"GOD YOU ARE DUMB STOP BREAKING SHIT INSTEAD OF FIXING IT"
-Me, to Gemini, June 2, 2026

If you've been suffering from AIRS (AI Rage Syndrome), you're not alone.

It happens to the best of us, and the worst of us. Like when Google Gemini's Canvas was helping me organize a document and told me to switch between tabs that DID NOT EXIST (sorry, I’m still raging). And then Chrome's Gemini sidebar told me to do five more things THAT DO NOT WORK. Gemini might help us cure cancer one day, but it can't tell us how to use Gemini? 

Well, actually, that reminds me of a lot of people I know. So brilliant. And yet no self-awareness. 

AIRS seems to be everywhere. 

Are we that far from the next wave of Luddites burning down the data centers? We're already seeing this backlash brewing as a major U.S. election issue in the midterms. Data centers are about as popular as Kid Rock headlining the America 250: This Is the Absolute Best We Could Do tribute concert. 

Think your AIRS is just because you're not tech-savvy enough? You don't have the budget or skills to take advantage of what AI can do? 

False! The president and chief operating officer of Uber, which knows a bit about tech-fueled disruption, questioned the value of AI for driving consumer-innovations, and he is trying to curtail the spiraling costs. I wonder how much he curses at Gemini.

If the conclusion you draw is that this crazy ride we're on with AI is going to slow down anytime soon, you're probably out of luck. The Spurs had better odds of sweeping the Knicks, and we know that ain’t happening. (Bing bong!)

But it also feels like the famous Gartner Hype Cycle needs to be updated to match the exhausting pace of change we're going through technologically, while at the same time dealing with so much angst societally, economically, interpersonally, and in many other ways.

Why should there be a single "trough of disillusionment"? Gartner said generative AI entered that trough sometime in 2025, but I felt a lot of that earlier. ChatGPT publicly launched toward the end of 2022, and it didn't take long for many of the first wave to users go from being enchanted to underwhelmed.

Now, we're told AI can run ad campaigns! It can run companies! It can run our lives! 

And yet why can't it JUST GIVE ME A STRAIGHT ANSWER WITHOUT CONTRADICTING ITSELF? OK, sorry. AIRS again.

We deserve and reserve the right to question whether AI is making us less productive for certain tasks, or making us dumber at certain parts of our jobs, or costing too much for what it's delivering,

Channel that disillusionment. Reclaim your agency of your work. Make sure AI is working for you. 

If it isn't, give it the day off, or make it take a longer sabbatical. Just try to be a little nicer to it than I was. 

— David Berkowitz, Chief Community Officer, Marketecture Media

Who: Performance Marketers, Media Planners, Digital Agencies, Direct Mail Specialists

What: A new research report from Winterberry Group reveals that 71% of U.S. ad professionals have increased performance-focused marketing budgets, with the majority noting direct efficiency and effectiveness gains from AI. The study details how brands are applying AI optimization across online display, paid social, and paid search. Nearly 96% of marketers report testing or implementing AI to enhance the targeting and performance of direct mail campaigns.

Why it matters: AI adoption has advanced past experimental content generation and is now embedded as an operational baseline across offline and digital direct-response marketing channels.

(Winterberry Group)

Who: B2B Marketers, CMOs, SaaS Companies, Agency Strategists, Enterprise Technology Brands

What: OpenAI has hired veteran B2B marketer Colin Fleming as its first CMO for business, signaling a major push into enterprise sales. The move comes as the company tries to balance two very different audiences: hundreds of millions of consumers using ChatGPT and large enterprises evaluating OpenAI as a trusted long-term technology partner. The challenge is that those two brands may be pulling in opposite directions. The consumer side thrives on rapid adoption, viral attention, and broad accessibility. Enterprise buyers, meanwhile, want stability, trust, and governance.

Why it matters: OpenAI is becoming a case study in a new AI-era branding challenge. As AI companies expand from consumer products into enterprise platforms, marketers may find that awareness isn’t the hard part. Reconciling fundamentally different audiences under one brand is.

(ADWEEK)

Who: E-commerce Teams, Retail Marketers, Customer Experience Leaders, CRM Teams, Commerce Platforms

What: New research from Horizon Media finds that consumers remain uneasy about letting AI agents make purchasing decisions on their behalf. While shoppers are increasingly comfortable using AI to research products, compare options, and streamline decisions, far fewer are ready to hand over the final purchase itself. The findings suggest a growing distinction between AI as advisor and AI as agent.

Why it matters: Marketers may be racing toward an agentic commerce future, but consumers aren’t there yet. Brands should focus on using AI to support decision-making rather than replacing it, at least until trust catches up with the technology.

(MediaPost)

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