How AI Is Reshaping Marketing: Insights from Google Speakers at AMA
- Robin Brino
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Today, the American Marketing Association at the University of Maryland hosted two guest speakers from Google: Christine Brown and Jon Fraser.
Christine Brown, a UMD graduate, works in audience product strategy and has experience with international development, advertising, and product strategy. Jon Fraser, who studied poli-sci at a small college in Minnesota, has built his career in ad sales and data analytics. Together, they offered a real-world look at how AI is shaping their day-to-day work.
Introduction Questions
The session opened with an interactive discussion. Students introduced themselves while answering two questions:
What’s the dumbest “AI slop” you’ve seen?
What’s the coolest AI tool you’ve used?
Students shared tools like NotebookLM, Otter.ai, and Google Gemini, highlighting how AI already plays a strong part in their life. At the same time, many pointed out poorly executed AI slops including misleading ads and low-quality articles.
A Brief History of AI
Jon Fraser then walked us through the evolution of AI. Believe or not, AI has been around since the 1950s. Progress was exciting but slow, leading to discredited AI findings in the 60s and 70s.
However, we explored its resurgence in the mid 2000s. One example discussed we was DeepMind, which demonstrated AI’s potential by training systems to outperform humans in complex games, specifically Atari Breakout.
Fraser also explained how modern AI mimics human neural networks. This framework was eye-opening to many of our students as we were able to relate the complexity of AI to something that we all are connected to!
AI as a “Force Multiplier”
Christine Brown framed AI in a way that resonated strongly with our student body: describing AI as a “force multiplier” for human insight.
She compared the current moment to the Industrial Revolution, emphasizing that AI is fundamentally changing how we work. She encouraged students to ask:
What should I amplify with AI?
What shouldn’t I amplify?
She also referenced an idea from Jensen Huang:
You won’t lose your job to AI - you’ll lose it to someone who knows how to use AI better than you.
AI as Your Intern
One of the most memorable takeaways was how to think about AI in everyday work: treat it like an intern.
AI can help you organize and optimize certain tasks, but it still needs your own direction. Human connection and creativity are irreplaceable!
Why AI Matters:
The speakers broke down both the advantages and the challenges of using AI effectively.
Why AI is powerful:
It simplifies massive complexity at scale
Improves efficiency, accuracy, and speed
Enables creative generation and optimization
Reduces repetitive “busy work,” allowing more focus on strategy
Why AI is difficult:
It requires upfront investment in training and systems
Success depends on asking the right questions
Poor processes lead to poor outputs
Organizations must design human workflows before automating them
Applying It: A Mini Case Study
To close the session, students were given a case: UMD was launching a thrift store, and teams had to identify flawed uses of AI in a marketing strategy and propose better alternatives.
Final Thoughts
AI is a rapidly changing industry that people should be excited to learn from and take advantage of! AI is the future of marketing, and its impact starts today in the way that people use it. Special thanks to Christine Brown and Jon Fraser for sharing out their insight with the American Marketing Association. We appreciate your time and dedication!
-Robin Brino
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