Agents of Change: Human in the Loop

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Conversations with people acting as agents of change, and those tracking its ripple effects in real time. Across media, technology, and AI, we unpack what’s real, what’s overhyped, and where human judgment still matters most.

  1. Sep 17

    From Amazon Ads to Fixing Enterprise Data: Joe Luchs on What AI Readiness Actually Takes

    Joe Luchs, Founder and CEO of Datalinx AI, joins Agents of Change to explain why he calls his company an "AI data refinery," using the analogy of crude oil needing to be refined into gas before it can fuel your car, and why he thinks the biggest lie in AI right now is that good tools can replace good data. Joe walks through a real case study with LiveRamp, where Datalinx took a data-onboarding process from a two-week job down to two minutes, and breaks down what his specialized AI agents actually do to discover, clean, and validate enterprise data. He also gets into the human side: the "Cold War" between marketing and IT teams, and the row-level confidence scoring that keeps a human in the loop when the data isn't trustworthy enough to act on automatically. Joe traces his own path from co-founding Beeswax, to running AWS and Amazon Ads globally, to betting on himself again with Datalinx, and closes with a personal take on AI, parenting, and what he hopes for the next generation. In this episode: The "AI data refinery" analogy, explained in plain English The biggest myth in AI: that good tools can replace good data A real before/after: taking LiveRamp's data onboarding from two weeks to two minutes What an AI agent actually does, mechanically, when it "cleans" enterprise data Confidence scoring and human-in-the-loop, row by row Lessons from co-founding Beeswax, and why Ari Paparo (Beeswax's founder) is now a Datalinx investor A personal take on AI, parenting, and trust in the next generation Guest: Joe Luchs, Founder & CEO, Datalinx AI Datalinx AI: https://www.datalinx.ai Subscribe to Agents of Change for more conversations on how AI agents are reshaping advertising, media, and technology. #AgentsOfChange #AI #AdTech #DataReadiness #DatalinxAI #AgenticAI

  2. Sep 9

    2026 Hot Takes on the Croisette: Why Creative Is the Hardest Thing to Hand to an Agent | Matic Tribušon

    We wrap our Hot Takes on the Croisette series with Matic Tribušon, Chief Product Officer at Celtra, on one of the toughest workflows to hand over to agents: creative. Recorded café-side in Cannes, lunch rush and all. Matic argues that agentic AI doesn't change what good creative requires — it just makes weak brand guidelines and loose review processes break faster. He walks through how Celtra pairs generative AI with codified brand guidelines to let non-designers produce more, why human judgment is shifting from making the work to judging it, and why the brands that had rigorous review processes before AI are the ones benefiting most now. He closes with a look ten years out: the ad ops work that disappears, and why the industry's new north star is curation, not creation. Celtra: https://celtra.com Produced in partnership with AgenticAdvertising.org. Sponsored by Agnitio.

  3. Sep 2

    2026 Hot Takes on the Croisette: Why Salesforce Isn't Shipping Hundreds of Agents Out of the Box | Chinmayi Bettadapur

    Where is Salesforce actually trusting agents with work today? On this episode of Agents of Change, we sit down with Chinmayi Bettadapur, VP and General Manager for Agentforce Media at Salesforce, to talk about building agents that meet the real needs of media and entertainment companies. Chinmayi shares how agents are fast-tracking her own product and engineering teams — letting them prototype and ship roadmap items faster than ever — and why she'd currently describe it as "agents in the loop" more than "humans in the loop," with fact-checking as the piece that still needs a person. We talk about why Salesforce is deliberately not shipping hundreds of out-of-the-box agents (they'd "just collect dust"), and how AI now lets the company build bespoke agents at scale with customers instead of for them. She closes with a 2036 prediction: which advertising job fades into pure agent work, and how the phrase "talk to my agent" is about to take on a whole new, more transactional meaning. In this episode: How agents are speeding up Salesforce's own product development and prototyping Why it's "agents in the loop" today, with fact-checking as the human's job Why Salesforce won't ship hundreds of out-of-the-box agents — and what it's building instead A 2036 prediction: the transactional future of "talk to my agent" Guest: Chinmayi Bettadapur, VP & General Manager, Agentforce Media, Salesforce Subscribe to Agents of Change for more conversations on how AI agents are reshaping advertising, media, and technology. #AgentsOfChange #AdTech #AI #Salesforce #Agentforce #AgenticAI

  4. Aug 28

    2026 Hot Takes on the Croisette: Agents Can Run Slack, But Not Your Bank Account Yet | Ben Williams

    Where do you actually trust an AI agent today — and where do you still hold the line? On this episode of Agents of Change, we sit down with Ben Williams, Founder and Managing Director of Kiln, a technology agency focused on the media sector, to talk trust, governance, and what AdCP means for the future of ad tech. Ben shares where agents already run autonomously in his own agency (platform integrations like Anthropic, Workspace, and Slack), and where he draws a hard line today (agents don't get banking access). We dig into AdCP and who stands to win and lose if DSPs and SSPs become commodity rails — Ben's take: the opaque, high-take-rate intermediaries lose, and publishers, broadcasters, and society win. We also talk human-in-the-loop guardrails in his own AdCP prototypes, and where he sees things heading as those prototypes go live. He closes with a 2036 prediction: which ad-tech job disappears, and which new role — VP of Agentic — takes its place. In this episode: Where Ben trusts agents to run autonomously today, and where he doesn't (yet) AdCP's winners and losers if DSPs and SSPs become commodity rails Why human-in-the-loop is heavy now but won't stay that way as prototypes scale A 2036 prediction: the rise of the "VP of Agentic" and the mindsets that get left behind Guest: Ben Williams, Founder & Managing Director, Kiln Subscribe to Agents of Change for more conversations on how AI agents are reshaping advertising, media, and technology.

  5. Aug 28

    2026 Hot Takes on the Croisette: How Advertible Is Scaling Creative with Agentic AI | Priti Ohri

    At Cannes Lions, I sat down with Priti Ohri, CEO & Co-Founder of Advertible, to discuss what agentic AI actually looks like inside a growing advertising business. Rather than replacing people, Priti shares how her team is using AI agents to eliminate busy work, amplify creative at scale, and free humans to focus on higher-value strategic thinking. She also explains why trust and governance remain non-negotiable, how multiple agents verify each other's work, and why native advertising may be one of the best proving grounds for agentic workflows. In this episode, we cover: • How Advertible uses AI agents across marketing, engineering, and production • Why every AI output should be verified—not blindly trusted • Scaling creative without sacrificing brand governance • Why native advertising is uniquely positioned for agentic AI • The advertising jobs AI will eliminate—and the ones it will elevate Recorded live on the Croisette during Cannes Lions as part of our 2026 Hot Takes on the Croisette series, in partnership with the Agentic Advertising Organization and sponsored by Agnitio. If you're building with AI, leading marketing or advertising teams, or wondering what the future of human + agent collaboration really looks like, this episode is for you.

  6. Aug 25

    2026 Hot Takes on the Croisette: Trust Is the New Brand Safety | Pamela Slea

    What happens to brand safety when an AI agent, not a human, writes the ad? On this episode of Agents of Change, we sit down with Pamela Slea, CEO of Boltive, an ad security and privacy technology company building the guardrails that let buy-side and sell-side agents transact at scale. We talk about where Boltive is already trusting agents in production (hint: privacy compliance monitoring across hundreds of thousands of sites), where human judgment still has to stay in the loop, how the definition of "brand safety" is being rewritten in real time, and what jobs in advertising and technology might look like — or disappear — by 2036. In this episode: How Boltive uses agents to monitor consent and compliance at scale, jurisdiction by jurisdiction Why "human in the loop" means more than oversight — it means using AI strategically, not just tactically Redefining brand safety when brands themselves aren't writing the ads anymore A 10-years-out prediction: which ad-tech jobs disappear, and which new ones emerge Guest: Pamela Slea, CEO, Boltive Learn more about Boltive: https://www.boltive.com Subscribe to Agents of Change for more conversations on how AI agents are reshaping advertising, media, and technology. #AgentsOfChange #AdTech #AI #BrandSafety #Boltive #AgenticAI

  7. Aug 24

    2026 Hot Takes on the Croisette: Good Bots, Bad Bots with Sarah Acker of HUMAN

    Everyone wants an agent strategy. But according to Sarah Acker of HUMAN, that strategy must begin with visibility. As bots and AI agents account for a growing share of internet activity, businesses need to understand which agents are legitimate, which are malicious and which may be acting as customers on behalf of real people. In this episode of 2026 Hot Takes on the Croisette, Sarah and Aubriana discuss: • Why agentic visibility must come before agentic strategy • How to distinguish good bots from bad bots • The risks of spoofed AI agents • Why blocking every bot could mean blocking revenue • How visibility and control help brands reduce fraud without shutting out legitimate commerce Recorded at Cannes Lions as part of the 2026 Hot Takes on the Croisette series in partnership with Agentic Advertising Org and sponsored by Agnitio. Subscribe for more conversations with the people building the agentic future of advertising. #AgenticAI #ArtificialIntelligence #Cybersecurity #Advertising #CannesLions #AIagents

  8. Aug 10

    2026 Hot Takes on the Croisette: Why Programmatic Is Running on Windows 95 | Brian O’Kelley

    Programmatic advertising is running on an operating system built 20 years ago. Brian O’Kelley thinks it is time for a rebuild. The Scope3 co-founder and CEO joins Aubriana Alvarez Lopez on the Cannes Croisette to discuss AI agents, the hidden incentives preserving programmatic waste, where humans still matter and why advertising’s future belongs to dreamers. Part of our 2026 Hot Takes on the Croisette series, in partnership with the Agentic Advertising Organization and sponsored by Agnitio.

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Conversations with people acting as agents of change, and those tracking its ripple effects in real time. Across media, technology, and AI, we unpack what’s real, what’s overhyped, and where human judgment still matters most.

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