The news: AI is reshaping the ad agency landscape and eliminating the need for entry-level hires, according to a Sunup report that found that 91% of US senior agency leaders expect AI to reduce headcounts and 57% have slowed or paused entry-level hiring.

In a conversation with EMARKETER, Brendan Shea, cofounder of Sunup, discussed how AI is transforming the agency model, what opportunities there are for industry professionals, and where agencies are headed.

On the modern agency model: The agency ecosystem is rapidly changing as AI now performs “at the level of a mid-career professional,” said Shea. Agencies now rely on AI to perform “some of the more perfunctory, less interesting [marketing] tasks.” The AI shift is already here—evidenced by 100% of agencies now implementing AI in some capacity, according to the report.

As agencies implement AI for tasks like image generation and editing, copywriting, and ad design, they are “[redefining] what entry level means.” Once driven by human creatives, the agency landscape is shifting to a tech-driven model that “redefines what entry level means.”

The opportunity: While AI reshapes the number of junior creatives in the advertising industry, it isn’t eliminating opportunities entirely. “[Creatives] are entering more at [a] mid-level point,” Shea said.

There’s an opportunity for new hires to start in more senior roles—but that will largely depend on how fluent a candidate is with AI. “If you can speak to AI on your resume, interviews, or actually talk about how you’ve used it practically, that would give someone a leg up.”

The future of ad agencies: AI is streamlining key agency tasks and completely reshaping the traditional model. As AI adoption becomes integrated into all aspects of the ad creation process, “agencies will become leaner, more senior-led, and the bar is only [going to be] raised in terms of what they are producing and what value the client sees from it.” Agency workers who thrive in the AI era will be those who embrace, understand, and prove they know how to implement AI tools.

What it means for junior advertisers: Simply put, “people who resist AI are going to fall behind,” Shea stated. As AI makes the entry level agency job landscape more competitive, junior creatives hoping to find their way through the ad industry must prove that they know how to use AI as an enhancement to their creative work—putting them on the same playing field as a mid-level professional.