Reinventing Ads for the Age of AI

Nov 14, 2025

Michael Rubenstein, Co-CEO of Firsthand and veteran ad-tech executive, discusses the revolutionary concept of AI-driven brand agents. These agents engage consumers in real-time, transforming digital advertising from traditional static ads to dynamic interactions. Rubenstein highlights how brand agents prioritize opt-in privacy over cookie tracking and can adapt to various content formats. The conversation also explores the impressive engagement metrics they generate and their potential to redefine how brands communicate with audiences across multiple sectors.

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INSIGHT

Brands Need Direct AI Relationships

Brands must own direct, AI-driven relationships with consumers to avoid disintermediation.
Michael Rubenstein says brand agents let brands remain relevant in an AI era without relying on platform intermediaries.

INSIGHT

Brand Agents Act Like Virtual Reps

A brand agent acts as a virtual brand representative that can live anywhere online and adapt in real time.
Rubenstein frames agents as personalized, dynamic experiences rather than static ads.

ADVICE

Invite Opt-In Engagement, Not Tracking

Avoid invasive tracking and surface opt-in invitations that let consumers provide intent signals.
Rubenstein recommends building experiences that consumers choose to engage with rather than tracking them covertly.

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Michael Rubenstein on how “brand agents” are reshaping advertising, publishing, and the Internet itself

We’ve spent decades trying to make digital advertising smarter. Cookies, pixels, and data exchanges promised personalization but delivered clutter, tracking fatigue, and declining returns. Then came AI, bringing the chance not just to improve ads, but to completely reimagine how brands and audiences interact.

In this episode of The Media Copilot, host Pete Pachal sits down with Michael Rubenstein, Co CEO of Firsthand and one of the original architects of modern ad tech. After helping launch DoubleClick’s Ad Exchange (later acquired by Google), Rubenstein is now building something that feels like the opposite of programmatic advertising, a world where brand “agents” don’t just target you, they talk to you.

Instead of static banners or pre-rolls, these AI-driven brand agents act like adaptive digital representatives that engage, inform, and even create content on the fly. They’re built to live anywhere, inside a publisher’s story, across a retailer’s site, or within a chat experience, meeting consumers wherever they are and responding in real time to what they actually want.

This conversation explores how brand agents are transforming advertising into an intelligent, intent driven dialogue, and what that means for publishers, marketers, and the future of media.

What We Cover:
• How AI driven brand agents are changing advertising and media engagement
• Why this new model removes invasive tracking and builds real consumer trust
• How publishers can use adaptive experiences to grow audience value
• Why AI represents not automation but communication
• The cultural and ethical stakes of rebuilding advertising around AI conversations

In Closing
AI is taking down the old walls of the Internet. The question isn’t whether advertising and publishing will change, it’s whether they can adapt fast enough to stay relevant.

The future, as Rubenstein says, isn’t programmatic, it’s personal.

Connect with Michael Rubenstein:
🔗 Firsthand.ai
💼 LinkedIn – Michael Rubenstein

X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/mrubenstein99

Listen to the full episode of The Media Copilot with host Pete Pachal and guest Michael Rubenstein on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows.
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Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso
Edited by the Musso Media Team

Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0