Yesterday I wrote a piece about the AI-driven “white collar recession,” which felt to me like a bunch of bullshit marketing. This morning as I perused my morning paper I came across this extraordinary example of exactly what I’m on about. The image above is an ad in The Information’s morning tech news roundup. It’s an undisguised appeal aimed at marketing professionals, playing directly to their fears that they’re about to be replaced by AI. The solution, of course, is … “Head” – the “world’s first AI marketer” which, the company claims, is “not a tool, it’s a new species.”
This kind of claptrap is clogging up any reasonable dialog about the role of AI in our economy. On its home page, Head claims to be “hired” by more than 50,000 companies – hey, that’s a lot! But just a bit of legwork reveals Head is … well, the word “questionable” comes to mind.
Timed to this morning’s ad in The Information, today Head released a hyperbolic press release claiming its clients have already saved $100 million using its products (that’s just one zero away from a billion!). The release quotes its founder, Kay Feng, whose LinkedIn page helpfully does not resolve, though Google’s index finds photos from previous crawls that look suspiciously like the AI slop nearly all of us have to endure in spammy text and DM come ons. The company has a Youtube channel with one video (released today), an Instagram account with one post (also posted today), and a nearly vacant LinkedIn account that shows most of its “associated people” live in China.
But sure, the company already has more than 50,000 customers driving $100 million in revenue!
Makes me wonder if The Information fact checks its own advertisers. If it doesn’t, maybe it should start. And if it does….
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Fascinating take on “headless marketing” the shift towards modular, API-driven content truly reflects the future of brand agility. Insightful and timely analysis!
We need more of this kind of critical commentary. The problem isn’t AI—it’s how it’s being repackaged into fantasy stories to sell panic solutions. It’s refreshing to read something that doesn’t take PR at face value.