A cyberpunk-style image of a goldfish with a human body wearing a dark futuristic jacket, standing in a neon-lit city at night in the rain. Large white text across the center reads “THE WT A.I.NITIATIVE” with a smaller subtitle below: “(Or, on goldfish in cyberpunk uniforms.)”. In the bottom right corner, a date and email address are shown: “26/01/2023, philipp.hahn@wundermanthompson.com”. A cyberpunk-style image of a goldfish with a human body wearing a dark futuristic jacket, standing in a neon-lit city at night in the rain. Large white text across the center reads “THE WT A.I.NITIATIVE” with a smaller subtitle below: “(Or, on goldfish in cyberpunk uniforms.)”. In the bottom right corner, a date and email address are shown: “26/01/2023, philipp.hahn@wundermanthompson.com”.

In 2019, the same year I got into machine learning, I was hired as a part-time Senior Creative Technologist at KKLD*, which later merged into Wunderman Thompson. In November 2022, the first version of ChatGPT hit the market. Then we merged into VML, becoming the largest advertising agency in the world. Since May 2025, I have been Head of AI at VML Germany.

A speaker gestures animatedly while presenting in front of a screen displaying various online conversations and articles related to AI-generated art and technology. The audience, comprised of several individuals with varying hairstyles and clothing styles, watches intently. In the background, large windows reveal a view of a building with domes. The image is in black and white. A speaker gestures animatedly while presenting in front of a screen displaying various online conversations and articles related to AI-generated art and technology. The audience, comprised of several individuals with varying hairstyles and clothing styles, watches intently. In the background, large windows reveal a view of a building with domes. The image is in black and white.

So what does a Creative Technologist or even more mysterious, a Head of AI, actually do? It’s varied, but much of it is trying to facilitate change on the inside. That involves a lot of explaining and sitting down with colleagues to figure things out together. Or debating with C-level about our own AI strategy, and persuading the CFO to up my AI budget.

Alt text: An infographic titled "Your AI potential in marketing" discusses the transformative potential of AI across six marketing categories. It features a radar chart analyzing a company's AI marketing maturity and potential improvements. Key categories include Analytics, Content Creation, and Workflows, with descriptions on the right highlighting their significance for business efficiency and effectiveness. The VML logo appears in the bottom left corner. Alt text: An infographic titled "Your AI potential in marketing" discusses the transformative potential of AI across six marketing categories. It features a radar chart analyzing a company's AI marketing maturity and potential improvements. Key categories include Analytics, Content Creation, and Workflows, with descriptions on the right highlighting their significance for business efficiency and effectiveness. The VML logo appears in the bottom left corner.

It also involves talking to clients about AI. Or thinking about how to even get into such discussions in the first place. As an example, I created an extensive 'VML AI Assessment,' where clients would fill out a survey, and we would turn their answers (almost fully automated) into a comprehensive deck full of strategic insights. Which ideally also involved hiring us.

A dark-themed digital mind map featuring interconnected nodes of text and images. The map is organized into sections labeled "text-only pipeline," "text + referenzbilder," and "lora pipeline." Each section contains various excerpts of text and thumbnails of images showing dynamic poses, likely depicting a performance or athletic scenes. Purple and green lines indicate relationships and connections between different elements. The layout is complex, emphasizing a systematic approach to organizing concepts and ideas. A dark-themed digital mind map featuring interconnected nodes of text and images. The map is organized into sections labeled "text-only pipeline," "text + referenzbilder," and "lora pipeline." Each section contains various excerpts of text and thumbnails of images showing dynamic poses, likely depicting a performance or athletic scenes. Purple and green lines indicate relationships and connections between different elements. The layout is complex, emphasizing a systematic approach to organizing concepts and ideas.

And finally, it involves some proper nerding. This might be building some prototype, fun website, Augmented Reality experience, prompting agents, training LoRAs, or designing Gen-AI image pipelines to produce consistent brand imagery. I often joke that I get paid for being curious, but the longer I do this, the more I think this is actually accurate.

A split screen image: on the left, a woman with long red hair and sunglasses, standing in front of the Statue of Liberty's silhouette; on the right, a young woman with vibrant red hair and sunglasses, smiling near the Statue of Liberty. The text at the bottom indicates the comparison of Midjourney V1 and V5, using the same prompt one year apart. A split screen image: on the left, a woman with long red hair and sunglasses, standing in front of the Statue of Liberty's silhouette; on the right, a young woman with vibrant red hair and sunglasses, smiling near the Statue of Liberty. The text at the bottom indicates the comparison of Midjourney V1 and V5, using the same prompt one year apart.

A creative agency produces all kinds of things, but in the end, pretty much all of it falls into three categories: text, imagery, and video. Which is precisely what AI is getting really good at producing. Also, what we do is low stakes (we’re not transplanting children’s hearts), low precision (emotions are not measured in nanometers), and advertising effectiveness is famously hard to evaluate. At least looking at it from the outside, our industry looks uncannily well aligned with what these machines can do. I don’t see my job becoming boring any time soon.