AI is evolving too quickly for any single leader—or any single company—to keep pace. The torrent of new tools, features, and frontier models is exhausting, but it’s also exhilarating. Every organization is experimenting with adoption, searching for the use cases that will deliver real competitive advantage.

The real breakthrough, however, won’t come from brands experimenting in isolation. It will come when AI-powered companies pair their new capabilities with equally AI-powered strategy. That convergence—the collision of technology and clarity—will spark what I'm calling the AI Big Bang: a moment when creativity, technology, and strategy combine to generate entirely new categories of ideas, models, and solutions.

Beyond the “Do-It-All Yourself” Narrative

Much has been made of the claim that AI will eliminate the need for strategists, creatives, or external partners altogether. OpenAI’s Sam Altman even suggested that 95% of what agencies and creative professionals do today will soon be handled by AI.

However, that argument is incomplete. AI will expand internal capacity, yes. But by definition, companies are inward-looking, focused on their own operations. What they lack is perspective across industries and the ability to see patterns and blind spots that only emerge when you look broadly. Strategy remains essential—not because it ignores AI, but because it ensures AI is pointed in the right direction.

That said, every discipline is being reshaped. Search is being rewritten by AI-driven engines. Development is moving toward low- and no-code environments. Brand and marketing leaders are rethinking which skills will matter in a landscape where AI is table stakes.

The answer is becoming clear, though. The differentiator isn’t who has access to the tools, because everyone will. The differentiator is who applies them with the most precision—and who applies them the fastest—guided by strategy and design thinking.

The AI Big Bang isn’t hypothetical. It's already started. Accenture reported $600 million in generative AI-related revenue in a single quarter—proof that companies are moving quickly from experimentation to scale. The pace of adoption is accelerating, not slowing.

The Path Forward

If you’re still waiting to become AI literate, the time to act is now. Spend hours experimenting with frontier models. Force yourself to learn not just what they can do, but where they fall short. The leaders who step into this moment will create advantage measured in years, not months.

The AI Big Bang is near. The opportunity is massive. And those who prepare now—by combining technological capability with strategic clarity—will be the ones to shape what comes next.