Automation Isn't Actual Marketing
I saw a LinkedIn post that led with “We replaced a $750K/year marketing team with 24 TikTok Shop AI Agents," and thought to myself (who else would I be thinking to?), this is a solid hook, but it also exposes the growing fatigue in current marketing. Are we building brands, or just creating content machines? That's an important question because, at scale, those are not the same thing.
The current AI automation tools do allow for crafting a clean performance system: find what’s already working, model proven hooks, and push volume until you find winners. Tools like Manus, Fastmoss, and Kalodata make that “copy the winners” loop fast and brutally efficient. This practice also leans into TikTok’s reality that creative fatigue is high, CPMs are sensitive, and velocity matters more than glossy production. Hundreds of variations a day is exactly how you pressure-test hooks in a TikTok Shop environment. For high-velocity, direct-response e-commerce, this is not theory as AI-first production is already outperforming traditional ad workflows in many niches.
Wait for it.....
However, we need to look at where this model starts to break and the primary issue of not “can you do this?” but “what does this turn your brand into?”
First, there is the authenticity risk. Because TikTok Shop still runs on perceived human trust, swarms of synthetic “creators” can drive clicks and GMV in the short term, but once people feel the content is faceless or purely machine-produced, trust and repeat purchase can (and dare I say, will) erode.
If you run 300+ near-interchangeable AI UGC videos per day, you are optimizing for the algorithm, not for a distinctive story. Over time, this can make the brand interchangeable with any other AI content farm using the same tools and data. Just because it's an incredible media engine, that doesn’t automatically make it an incredible brand engine.
The next competitive edge won’t be “24 AI agents.” It will be how intelligently you blend humans and machines. Think of it as human x AI, not Human vs. AI, and use the AI for exploration while we humans add the special sauce of meaning. Let AI generate and stress-test hooks at scale while letting real creators, community managers, and strategists translate those learnings into narratives people actually care about.
Always lead with transparency and taste, which allows you to frame some of this content openly as “AI-generated testing,” which can reposition it as innovation, not deception, and brands that show taste in how they use AI will stand out once everyone has access to the same tools.
PS “The problem with experts is that they do not know what they do not know.”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb