What are people overestimating about AI in advertising right now? I asked Steven
By Joeshelerud · November 11, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
What are people overestimating about AI in advertising right now?
I asked Steven O'Reilly from Amazon that question at unBoxed.
His answer came back to inputs and controls. An advertiser or partner drops in what they want to achieve, their audience, and so on, and assumes everything will deliver against those parameters.
It doesn't always work that way.
Steven's point, especially for display, video, and audio: delivery is a trade-off. Narrow the audience way down or set your bid to a specific level, and you constrain your ability to deliver and hit the scale you're after.
The tool isn't ignoring your settings. It's following them.
That one stuck with me. Every guardrail you add has a cost, and it's easy to forget that when the inputs look like a simple form.
Appreciate Steven getting into the practical side of this.