In his telling, AI has yet to graduate from pilot programs into anything that materially reshapes how marketing departments are staffed, structured or paid. Until that changes, agency chiefs can stop bracing for a shift to outcome-based compensation. CMOs, he said, are still buying time and headcount. "Without naming names, I can remember a real situation where the marketer said 'of course we'll move to an output model' and then you get into a conversation with their procurement people and they're just worried about getting caught out," he continued. Which, in plain terms, means they're worried about paying agencies more than they have to.