Uncommon Intelligence: welcome to the age of AI realism. How leaders can close the gap between AI ambition and impact. At Prophet's latest Uncommon Intelligence event in Abu Dhabi, there was no shortage of optimism in the room. Bringing together CMOs and senior business leaders from across industries including government, healthcare, hospitality and banking, the discussion reflected genuine excitement about what AI could make possible. But that optimism came with a dose of realism: AI's promise is enormous, but realizing it is proving more complicated. Leaders are under pressure to move faster, automate more and avoid being left behind. Yet beneath that urgency sit harder questions: Where is AI creating meaningful value? What is the ROI? And why, despite rapid experimentation and adoption, does its impact so often fall short of expectations? These are not uniquely Middle Eastern challenges. They reflect a much broader issue facing leaders around the world. Closing the gap between AI's potential and its real-world impact requires organizations to look beyond it as another productivity tool. That means moving from efficiency to effectiveness and, ultimately, enhancement. There was broad agreement that creating average work faster isn't the goal. 1. Start with the outcome, not the tool. Perhaps the biggest danger surrounding AI right now is starting in the wrong place. With so many slick new tools, agents and use cases emerging almost daily, there is an understandable temptation to ask, "How can we use this?" A better question is: "What are we trying to achieve?" Productivity gains alone don't guarantee competitive advantage. Organizations need to identify where AI can create real value, with a clear line of sight to business impact and ROI. That requires leaders to resist chasing every new platform. With new technology emerging constantly, the challenge is increasingly about selecting the right capabilities for the right problem. In other words: Impact first, tools second. 2. AI transformation is about leading from the front. If AI is going to change how an organization creates value, it cannot simply be delegated to an innovation team or technology function. Leaders need to own the outcome. That means establishing priorities, allocating resources, and modeling the behaviors they want others to adopt. AI adoption isn't only a technology transformation; it changes workflows, roles and ways of working. This is particularly apparent in marketing, where there is significant opportunity across efficiency, effectiveness and enhancement, but functional expertise remains critical. Not every activity should become AI-first. Some areas are better suited to AI-powered collaboration, while others still depend heavily on practical human knowledge. The onus on leadership is to understand the difference and set the direction. 3. Keep human intelligence firmly in the equation. There was also a realistic and pragmatic view about AI's limitations. It isn't a silver bullet, and speed is not the only measure of success. AI can process, analyze and create, at remarkable scale but people still bring the expertise, judgment, context and creativity that determine whether the output is useful. This is where the idea of augmented intelligence becomes important: not AI replacing human intelligence, but the two working together to produce better outcomes. This means thinking about human and artificial intelligence as part of one extended workforce, each bringing different strengths to the task. The opportunity lies in finding the right balance. Where can AI meaningfully improve the work? Where does human intelligence matter most? And where can combining the two deliver something genuinely better? 4. Interrogate AI, don't evangelize it. Prophet bring this to life with AI twins, which can be used to gather insights, test ideas, and pressure-test decisions. Rather than simply demonstrating another AI capability, the aim was to provoke a different question: What would you ask your digital twin? When grounded in the right data, digital twins can challenge existing assumptions, surfacing perspectives that are direct, unexpected, and sometimes uncomfortable. That is part of their value. Leaders don't need AI to tell them what they already think, they need it to help uncover blind spots, challenge assumptions and provide new perspectives that can lead to better decisions. It points to a broader mindset shift. The goal shouldn't be to evangelize AI or adopt technology for technology's sake. It should be to interrogate it. Where can it help Prophet see something Prophet couldn't see before? Where should Prophet challenge its output? And where can human judgment and AI together lead to a better decision? FINAL THOUGHTS Leaders don't need every answer before they begin. Waiting for the perfect technology stack or operating model can become a barrier in itself. Start with a clear objective, bring human intelligence to the problem and choose the right tools for the task. Then try, learn and iterate. The organizations that turn AI into growth won't be those using the most tools, but those clearest about where it can create distinctive value and how to make that value stick. Don't just move faster. Make sure you're moving somewhere worth going. Explore Prophet's Augmented Intelligence approach

Prophet expands into Southeast Asia, hires Kylan Tang. Published on: 21st October 2026 at 10:17 AM Prophet is expanding into Southeast Asia following "644 per cent business growth over the past 12 months" and a new enterprise partnership with a consumer brand that spans three APAC markets. Prophet now works with more than 40 brands, including BYD, MYOB, KitchenAid, Rest Super, TAL, Drummond Golf, Intrepid Travel, Picklebet and Suzuki. Prophet has appointed Kylan Tang to lead customer onboarding across the region. Tang will report to head of decision science Rachel Scott and take customers who operate across multiple markets from contract signature through to a first model their leadership can act on. Based in Singapore, Tang will act as the local point of co-ordination for customers across the region, from data collection through to each customer's first decision-ready model. For regional customers, that means one accountable person who works with their marketing teams and agencies in their own markets, backed by Prophet's Data Science, Platform and Customer Success teams in Melbourne. He will also build the onboarding playbooks that set the standard for how Prophet brings on customers across Asia-Pacific. Tang brings more than 12 years of experience across media agencies, adtech and platform ecosystems in Southeast Asia. He joins from OMD, where he led digital media operations across six markets. Previously, he spent six years at Innovid building its APAC client services and operations function from the ground up, supporting clients across 13 markets, including Microsoft, McDonald's, Tiffany & Co. and P&G. Prophet CEO and co-founder Jordan Taylor-Bartels said: "Brands across Asia-Pacific are being asked the same question in every boardroom: what will this investment actually return? They need to understand the likely return before the budget is committed - not just measure it afterwards. "Our growth this year, and a partnership of this scale across several APAC markets, signals growing demand for Prophet across the region. Kylan's appointment means we can meet it on the ground, with someone who knows how marketing works in these markets from the inside." Scott said: "Kylan has spent more than a decade making advertising technology work for some of the world's biggest brands across a dozen markets at once, often building solutions where nothing off the shelf existed. As our customers get bigger and more regional, that's exactly the experience our onboarding needs." Tang said he was drawn to Prophet by the opportunity to influence decisions before the money is spent. "Having worked with brands across markets that behave very differently, I know regional growth takes local understanding. As Prophet's first APAC hire, I'm excited to help shape our go-to-market approach and build the relationships that will underpin our growth across the region," he added. Join more than 30,000 advertising industry experts Get all the latest advertising and media news direct to your inbox from B&T.