skills, including digital skills. As someone who has spent nearly 30 years adapting to industry change, I have never believed talent has an expiry date. The people who thrive through disruption aren’t necessarily the most technical, they’re the most curious. They’re the people willing to keep learning, adapting and evolving as the world around them changes, which is why I believe we’re asking the wrong question.
The debate shouldn’t be whether AI will replace jobs. History suggests jobs will evolve, just as they always have.
The better question is whether we are redesigning our industry fast enough to ensure people continue to develop alongside the technology. Future agencies may need fewer people performing repetitive tasks. However, they will need more people who can exercise judgement, understand human behaviour, build trust, challenge assumptions and solve complex commercial problems.
AI can provide an answer but it still can’t determine whether that answer is right for a particular client, culture, audience, or business challenge. And that’s why I become concerned when I see organisations viewing AI primarily through the lens of efficiency.
A 2026 survey of 546 senior HR decision makers found that 30 per cent said their organisation was shifting towards hiring fewer entry-level employees in favour of more experienced workers supported by AI. More than half reported that fewer basic tasks were being delegated to junior staff, while 58 per cent were concerned this could create a shortage of qualified senior leaders within five years. A related finding from the same research was equally concerning – employers reported growing gaps in problem solving, communication and interpersonal skills among junior professionals.
That should make every agency leader pause.
At a time when employers are saying they need stronger critical thinking, communication and relationship skills, we’re simultaneously considering reducing some of the workplace experiences where those capabilities are traditionally developed.
Talent doesn’t suddenly appear at manager level, future leaders are developed through experience. They learn through observation, coaching, mentorship, experimentation and responsibility. They develop judgement by encountering real-world problems and learning how to solve them. If AI is removing some of those learning experiences, then our responsibility is not to resist technology, it is to redesign the pathway.
This isn’t the first time our industry has faced that challenge. When digital emerged, we created new specialist roles. When social arrived, we developed new capabilities. When programmatic transformed media buying, we adapted our structures, training and career pathways. We’ll need to do the same again.
The agencies that succeed won’t be the ones who adopt the most AI. They will be the ones who embrace automation but not at the expense of investing in both entry-level talent and those with experience who still embrace curiosity.
The answer isn’t to protect old ways of working; history tells us that would be futile. The answer is to build new ones – to create development opportunities that deliberately build the skills AI cannot replicate: critical thinking, problem solving, communication, relationship building and commercial literacy and client leadership. These capabilities have always mattered, but in an AI-enabled industry, they may become our greatest competitive advantage.
I’ve worked in media long enough to know that change is the one constant.
The internet didn’t end our industry. Mobile didn’t end our industry. Search didn’t end our industry. Social didn’t end our industry. AI won’t end it either, but it will reshape it. The agencies that thrive will be those that use technology to strengthen people rather than replace them.
Because if our technology strategy evolves faster than our people strategy, we may discover too late that we’ve improved efficiency while weakening the talent pipeline our industry’s future depends on.
