That’s conventional wisdom backed up by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which in 2025 reported the median age of ad industry workers was 39, compared to 42 for the broader workforce. Meanwhile, a report from the World Advertising Research Center estimates that only 5% to 10% of budgets are directed toward older consumers.

Today, brands focus on Gen Z customers and ad companies target Gen Z hires, all on newer platforms like TikTok. As the new guard sweeps in, the people who built the previous era creep toward irrelevance. As AI is impacting every aspect of the industry, it’s only natural to assume that it, too, will usher in a new era of ad makers and consumers. 

It doesn’t have to. Some of the most compelling artists who incorporate AI I encounter are not necessarily very young workers coming straight out of school. They are older, established game designers, VFX artists, concept artists, animators, photographers, and directors who have spent decades devising concepts and developing characters, images, and entire imaginary worlds that have earned fandoms.  

These professionals have played with light, composition, performance, movement, texture, and narrative. They know how to make the moment big and cinematic and, more importantly, they pick up on when it feels wrong.

AI can generate campaigns, but it cannot replicate genuine experience. And if these experienced workers can leverage the technology, it could, potentially, revitalize their careers.

The common assumption is that AI belongs to digital natives. But knowing how to run a new model is not the same as knowing what to create with it.

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