“I had to resign to a bot,” exclaimed a B2B CMO who happily moved to a new company after this strange encounter. “The funniest part was that the bot asked me to reconsider,” the amused CMO shared. This AI-first approach hasn’t helped that company’s Glassdoor ratings and begs the question, where are the lines when it comes to automating specific roles, if not entire departments?

Let’s stay on this example before opening the aperture

I can see an investor saying, “Who cares if our Glassdoor ratings decline when our operating costs are much lower?” Well, let’s start with every future potential hire. Unless you never want to hire again, you’re looking at higher recruiting costs and a weaker recruitment base. Even if you can live with that, you’ll likely see the impact on your pipeline since many buyers check Glassdoor for insights, as do LLMs.

I'm Not Saying Don't Automate. Just Think It Through

Earlier this month, Gartner issued a report, “Rehiring Human Agents to Replace AI is 2025’s Latest Trend.” This followed the headline-grabbing stories about Klarna’s now-aborted efforts to replace their customer service agents with bots. Klarna’s customer service ratings tanked during their brief bot-only period. Duolingo faced a similar backlash when it announced it would replace all of its “human contractors” with machines, forcing it to abandon its plan and its once-booming presence on TikTok.

Don't Conflate Efficiency with Effectiveness

This is particularly important for marketers as they evaluate when, where, and how to deploy AI. Most of the marketing leaders in CMO Huddles are using LLMs to crank out a wide range of content. No doubt, the creation time has accelerated dramatically (75-90% faster). Most also swear that their content is as good or even better than before, especially when there is a highly skilled editor or designer in the loop. So far, so good?

Good Isn't Good Enough

Because it is so easy to create good content, your competitors no doubt have flooded the market with equally good stuff. Your content must now be great. To get there will take savvy humans with judgment AND a bot management process that forces the LLMs to help your content cut through. One member of our community has two GPTs, one to draft the content and another to edit it ruthlessly. And a human review process.

Resist the Pressure to Replace Your Staff with Bots

Instead, reimagine your team filled with utility players who can think broadly about your business and help execute in all areas (thanks to their LLM-assistants). The more seasoned the staffer, the more autonomy you can give them (assuming you trust their judgement). Keep hiring junior staffers with high levels of curiosity, expect to train them on your tools, and don’t be surprised when they add value faster than they ever could before.

Human-first marketing will be a competitive advantage. So says this human.

Written by Drew Neisser