The more sophisticated our AI tools become at analyzing consumer behavior, the more human our marketing will be

After two decades in marketing, I’ve watched countless “revolutionary” technologies come and go. Most promised to change everything. All delivered incremental improvements at best.

But AI feels different—not because of the hype, but because of what I’m seeing at Lyft as we engage with various platforms. The real transformation isn’t happening the way most people expected it to.

While everyone’s talking about AI replacing jobs or automating ad buying, the most profound changes we are seeing so far aren’t about efficiency—they’re about fundamentally changing how we understand and connect with consumers.

AI is making us more human, not less

Here’s the paradox that keeps me up at night: the more sophisticated our AI tools become at analyzing consumer behavior, the more human our marketing becomes.

At Lyft, we’re using AI to dive deeper into psychographics, behavioral patterns, and emotional triggers than ever before. But instead of creating more robotic, data-driven campaigns, we’re uncovering insights that help us craft more authentic, emotionally resonant work. AI doesn’t just tell us what people do—it helps us understand why they do it.

The magic happens when AI reveals the human stories hiding in the data. We’re finding unexpected emotional connections between ride patterns and life moments, uncovering the real reasons people choose rideshare over driving, and identifying the subtle behavioral cues that indicate when someone’s ready to try a new transportation option.

This isn’t about better targeting—it’s about deeper empathy. AI is becoming our emotional intelligence amplifier, helping us connect with consumers as complex humans rather than data points. The brands winning aren’t using AI to be more mechanical; they’re using it to be more human.

AI is a talent amplifier

AI isn’t going to replace marketers. It’s going to unleash what marketers can accomplish when they’re not drowning in operational constraints.

All companies are resource constrained. Some are going to try and use AI to cut back marketing headcount. But a growth-minded company will see the power to scale faster, bigger, and better given existing resources.

There’s only so much time one marketer can spend pouring through data and insights, marrying campaign performance with trends, or creating personalized messages for thousands of customers. Before AI, brilliant marketers were trapped by the limits of their own bandwidth.

But AI unleashes the power of hundreds of people within a single marketer. What used to take a team weeks happens in hours. We’re not looking at AI as a replacement for human creativity and strategic thinking. We’re looking at it as a way to scale the number of marketers we have on our team.

I’ve watched our marketers go from spending 70% of their time on data gathering and analysis to spending the same amount of time on strategy and creative problem-solving. That’s not automation—that’s amplification. The strategic thinking, the consumer empathy, the creative leaps that drive breakthrough campaigns? That’s still entirely human. But now those humans can operate at superhuman scale.

The implications are transformative. We’re moving from “How much can one marketer accomplish in a day?” to “How much impact can one marketer drive when freed from constraints?” That shift is redefining what’s possible in marketing.

Creative speed as competitive advantage

Yes, AI can generate copy and images. But the real breakthrough is in rapid concept visualization and iterative creative development.

We’re using AI to bring abstract marketing concepts to life in minutes, not weeks. Need to visualize a new product feature for an internal creative review? AI can mock it up instantly. Want to test how a campaign might look across different formats and audiences? AI makes that possible at unprecedented speed.

This isn’t about replacing creative teams—it’s about supercharging them. Our creatives spend less time on tedious technical execution and more time on strategy, emotion, and big ideas. AI handles the heavy lifting of multiple concept variations, allowing human creativity to focus on the breakthrough thinking that actually moves businesses.

The speed advantage is becoming a competitive moat. While traditional creative development cycles take months, we’re testing, learning, and optimizing in real-time.

The real AI revolution

These three shifts—deeper human insight, authentic consumer truth, and creative velocity—aren’t separate. They’re interconnected forces reshaping marketing. The brands that understand this aren’t just using AI as a tool; they’re reimagining their entire approach to consumer connection.

The AI revolution in marketing isn’t about robots taking over. It’s about humans getting better at being human.

Brian Irving is chief marketing officer at Lyft.