Supercharging young talent in the AI age

Laura Boyle
Head of Emerging Talent
Publicis Groupe  

AI can help people move faster, but emerging talent still need the skills that help them understand what's worth doing in the first place. Communication, creativity, critical thinking, curiosity and adaptability matter alongside digital skills. While AI can generate an answer, it can't replace the judgement needed to ask the right question, understand the context or decide what to do next. So, in many ways, these human skills are becoming even more important as working effectively with AI depends on them. 

At Publicis Groupe UK, we're looking at this as both a skills challenge and a cultural one. It's not enough to hand people a new tool and hope they'll work it out. We need to help people build confidence in using AI, understand where it adds value and learn when its outputs need challenging. 

Our recent research with Kingston University identified three ‘fusion skills’ that blend human capability with AI. These are smart AI questioning (asking better questions to get more useful, reliable outputs), contextual AI training (teaching AI how your business works so it reflects your data and ways of working) and critical human judgement (making the call on when to rely on AI and when to step in). For agencies, that means investing in more than AI training. We need to redesign onboarding, mentoring and early-career development so that young people learn how to work alongside AI while still building the commercial awareness, communication skills and judgement that come from experience. 

The role of entry-level talent isn't disappearing, but it is changing.

We need to be intentional about how we help young people build the skills that underpin long-term success. Many of us built those capabilities through hands-on experience and routine tasks that can now be automated. If those opportunities diminish, we need to consider what takes their place. Otherwise, we risk creating a generation that is highly proficient with AI, but lacks the judgement, critical thinking and confidence that come from learning by doing. 

The agencies that will thrive are the ones that see AI as a talent challenge, not just a technology challenge. The focus has to be on helping people learn faster, think better and develop the skills that clients will always value most. Human-centric skills are what will help people succeed throughout their careers, no matter how technology evolves.  

To anyone starting out, my advice is to embrace AI, experiment with it and learn how to use it well, but don't focus solely on the tools. The people who will stand out are those who combine digital fluency with curiosity, creativity, strong communication skills, and a willingness to keep learning. 

Raylene Luison
Head of People
Hearts United   

People entering the industry today have a unique opportunity. As AI continues to evolve at pace, they have the chance not only to learn from it, but to help shape how it's used, improving the way we work and the value we create for our clients, colleagues and the industry as a whole. 

While technical capability matters, the skills that will set people apart are the ones AI can't replicate: critical thinking, creativity, judgement and empathy. As AI takes on more process-driven and administrative tasks, success is becoming less about what you know and more about how you think, how you challenge assumptions and how you connect with others.

The role of junior talent isn't being replaced, it's evolving.

The opportunity is to spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time solving problems, generating creative ideas and adding value. 

At Hearts United, we're investing not only in AI training but also in AI-social learning. We encourage and create opportunities for people to share prompts, agents and practical use cases that have transformed the way they work. While AI can accelerate learning, some of the most important development still happens through conversations, collaboration and shared experiences. By bringing those things together, we remain focused on helping our people build technical capability alongside confidence, strong relationships and a sense of community, all of which are so important at the start of a career. 

My advice to junior talent is simple: stay curious and be proactive. You don't need to be the most technical person in the room. The people who will thrive are those who continually learn, adapt and experiment, using AI to amplify their potential while continuing to develop the human skills that drive our industry forward. 

Jim Kelly
Head of Planning
Story Agency &
Chair
IPA Scotland 

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The era of AI is no different.    

I find it reassuring that those inherently human skills that have always been invaluable contributors to our sector’s success are going to count for more than ever in the era of AI.    

Are you insatiably curious?    

Do you have a healthy interest in disrupting the status quo?    

Are you able to construct a sound strategy and defend it to your peers and your clients?    

Are you able to contribute constructively as part of a team that’s greater than the sum of its parts?  

Do you have that steely resilience to take those inevitable knock backs in your stride?    

These are core skills that aren’t going away - thankfully. They’ll stand you in good stead now as they’ve done for generations of ad folk past.  

That said, the truth is that AI is going to democratise access to tools that allow more of your peers to look pretty good. So, you’ve got to set yourself the challenge:

if AI is the great leveller and we’re all going to look pretty good, how do I rise above that to ensure that I’m looking bloody (and hard to ignore) good?

It does make me cringe to talk about your ‘personal brand’ when we’re looking at things introspectively. But in this instance it might be a useful frame of reference for young talent. For example, there’s no point playing the Luddite card when it comes to AI. You've got to acknowledge its benefits and then demonstrate how you're using those for your personal advantage. How is it enabling you to spend more time doing the really valuable, game-changing stuff? How are you applying AI to supercharge the core human skills that you bring to the job?    

The reality is that young talent’s competitive advantage is going to lie in having and honing the skills that AI struggles to replicate. The good news should be that human qualities and skills will become more valuable to help you stand out from the pretty good.    

I don’t think we’re at the point where entry-level roles will disappear, but there’s no denying that they’re going to change with the impact of AI. Let’s not forget, it’s vital for the industry’s future to ensure that entry-level roles remain in place. Otherwise, the foundations of the industry itself will be lost in a generation.  

The real danger is AI mission creep being tolerated. This will result in the loss of entrants getting a good old-fashioned grounding in the core skills essential to the continued rude health and functioning of advertising and agencies.    

Whilst AI might be able to do a great job of doing the less glamorous, repetitive tasks, we can’t overlook that these tasks are part of teaching people the basics of how agencies go about their day-to-day business.     

The reality is that agencies need to adopt a mindset whereby AI doesn’t replace its graduates. It has to be about training graduates to work alongside AI rather than in competition to it. What this will mean is that entry-level jobs will need to be redesigned rather than made redundant. This should bring opportunity. Whilst AI might be prompted to come up with that first draft, more than ever it’s going to need human judgement to critique and enhance those drafts in ways a machine can’t. If you’ve got the right outlook, that could be an exciting prospect for entry level candidates. As long as those entry-level roles are protected and designed properly.       

In the era of AI, never underestimate the enduring power of a good read.  

One timeless classic from the industry is the IPA publication Excellence in Advertising.  Its contributors are a veritable who’s who of the ad industry.  It was written BD (Before Digital) but don’t let that put you off. In a way it’s all the better for it because these contributors get to the very heart of advertising best practice in its purest form. These are skills that will always stand the test of time. And stand you in good stead. For years I’ve urged young talent to read it cover to cover.  

I’d recommend reading Human Being by Graham Lee. This book takes an interesting historical perspective on what the author identifies as twelve fundamental human skills. He goes on to explain how we can go about maintaining our own skills in the midst of digital technologies. If nothing else, you can take heart if you’re doing some of the things that are recommended in the book.    

There’s no substitute for putting the hard yards in. People get better at things because they persist until they get it better. And then a little bit better.  

You might not notice it but the gains are incremental if you keep focusing on those human skills that will continue to give you, your agency and your clients a clear competitive edge.  

As well as putting the reps in, which is how you hone your creative judgement, remember:   

The pen is always mightier than the mac - staying off the computer and off of AI when you’re in the idea generation stage is the way to get better. At the idea stage - scribble away.  Then craft work on the computer.  

Don’t outsource your thinking - this is the fun bit, see it as play time. Train yourself to think that whilst AI can help with some bits and pieces (like fine tuning) don’t let AI have all the upfront fun. We’re coming up with ideas for a living which is mind boggling when you think about it.    

Don’t let being stuck tempt you to the dark side - see being stuck as a good sign because you’ve got all the obvious stuff out of your system and it’s time to get into the interesting stuff.  Live with the pain, take a deep breath and the lovely ideas will start to come.  

Be interesting - AI knows the internet but not how it feels to miss the last train home. Or have your heart broken. Or overhear the maddest pub conversations.  Be sure to make full use of your unfair advantage.  

Amanda Singleton
Managing Director
Brixton Finishing School   

AI is changing how work gets done, but not what makes someone valuable. The top soft skill we assess for our cohort and job applicants for is whether the young person can demonstrate 'curiosity'. Exploring how this shows up in comms and marketing workplaces is really interesting. It means: Does the young person have an opinion that they can articulate clearly? Can they look for data to support their point of view? Are they open to exploring deeply around a subject?  Now obviously AI can help with this but employers are looking for people who can think first before prompting. 

The biggest shift is that technical execution is becoming easier, so employers are placing even greater value on curiosity, critical thinking, judgement, creativity and commercial understanding. Knowing how to generate something with AI is one thing. Knowing whether it's good, strategically sound and appropriate for the audience is something entirely different. 

Young people still need to develop the fundamentals of marketing, advertising and communications. AI should accelerate learning, not replace it. 

On the one hand, AI is democratising access to skills. Someone can now create a campaign mock-up, write copy, analyse research or build a presentation far more quickly than they could a year ago. That's incredibly powerful. 

But it also creates a new barrier: everyone now has access to the same tools. If everyone can produce competent, generic work, then originality, insight and judgement become the real differentiators. You need humans to bring taste and nuance to the work. 

Most young people are embracing AI enthusiastically, which is exactly what I'd expect.  I always tell our cohort that it is fine to use AI to polish an email or help with a spreadsheet but if they're relying on it to generate ideas that it's risky and won't help them long term. 

Where they're getting it right is using it to speed up lower-value tasks: summarising information, brainstorming ideas, improving first drafts or helping them learn unfamiliar topics. 

I've also seen young people use AI really effectively to build confidence before applying for roles. They'll practise interview questions, refine CVs, structure case study presentations or explore different ways of approaching a brief. Used well, it can reduce some of the intimidation that comes with entering an industry that can often feel opaque from the outside. 

Where they can get into trouble is accepting AI's output as fact or as the finished answer. AI is incredibly persuasive, but it isn't always right, and it often produces very average, generic thinking. 

Before someone relies heavily on AI, they need enough knowledge and experience to interrogate its outputs. You have to ask: Is this actually true? Is it strategically right? Does it answer the brief? Is there a better idea? 

Those judgement skills are developed by learning from experienced colleagues, receiving feedback and understanding why decisions are made. 

My advice for someone trying to break into the industry is this:

become exceptional at using AI, but don't become dependent on it. 

Build genuine marketing knowledge. Read campaigns. Understand brands. Learn consumer behaviour. Be curious about culture. Develop your own opinions and taste. 

Use AI as a thinking partner rather than a substitute for thinking. 

The people who'll succeed won't be those who can write the best prompts. They'll be the people who can recognise what great looks like, and equally important what isn't. 

The temptation for agencies might be to use AI to automate away junior work. I think that would be a huge mistake, huge. 

Entry-level roles have always been where people develop judgement through repetition, observation and feedback. If we remove all those learning opportunities, where do tomorrow's senior strategists, creatives and account directors come from? 

Junior talent needs to spend time alongside experienced people, understanding not just what decisions are made, but why they're made. AI should remove administrative work so that managers have more time to coach, mentor and develop people. 

That's where the long-term value lies. 

One of the things that excites me most about AI is its potential to level the playing field for young people who haven't had the same networks, opportunities or confidence as others. 

At Brixton Finishing School, many of our students don't have friends or family working in advertising. AI can act as an always-available coach, helping them understand industry terminology, explain agency roles, prepare for interviews, improve presentations or get feedback on ideas. That kind of support simply wasn't available a few years ago. 

Where I think it's particularly valuable is accelerating learning. If someone doesn't understand a media planning concept, wants to know how a creative brief works or needs to get up to speed on a client or sector, AI can dramatically shorten that learning curve. 

However, we shouldn't just teach prompt writing. 

We also need to foster curiosity, communication skills, critical thinking, fact-checking, ethics, bias, copyright, data privacy and, above all, how to evaluate AI outputs. 

I encourage our graduates to treat AI as a mentor, not an oracle. The goal isn't to let AI do the thinking for you; it's to help you become a better thinker yourself. The best outcomes come when young people use AI to ask better questions, explore different perspectives and build their understanding, not simply to generate answers they accept without challenge. 

AI literacy isn't just knowing how to use the tools. It's knowing when not to trust them. 

Looking ahead, junior roles will become more strategic more quickly. 

AI will take away much of the repetitive production work, but that means graduates will need stronger communication skills, commercial awareness, curiosity and confidence much earlier in their careers. 

Ironically, as AI-generated content becomes increasingly common, genuinely original human creativity becomes even more valuable. 

We've already seen AI produce a recognisable style of writing, the LinkedIn posts with the same 3 recommendation structures, the same cheesy turns of phrase and the same polished but predictable tone. It raises the question: would AI have created some of advertising's most iconic campaigns? The Cadbury's Gorilla playing Phil Collins' In the Air Tonight, Sony Bravia's bouncing balls, or Guinness' Surfer weren't just well-executed ideas. They were unexpected, emotionally resonant and culturally distinctive. 

AI is brilliant at pattern recognition. Great advertising is memorable because breaking familiar patterns grab our attention.

That's why I don't think the future belongs to people who simply know how to use AI. It belongs to people who combine AI with imagination, judgement, empathy and original thinking. 

Ultimately, confidence doesn't come from having AI produce the perfect answer. It comes from developing the knowledge and judgement to know whether that answer is actually right. 

Rob Hunter
CEO and Founder
Hunterlodge Group &
Chair
Advertising and Media Apprenticeship Standard Trailblazer Group  

AI is changing junior roles, but I do not think it removes the need for young talent. It changes what young people need to learn, and how agencies should support them. 

Some basic tasks are now quicker because of AI. Research, first drafts, idea starters and admin can all move faster. But that does not mean young people have less value. It means they need to build the skills that help them use AI well. 

The most important skills are critical thinking, good judgement and the ability to ask better questions. Young talent needs to know how to check AI outputs, spot mistakes, question weak answers and avoid taking everything at face value.

AI can give a fast answer, but people still need to decide whether that answer is useful, fair and right for the brief. 

AI literacy also matters. Young people should learn how to write strong prompts, understand how tools work, and get comfortable with new platforms as they change. But this should sit alongside human skills. Emotional intelligence, teamwork, ethical judgement and communication are still very important in agency life. 

Agencies have a big role to play. Young people should not be left to figure AI out alone. They need training, clear rules, access to approved tools and chances to use AI on real briefs. They also need feedback from senior people, so they can understand the thinking behind the work. 

At Hunterlodge, AI is used to help people learn faster and work smarter. It can support research, planning, idea generation and checking, but it does not replace the need to understand the industry, the client, or the thinking behind the work. 

For people trying to enter the industry, my advice is to stay curious, keep learning and do not be afraid of using AI tools. Learn how to use AI, but also learn how to challenge it. The people who will do well are those who can think clearly, adapt quickly and keep improving. 

    

Emma Johansen
Group Strategy Director
Generation Media   

Tyler Milner
Director of Activation
Generation Media    

Critical thinking and judgement are the most important skills for young people to have in our minds. We think of AI as an ‘accelerator of information’. It can’t (currently) replicate humans’ ability to interpret and turn that into commercially sound decisions, that comes from experience, context and understanding people & clients in the real world. 

AI adoption is varied, and junior talent can understandably be hesitant given the uncertainty around its impact on careers. 

Agencies need to encourage experimentation while helping people understand where AI can genuinely complement their work. 

Within our organisation, we’re investing in practical training and embedding AI into everyday workflows, using the time saved from automation to give junior colleagues earlier exposure to higher-value work, with the right oversight and opportunities to learn. 

From what we’re seeing, AI is evolving entry-level roles rather than simply replacing them. 

The industry has been pursuing greater efficiency for years, and AI accelerates that shift by automating repetitive tasks such as competitive analysis and reporting. 

We continue to hire entry level positions and are finding them to be early adopters of the technology we are rolling out. 

The challenge for us as foundational work fades out, is ensuring learning doesn’t disappear with it. We’re addressing this by having junior talent validate AI outputs, building technical knowledge and understanding fundamentals while reducing manual workload. 

With regards to advice for people wanting to start out, firstly, gain real-world experience: visit stores, observe shopper behaviour and understand the lives of your target consumers. That builds the instinct and confidence AI can’t provide. 

Secondly, learn how to get the best from AI. As with a brief, the quality of the output depends on the input so learn to ask better questions and, crucially, know when to apply your own judgement. 

Be curious… Embrace AI rather than resist it: experiment and understand how it’s being applied. But don’t underestimate the value of human intelligence. Early in your career, focus on getting close to consumers and culture, building your own point of view and developing strong technical foundations.

The better you understand how and why something works, the better you can use AI to enhance your strengths, challenge its output and become more effective. 

Iain Thompson
Head of Studio
Drummond Central  

AI is having a huge impact on our industry, and there's a lot of anxiety around it. However, I'm not seeing that anxiety from young talent. Instead there's a real hunger to explore the new tools at their disposal. 

The most valuable skills they bring, assuming the agency has embraced AI, are creativity, problem-solving, proactivity, ambition and confidence.

This is the first generation entering the industry as AI-native juniors, and it's rare for a wave of talent to arrive already fluent in something the rest of the industry is scrambling to learn. 

AI is plugging gaps and at times, replacing mundane, repetitive tasks, but none of it happens without an ambitious, creative, solutions-focused person in the driver's seat. 

Be confident, the value you bring goes beyond what the industry expects of a junior. You bring working knowledge of emerging tech that a lot of professionals still don't understand. 

It's easy to make a blanket statement about supporting junior talent and not letting AI replace people. I see a lot of that rhetoric on LinkedIn, where AI is positioned as the enemy at the gates. But every agency is at a different stage of adoption, and most people still don't fully understand the impact. 

We haven't changed how we engage with junior talent. What's changed is the role they play. So much of the industry's thinking capacity is tied up in existing workload alongside learning a constant stream of new platforms, and that leaves a real gap for fresh talent to inject their ideas into existing teams, with updated, tech-based solutions. 

We make the most of that by removing the admin barrier and putting juniors on valuable projects where they support a senior. They learn from more experienced people but have a platform to introduce their own ideas and improve real workflows. Investing in young talent this way is what gives our ideas, our development and our creative work, viability, and longevity. 

AI can absolutely automate the way certain tasks are completed. But someone still has to understand those tasks, build the workflow that automates them, maintain the code and agentic functions, and know when the process needs to change. That work opens up possibilities elsewhere in the business, letting you expand into areas that were previously out of reach. 

It all works best with a diverse team working toward a common goal. Young talent will increasingly find themselves on larger-scale work where they add genuine value. Coming straight out of education into a workplace that's harnessing evolving tech is an advantage in itself, because graduates, apprentices and interns will already be in the mindset of learning, adapting and changing. 

Getting your name out there is still the most important step for people starting out. I can remember creative approaches from graduates years after they landed, so the extra effort on a portfolio is always worth it. Remember, less is more: a handful of your best projects does far more work than a 30-page PDF of everything you've ever made. 

There's never been more training available, but the quality varies wildly. Sign up to a good LLM like Claude and use it to understand yourself and where your time is best spent. If you're a creative, whether that's an artworker, motion designer, art director or designer; a basic subscription to a multi-model platform like Leonardo or Higgsfield is worth it. They give you a space to explore generative AI and access to the latest models without being locked to one. 

Don't neglect existing tools. Solid Adobe knowledge is just as important as understanding AI. A lot of people think AI in advertising is a quick prompt, click a button, perfect output. The reality is a complex workflow with a large tech stack, moving between AI platforms and traditional design techniques. 

Technology is changing faster than ever, and it's not slowing down. Change is divisive and it brings uncertainty and disruption, but it also drives the biggest, most positive shifts in an industry. The responsibility is on all of us to navigate it, and that goes for anyone breaking into it too. 

Embrace the change, learn the tools, be confident, and use AI to bring your ideas to life. Be inquisitive, question everything and never stop learning. If you put genuine curiosity, creativity and ambition into your work, it'll be hard to ignore.