AI Insights for Marketing and Business

The Kilts Center for Marketing recently hosted the London Marketing Summit at Chicago Booth’s Robert Rothman, ’77, London Campus, bringing together faculty, alumni industry leaders, and current Executive MBA students to explore AI’s accelerating impact on business and its transformative effects across industries.  

Booth alumni experts joined faculty in presenting AI’s potential to drive innovation, enhance human creativity, and streamline operations. At the same time, they discussed how the technology is reshaping marketing, customer engagement, and business operations. Included below are key takeaways from the summit.  

Generative Thinking: Amplifying Human Creativity with AI

Sanjog Misra, the Charles H. Kellstadt Distinguished Service Professor of Marketing and Applied AI, opened by dispelling myths about AI’s creative potential. In his talk “Generative Thinking,” he emphasized that AI enhances, rather than replaces, human creativity by optimizing tasks and recognizing patterns.  

Misra’s research showed that the best results come from blending AI’s consistency with human expertise. AI’s true power, he argued, lies in solving problems in ways humans cannot. 

Setting the Right AIxpectations: Practical and Ethical Applications

Building on this theme of AI-human synergy, Kathleen Burzycki, ’11, vice president of marketing and strategy at Henkel, delved into the applications of such a partnership in business settings.  

She highlighted practical uses of AI, such as automating notes and translating language, while also cautioning against over-reliance on AI-generated outputs without critical review. Burzycki emphasized that transparency and careful prompt engineering are vital for maintaining trust and ensuring alignment with business goals. 

AI Spy: The Future of Advertising, Search, and Entertainment

Satyajeet Salgar, ’07, director of product management and UX for Google AI, took the conversation to AI’s vast impact on personalization and democratized intelligence.  

He discussed how Google’s AI systems have enhanced ad conversion rates and how AI is democratizing intelligence across industries, from food photography to gaming. Salgar also predicted a future where AI-generated content in entertainment will be fully customizable, raising the question of what we will build with AI’s expanded capabilities. 

Accelerating Efficiency in Financial Services

Shifting focus to financial services, Stella Fau Clarke, ’14, chief strategy and marketing officer at Fenergo, highlighted how AI accelerates processes such as “know your customer” (KYC) and anti-money laundering checks. She stressed that AI doesn’t replace humans, but serves as a catalyst for operational efficiency.  

Clarke noted that although AI has become central to software-as-a-service (SaaS) products, its significant investment requires it to be strategically applied in areas with high potential value. 

Balancing Privacy, Performance, and AI in Data-Driven Advertising

Bradley Shapiro, professor of marketing and True North Faculty Scholar, offered a distinct yet important perspective by focusing on digital advertising and the impact of data used to power AI-driven algorithms on evolving market dynamics. With privacy regulations tightening access to off-site data, customer acquisition costs have surged, particularly for smaller advertisers.  

Shapiro highlighted how smaller advertisers are more harmed by data restrictions and how advertising platforms that retain access to purchase data, such as Google and Apple, have a distinct advantage over other ad platforms. He suggested strategies that smaller advertisers can adapt for the evolving data policy landscape.

AI As the ‘Smartest Intern’

Closing the summit, David Lee, ’11, assistant vice president of new capability development at Cox Communications, offered a pragmatic metaphor for understanding AI’s current capabilities. Describing AI as the “world’s smartest intern,” Lee explained that while AI completes tasks with remarkable speed and adaptability, it still requires significant guidance.  

This analogy is particularly relevant for companies grappling with the need to harness AI’s processing power without relying on it blindly. He highlighted AI’s growing role in automating labor-intensive tasks, with intelligence advancing at a rapid pace.

Looking Ahead: Collaboration Between Humans and AI

Experts throughout the day emphasized that AI’s true value lies in enhancing human capabilities, rather than replacing them—a point especially significant in marketing, where creativity, empathy, and strategic vision are essential. Speakers also highlighted the challenge of integrating AI ethically and strategically, sparking discussions on how business leaders can leverage AI to improve processes while preserving human oversight and creativity, which is vital for ensuring authenticity, trust, and long-term brand value.