The Rapid Evolution of AI: Attending 3XE AI

3XE AI – billed as ‘Ireland’s biggest AI Conference for Marketeers’ (or should that be marketers?), it felt only right that the digital marketing team at Proactive should check it out, given the prevalence of AI in the world of marketing, content and social media.

The rise, fall and rise again of AI has been swift in the last couple of years, enjoying a stratospheric climb in 2025.

It is estimated that there are over 800 million weekly active users on ‘pin-up toy’ ChatGPT alone, processing around 2.5 billion messages per day. Love it or loathe it, the LLM (large language models) are here to stay, and users routinely lean on them to perform tasks that only a few years ago would have looked like digital sorcery.

Hype to High Impact

After the packed room of digitally native attendees were warmed up with coffee and opening remarks from Chair Anthony Quigley and Ian Dodson, CEO & Founder of AiCertified, we were introduced to software royalty in the form of Google – EMEA Sales Leader, Christina Barbosa-Gress of Google Cloud, to be precise.

The theme of Ms Barbosa-Gress’s talk emphasised the importance of embracing AI as a tool for change, revolutionising how we can reach our audience and prospects in new and innovative ways. A number of very cool live examples were presented, such as:

• Google Gemini Veo3. The ability to create highly customised video content with a simple prompt. The implications of this for ad commercials, and ecommerce are enormous. Imagine seeing yourself in various outfits and poses before you buy. Fashion brands can generate unique AI models (think AI David Gandy 2.0) to showcase their latest threads.
• Imagen 4. Photorealistic images of landscapes, plants, people and animals.
• Notebook LM. Turn lengthy content pieces or disparate source files into a single coherent podcast voiced by your very own naturally sounding AI hosts – albeit in American accents. Donegal brogue coming soon we’ve been assured.
• Looker Conversational Analytics. Talk to your data. Ask questions within Google Analytics. This has been rolled out across various territories from mid-November, and one to keep an eye on as the tool evolves. Needless to say, it needs data to work on. One more reason to reach out to the Proactive team to get your digital ducks in a row.
• Agent Gallery. Create custom personas and AI agents to improve your workflow and deliver results. Fast.

Strategy Before Utilisation

Dazzled by the suite of Google tools in development, it was very easy to be complacent and resign ourselves (and our work) to our AI agents. Naomh McElhatton, Irish Ambassador for Women in AI gave a lively talk about the perils of adopting these tools without consideration.

There was a discussion about the incoming EU AI act and the need to ensure safety, transparency and adopting a risk-based approach. While AI is an exciting field and developing rapidly, there is the danger that for many, the horse has already bolted the stable. The job of responsible business users and advocates is to tame and coax her back home. 

AI won’t solve all your problems. Used irresponsibly, it can create an entire batch of new ones, if the tools aren’t learnt and respected. Some practical examples offered included content writing and social media with humans firmly at the reins. 

Not an em dash in sight. Ah, bliss.

Strategy in the Age of AI. No BS.

If the audience were feeling tired after the morning sessions, and the coffee break didn’t give the necessary jolt needed, the next hour certainly did.

Gavin Duff, Director of Performance Marketing Friday Agency and Cathal Melinn, Founder of Digital Basics, added much needed balance after we were all still Googling in awe at the latest Gemini innovations.

There were key takeaways from both sessions, but the overriding theme was, ‘opinions matter’. This is where AI is limited. In an age of AI slop where everything and everyone is sounding similar (the internet is becoming a copy of a copy of a copy), and with barriers to produce content easier than ever before, the onus for all content creators, marketers and anyone who values their product/service originality is, quite simply – BE REAL.

Yes, the rules have changed. Search patterns have changed, but content was, is and will always be King. History doesn’t necessarily repeat, but it often rhymes. We have been here before with the demise of one tool and the emergence of another (Yahoo -> Google. Golden Pages -> Google My Business). We just need to adapt to the new paradigm and remain flexible in our approach.

Be careful of AI creep. It may be something as innocuous as a big red box on your Google ad which gently nudges you to increase your ad spend, or an amber warning advising completion of an unfinished task for that dopamine hit.

You may be seduced into generating a social media post that ‘does that job’ instead of taking that extra few minutes to actually consider what your users want.

Be vigilant. Temptation is everywhere, and people are increasingly tuning out and letting AI take charge, as we defer to a perceived authority. 

AI-generated posts and content are no longer engaging users at the human level. Worst case scenario, search engines are throttling your reach if sites simply become a content hub for AI content. 

So, the question needs to be asked: Are we writing for humans or the algorithms? If it’s the latter, we – me – you – will never get found in a sea of sameness.

Marketing Pain to AI Gain

In the afternoon, the AI pendulum had slipped from the blissful happy hands of Google, swung away from the danger zone – threatening to turn us all into digital serfs – to come to rest somewhere akin to a happy medium.

More use cases – this time from Nick Landsley, Innovation Consultant at GS1 Ireland – had the audience holding phones aloft to our AI gods (a QR code on the screen), to access a wine product and sustainability details from the viewpoint of both custom agent and producer. This was a nifty piece of technology which helped declutter product information and provide a simpler user experience.

This was coupled with a demonstration of an agentic AI integrated with Tesco’s ecommerce site, which was prompted to do the shopping for a family of four, with various food intolerances and on a limited budget. The addition of items to the shopping cart and seeing the tool ‘think’ was very clever. The meal plan output was, as expected, faultless. Now, how to get AI to get busy in the kitchen?

The Compliance Edge & AI-Powered Operations

Colin Cosgrove, founder of Movizmo Coaching Solutions and Denis Jastrzebski, Business Growth Specialist at Content Plan, helped put meat on the bones of what could be done – not next year, but right now.

Organisations need to consider how they plan to use AI, and structure their thoughts in a formal plan. Yes, things are evolving quickly, but having an internal champion and ensuring education in its use is paramount to protecting both your business and your clients.

Time being wasted on admin? AI can automate many of those tasks, freeing you to work on creating value and content that people – real people – want to see. These tools already exist. The aforementioned ChatGPT, Perplexity, Zapier – for emails, scheduling and creating workflows.

Winning in Social Media in the AI AGE

Clark Boyd, founder of Novela Academy and braving the graveyard slot (someone has to do it), did an excellent job of hammering home the originality piece, especially when it comes to social media. He shared examples of viral social campaigns that were just the right side of edgy and thoughtful.

Social media fatigue is real. Don’t add to it by being like everyone else. Leave the rocketships to Elon and team.

En Fin

We left the conference room dazzled by the products, excited for the future, but more importantly, more confident of our place as marketers, in it.

AI can’t replace human ingenuity. Users are acting with their feet (and mouses). We are becoming more conscious of AI content – both written and visual. While it may dazzle and impress on the surface, it still lacks that one thing that makes us uniquely human. Heart.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for it in our day-to-day lives.

Creating a blog post outline? Check.
Summarising long articles for concise action items? Double Check.
Brainstorming ideas for a new product launch? ✅
Automating boring and monotonous tasks that steal your energy? Check, please!

3XE AI will undoubtedly return next year, and I for one will be attending.

Things are evolving fast, and it is in our best interests to learn how we can improve the quality of our work, relationships and ability to meet our clients needs – working from a place of authenticity and curiosity.