A 20 person content team, FULLY replaced by AI. A conversation I had earlier this week genuinely stopped me in my tracks.
A client told me they’ve automated their entire content function. Not reduced it. Not restructured it. Replaced it.
And for the first time, I’m seeing AI not just assist marketing and communications roles, but fully replace them.
For the past couple of years, we’ve been talking about AI as a support tool. Speeding up content creation, helping with ideation, improving efficiency. I’ve had countless conversations about what it might mean for marketing and PR roles over time. But this felt like something else entirely. This was a full content engine, planning, creation, optimisation and distribution, now handled through automated systems, with no team behind it.
A 20 person team tells you something important. This wasn’t inefficient. This wasn’t broken. This was a business making a conscious decision that automation could deliver the same output, or at least output that was good enough. And that’s where the real shift is happening.
If we strip it back, a lot of content roles are built around high volume production, process driven workflows, channel execution, and optimisation against set metrics. Those are exactly the environments where AI thrives. So we’re now at a point where businesses are starting to ask a difficult question: do we actually need a team for this?
That doesn’t mean the end of content careers, but it does signal the end of content roles as they currently exist in some organisations. What I’m already seeing is a shift towards smaller, more senior teams. Fewer people, but with broader ownership and stronger strategic input. The value is moving away from pure execution and towards direction, judgement and oversight.
Because while AI can scale content, it doesn’t own a brand voice in the way a human does. It doesn’t challenge whether something is actually meaningful, or whether it will truly land with an audience. Content isn’t just about volume, it’s about impact. And that’s where human thinking still matters.
If you work in content, this isn’t a moment to panic, but it is a moment to evolve. The people who will stay relevant are the ones who move closer to strategy, insight and decision-making. The ones who learn how to work with AI, not against it, and who build skills that are harder to automate.
I’ve worked in recruitment for well over a decade, and I’ve seen hiring trends shift many times. But this feels different. Because it’s not just changing who gets hired, it’s changing whether certain roles exist at all.
A 20 person team disappearing isn’t just a one off story. It’s a signal. The question is whether we see it for what it is, and adapt accordingly.
I’m curious, are you seeing this in your business yet?
