Podcast Episode Summary
Perpetual Traffic – Episode: The Invisible AI Underbelly That No Marketer Knows About...Until Now (PART 1)
Hosts: Ralph Burns (CEO of Tier 11) & Lauren Petrullo (CEO of Mongoose Media)
Date: November 11, 2025
Main Theme & Purpose
This episode dives into the “invisible underbelly” of artificial intelligence that is rapidly transforming digital marketing—often faster than marketers can keep up. Ralph and Lauren explore the scale and pace of AI adoption in big tech, discuss the evolution of AI in advertising, data, and creative, and offer candid insights about how agencies and marketers can respond to the coming wave. This is Part 1 of a two-part series focusing on the business consequences of massive AI investments and practical agency use cases.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. AI is Unstoppable & Ubiquitous
- No one can keep up with AI’s speed. Even Meta’s own AI lead is overwhelmed. The only solution? “Adopt and integrate it into our lives.”
“There are so many facets of AI that I can't keep up with it. The person in charge of Meta can't keep up with it... We just have to adopt it and integrate it into our lives.” – Lauren (00:00, 19:52)
- The world is at an inflection point akin to the iPhone revolution, but for AI.
“2022 was the iPhone moment, but the big bang moment was back in 2012, sort of with this Alexnet.” – Ralph (17:57)
2. Real-World AI Use Cases: Accessibility
- Lauren shares a story of a Lyft driver using AI (Groq in a Tesla) to learn and practice English with live translation, highlighting the democratization and real-life impact of AI tools.
“He’s been learning and practicing English using Grok in the Tesla, talking to her, and it will self-correct his pronunciation.” – Lauren (05:08)
- Language barriers and advanced translation are being dismantled daily by cheap, accessible AI.
3. AI Investment at an Unimaginable Scale
- The largest tech firms are pouring billions into AI infrastructure, with projected spendings of $400B+ in 2025 alone.
“Silicon Valley's biggest companies are already planning on pouring $400 billion into artificial intelligence.” – Ralph (00:09, 22:00)
- Meta alone is investing $81B in 2025 (up from an initial $61B); the cumulative investments are so big, even tech giants report a “compute-starved state.”
“Zuckerberg direct quote ... ‘We are running in a compute-starved state.’ Even with a $71 billion investment in 2025, there's such an appetite for more compute.” – Ralph (24:46)
4. Historical Context: From AlexNet to Andromeda
- The first seismic AI leap happened in 2012 with AlexNet, a breakthrough in image recognition that laid the groundwork for today’s recommendation algorithms (e.g., in Meta, Google, YouTube, Netflix).
- The technology migrated from academic research to product features powering ad targeting and personalization engines.
“The reason why we have all these algorithm changes right now and this great thing that we call Meta Andromeda, the basis for that... was this thing called Alexnet.” – Ralph (11:17)
5. Marketing & Agency Impact
- AI is as transformative for marketing as the industrial revolution was for manufacturing.
- Shift in how agencies must approach creative: “Creative diversification” is essential to feed the modern AI-driven algorithms like Meta’s Andromeda.
“The best types of ads are the ones that are actually getting the most spend, not actually the ones that are getting the most conversions.” – Ralph (02:28)
- Organizationally, AI adoption is now a core job responsibility (e.g., HR at Tier 11 is half-dedicated to AI upskilling).
6. Marketers’ Dilemma: Overwhelm & Opportunity
- Marketers—and even people at tech giants—can’t keep up with the AI tool explosion; adoption, not mastery of all tools, is key.
“There's a new tool that comes out like every other day, if not thousands of new tools every day...A lot of them are just like interface hacking... We're figuring this out together.” – Lauren (20:05)
- Geopolitical arms race: Government and private investments are converging. Middle Eastern and Asian nations are maneuvering to become AI superhubs, suggesting a coming global realignment.
7. Market Capitalization & Advertiser Relevance
- 35% of the S&P 500’s total value now comes from tech stocks heavily invested in AI (Tesla, Meta, Google/Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia).
“35% of the S&P's total value is driven by stocks that are heavily invested and or rely upon artificial intelligence.” – Ralph (22:01)
- Tech stock valuations are sky-high, but the show suggests the “bubble” is younger (and likely to last longer) than the dot-com era.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- On the necessity to adopt AI:
“If [Meta’s AI lead] can't keep up with it, like, how can we all keep up with it?” – Ralph (19:54)
- On market disruption:
“Power is the new gold... Solar access is the new petroleum.” – Lauren (26:03, 26:40)
- On sabotage by Netflix recommendation engine:
“The best thing you can do to sabotage someone is you go into their Netflix... and mess up their algorithm.” – Lauren (10:35)
- On AI leveling the playing field globally:
“We're so limited... what China and some parts of Europe are coming out is exploding on this space... The confession is, I can't keep up with it.” – Lauren (18:30)
- Meta’s quote on computing power shortages:
“Zuckerberg even said it, he's like, we're actually, we're lacking computing power, we need more. Right now we're in a dearth of compute.” – Ralph (15:30)
Important Segment Timestamps
- AI is Unstoppable & Overwhelming: 00:00, 19:52
- Lyft Driver’s Real-World AI Translation Story: 04:08–05:26
- Investment Scale & Bubble Timeline: 06:09–13:36, 22:45–24:46
- AlexNet Origin Story & Rec Engines: 08:06–11:17
- 35% of S&P 500 Value from AI Invested Stocks: 21:57–22:01
- “Compute-starved” State & AI Infrastructure Shortages: 24:46–26:03
- Global Political/Economic AI Arms Race: 16:49–18:30
- Agency AI Adoption & Staff Training: 14:46–16:49, 20:05–20:40
Tone & Style
Conversational, energetic, a little irreverent—Ralph and Lauren openly admit to being overwhelmed while keeping their audience motivated and focused on practical takeaways. The banter includes playful asides, personal anecdotes, and a “pull back the curtain” vibe.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Part 1 concludes by underlining that marketers must at least adopt—not necessarily master—AI to stay competitive, as the technology’s influence is only beginning. The second part of this series will address implementation strategies, the emerging AI capabilities marketers should track, and more actionable insights for agencies and businesses navigating the AI frontier.
Listen to the full episode or watch on YouTube for graphics and expanded content: perpetualtraffic.com/YouTube
Get all referenced links and resources at: perpetualtraffic.com