Event
The Robots Are Coming (to New York!)
Event details
The world’s biggest agency AI conference is landing in New York City
Is your agency ‘all-in’ on AI, or are you still dabbling with it here and there? Get inspired to deploy AI in your agency, and learn first-hand how other agencies are using AI to improve their work and help their clients.
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Event Manifesto
The Robots Are Coming
Event curated by:
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Abi Donoghue
Agency Hackers
Every agency talks about AI, but how are other agencies really using it?
Agency leaders have been telling us that they’re caught between modernising their agency, and protecting the judgment, culture and human development that their teams rely on.
One common thing we’re hearing is: “I don’t want to raise a generation of prompt typists or replaceable operator.” So what does AI mean for your juniors?
And, just as importantly, what does it mean for clients? One founder told me that brands are
now looking closely at how agencies are using AI. They’re no longer hiring enthusiasm and skill; they’re hiring agency partners who can help them make the leap towards “new marketing realities” with AI (whatever they are.)
There are challenges and opportunity everywhere, and The Robots Are Coming is where the honest (and closed-door) conversations happen. It’s not just about tools now, but about what kind of agency you choose to become.
SPEAKERS
⏳ More speakers to be announced soon!
How Agencies are Really Using AI
Agencies aren’t short on ideas, they’re short on capacity. In this practical session, our sponsor, E2M’s Brent Weaver will be sharing some AI powered workflows that cut hours of manual work into minutes.
From augmented automations to micro-apps that handle reporting and analysis, you’ll see what’s actually working inside agencies right now.
Hire juniors who can thrive in an AI-shaped industry
Chris Murphy from Tuncarp will be talking about how he’s rebuilding the junior pathway inside his agency: teaching AI-first thinking, designing real training environments, and giving newcomers meaningful creative responsibility, that isn’t just plugging work into bots.
Learn what an “AI native” hire truly is, and how to develop talent who can think, not just prompt, in a transformed industry.
Beyond Efficiency: How AI Can Expand Agency Strategy
Jo McKinney will be sharing how she’s using AI to model alternate futures, pressure-test agency economics and rebuild workflows from the ground up.
In this interactive session she’ll show why efficiency is a distraction, and how simulation, scenario-building and strategic experimentation can unlock completely new forms of value.
What brands really expect from agencies in the AI era
After 30 years on the agency side, Kerry Fitzmaurice now sits brand-side and brings a candid view of what’s broken.
“If you’re not leading the change, and teaching your clients how to lead it, you’re not going to have an agency,” Kerry says.
In this session, Kerry shares what brands expect by 2026: agency partners who lead change, experiment with AI, prototype quickly and teach clients how to move faster.
Show and Tell
At Robots NYC we will also be opening the floor for a Show and Tell on AI.
Join us to demo the tools, workflows and experiments you’re actually using.
No pitches, no theory, just practical examples, honest lessons and a chance to learn from each other. If you’ve built it, tested it or broken it, we want to see it.
2026’s Political Ad Wave – What Agencies Need to Understand Now
Our partners on this event are AMS, and to round off the day AMS’s Carl Mayer and Alaina Donnellon will break down why 2026 is a critical year for agencies – and why misunderstanding political ad spend could seriously impact performance for non-political brands.
With an unusually dense US election cycle ahead, competition for inventory is about to intensify fast. This isn’t just about headline races. A growing number of state, mayoral and down-ballot elections are driving massive demand, quietly absorbing premium inventory across key channels – including Connected TV, where political spend is accelerating its shift away from linear.
Most importantly, Carl and Alaina will explain what agencies need to do now: how to plan around shrinking availability, protect client performance, and rethink creative and brand safety in a year dominated by aggressive, polarising messaging.
How AI is Changing Paid Media
Nate Burke, Beatrice Leblanc and Chester Yang, from our partners Diginius will be showing how AI is actually being used across platforms, media owners, and paid channels right now.
Drawing on real-world examples from the likes of TikTok and Microsoft, they will explore where AI is genuinely adding value today, where it is quietly reshaping workflows, and where the hype still outweighs reality.
They will be showing how exactly agencies can utilise AI in a practical, repeatable way, without guesswork, jargon, or costly trial and error.
FAQ
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