Why AI Is Making Marketing’s “Do More With Less” Problem Worse | Lisa Cole

On AI Today, host interviews Lisa Cole, CMO and AI Officer at 2X, a global B2B go-to-market subscription services provider that lets mid-market and enterprise teams subscribe to marketing talent without long-term contracts to add skills and flexible capacity without operational burden.

Cole explains the “marketing resource paradox” and argues AI is worsening it by changing how buyers research and purchase—requiring brands to be findable and chosen by both humans and agents—while also fueling the misconception that AI can replace marketing teams.

She stresses humans are still needed for judgment, differentiation, accuracy, and customer expectations, and discusses her book The Limitless CMO, covering running marketing like a professional services business, mixing outsourcing models, and frameworks to adopt AI. She also describes 2X’s AI Center of Excellence and its focus on practical AI adoption across varying client tech stacks.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

00:20 What 2X Does

01:35 Marketing Resource Paradox

04:24 Why Humans Still Matter

06:06 AI Reasoning Pitfalls

07:52 The Limitless CMO

12:23 Why AI Efforts Stall

14:49 Run Marketing Like Services

17:02 Own Outsource Automate

18:48 Built for the Past Signs

20:24 Rapid Change Opportunity

21:31 Where to Find Lisa

22:08 AI Center of Excellence

24:00 Closing Thanks