AI Explored Podcast Summary

Episode: The Future of AI and Marketing: What’s Coming and How to Prepare

Host: Michael Stelzner (Social Media Examiner)
Guest: Jeremiah Owyang (AI Analyst, General Partner at Blitzscaling Ventures, Llama Lounge Founder)
Release Date: December 23, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Michael Stelzner interviews Jeremiah Owyang, a prominent AI analyst, investor, and community leader, to demystify the rapidly evolving intersection of AI and marketing. Together they dive into the current state, tangible business impacts, and cultural shifts AI is driving across organizations of all sizes. Jeremiah provides unique insight into what it means to be “AI native,” how AI agents are reshaping the marketing funnel, and what leaders can do to prepare for the coming transformation.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Jeremiah’s Journey into AI (02:13–03:46)

• Jeremiah moved into AI after working in the Web3 space, leveraging his long-standing Silicon Valley experience to identify AI as the next major wave.
  • He began attending AI events, which culminated in launching Llama Lounge in April 2023—a now-premier AI founder event series.
  • Llama Lounge grew massively, routinely drawing hundreds of attendees, including founders, VCs, and buyers from top global firms.
• Quote:

  "Events are happening right here in my backyard...I just went for it. And so I committed to attending three to five events in the generative AI space...and then I launched my own event series." — Jeremiah Owyang (02:19)

Evolution of the AI Community in Silicon Valley (03:46–06:41)

• Early days: Events were small, scrappy, and in less desirable neighborhoods post-pandemic, but the passion was palpable.
• Growth: Now, Llama Lounge events require turning away ~900 people per event due to high demand, are hosted at major tech company headquarters, and attract a global audience.
• The culture is highly collaborative and built on community and demo-driven sharing.
• Quote:

  "People fly in from all over the world. So it has become kind of this premier thing." — Jeremiah Owyang (05:35)

Common Misconceptions About AI (06:41–08:56)

• AI Bubble: Jeremiah confirms we’re in a classic tech bubble—but that’s normal and necessary, as bubbles historically produce trillion-dollar companies. Of 42,000+ AI startups, 90% won’t survive, but this is expected.
• Layoffs: AI is often blamed for layoffs, but it’s typically only partially responsible—mergers, redundancies, or other business realities are often the deeper cause.
• Quote:

  "Of course there's going to be a bubble. Every tech trend has a bubble." — Jeremiah Owyang (07:01)

AI Agents: The Hype, Reality, and Business Impact (09:16–14:53)

• Definition: AI agents are “software that can sense the world around it, make decisions, then complete actions—and in advanced forms, collaborate with other agents.”
  • Current tools (e.g., ChatGPT) simulate some agentic behavior but don’t fully act autonomously or complete tasks without customization.
  • Real-life agents include self-driving cars (e.g., Waymo).
• Business Opportunities:
  • Small teams can scale outputs dramatically, with AI agents acting as virtual employees.
  • Early studies suggest 11% of jobs can already be done by AI/agents.
  • The field is emergent—businesses and VCs (including Jeremiah’s fund) are investing in agent infrastructure.
• Quote:

  "An individual contributor can be like a small team, or a small company can be like a medium sized company...Now an enterprise can finally act like a startup." — Jeremiah Owyang (10:27)
  "They are here in an experimental set and are being deployed, but they require some customizations." — Jeremiah Owyang (13:26)

The Five AI Cultures in Business (15:11–21:08)

1. AI Resistors: Actively against AI adoption.
2. AI Followers: Willing to adopt after the tech is stable/often regulated industries.
3. AI Forward: Integrate AI alongside human teams—"everyone has to use AI, but don't worry, it's not taking your jobs (yet)."
4. AI First: Classic tech companies; default to AI solutions, build if not available off-the-shelf, and use humans only as a last resort.
5. AI Native: Startups born with AI at their core, often 10x more productive (per employee revenue) than even top SaaS companies.

• Quote:

  "The top AI native startups...are out producing traditional SaaS companies 10x in revenue per employee." — Jeremiah Owyang (20:10)
  "The whole point...isn't just to put people in buckets. It's to show that the AI native startups...are generating far more revenue." — Jeremiah Owyang (20:54)

Examples of AI Native Companies (24:19–28:51)

• Midjourney: 40 employees, $12 million per employee.
• Mercor: Marketplace for AI experts to train AI platforms.
• Lovable: No-code platform for businesses.
• AIO: AI for restaurants, automating table service and operations.
• Many AI native firms leverage "AI First" mindsets and maximize automation—freeing human effort for high-value customer interactions.
• Quote:

  "There's a belief that there's a premium on humanity...you can have more time with customer interactions...offering greater services, human services, because the rest of the operations should be automated." — Jeremiah Owyang (27:58)

Keeping Up With AI: Tools, Frameworks, and Mental Models (29:20–31:22)

• Jeremiah uses multiple foundation models (Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude from Anthropic) and compares results.
• Google’s Gemini is emerging as a top-tier tool with deep integration—posing a threat to OpenAI’s leadership.
• Quote:

  "OpenAI has done a great job becoming kind of my co—like my co-partner." — Jeremiah Owyang (30:01)

The Era of Tech Giants, Lock-In, and Network Effects (31:22–35:05)

• Google’s integration and “memory” features are creating a powerful network effect and lock-in, which, while beneficial for users today, raise concerns for startups and competition.
• Quote:

  "It is a lock in. So when you have those things...the value increases for everybody else." — Jeremiah Owyang (32:52)
  "[Google] has distribution right already. It's one of the top websites in the world..." — Jeremiah Owyang (33:09)

AI’s Impact on the Marketing Funnel (35:05–47:41)

• End of the classic funnel: AI agents will do everything from research to making purchases, bypassing traditional top-of-funnel search. This scares Google—which is why it’s rapidly evolving Gemini.
• Product discovery and advertising will be agent-to-agent, not business-to-human.
• CRM systems will need to adapt (e.g., new “AI agent” fields), as AI agents become a primary “visitor” to your website.
• Quote:

  "One of the top visitors to your website over the next few years...is not a human, it's Michael's AI agent that's certified." — Jeremiah Owyang (40:35)

Implications:

• Marketers will need to format content for AI agent consumption, potentially losing ad real estate but gaining more transactional opportunities.
• Offers and negotiations may occur agent-to-agent.
• Powerful brands and experiential businesses will remain more insulated, as humans still crave direct connection in some categories (entertainment, luxury, etc.).
• Quote:

  "The presentation layer...and the data, the content—they’re decoupling. They don't need to be together." — Jeremiah Owyang (42:16)

• Content optimization for AI: New SEO-like approaches emerging (e.g., BrandRank AI) to gauge and influence how LLMs perceive and surface brands.

Will Marketing Still Matter?

• Jeremiah believes "traditional marketing" will wane in importance, particularly as the lower funnel is automated and human marketers need to focus on brand, experience, and content that stands out to both humans and machines.
• Quote:

  "Less important. And I'm a marketer...the agency market is just turning upside down right now." — Jeremiah Owyang (46:18)

• There will still be a "premium on humanity"—customer experience, empathy, and creativity grow in value.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the AI bubble:

  "Of course there's going to be a bubble...but you should prepare for it to happen because the trillion dollar companies come out of that." (07:01)

• On AI agents:

  "AI agents are software that can sense the world around it, make decisions on things to do, then it actually completes actions...and can learn and improve over time." (10:27)

• On AI-native startups:

  "[They] are out producing traditional SaaS companies 10x in revenue per employee." (20:10)

• On marketing’s future:

  "Less important. And I'm a marketer..." (46:18)

• On maintaining a human touch:

  "There's a premium on humanity. You have a premium on your humanity where you are offering greater services, human services, because the rest of the operations should be automated." (27:58)

Key Timestamps

• 02:13–03:46: Jeremiah’s journey into AI and launch of Llama Lounge
• 06:41–08:56: Misconceptions about AI and the current bubble
• 09:16–14:53: AI agents explained, current capabilities, and implications for businesses
• 15:11–21:08: The five AI cultures in business organizations
• 24:19–28:51: Real-world AI native business examples and their models
• 29:20–31:22: How to keep up: Tools, workflows, and Jeremiah’s approach to using AI
• 31:22–35:05: Google, the power of integration, and risk of tech giant lock-in
• 35:33–47:41: How AI will reshape marketing, the funnel, and the nature of customer interaction
• 46:12–47:41: The shifting importance of marketing, and the need to double down on humanity and experience

Connect with Jeremiah Owyang

• LinkedIn: Jeremiah Owyang
• Newsletter/Blog: Find links via social profiles or Google (Only one Jeremiah Owyang out there!)
• Events: Llama Lounge information is also shared via his newsletter and LinkedIn

Recommended Next Steps for Listeners

• Evaluate your company's AI culture: Are you resistant, following, forward, first, or native?
• Experiment with integrated AI tools (Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude) in daily work.
• Start considering how your marketing content and customer experiences can be optimized for both humans and agents.
• Stay updated on AI agent verification solutions and best practices as they develop.

For more show notes and resources, visit: socialmediaexaminer.com/aipod