Chibuike Goodnews built his reputation as the captain in charge of the ship behind Dochase ADx’s programmatic advertising engine. In this exclusive conversation with Brand Communicator, drawn from a wider interview that also touched on Africa’s AI readiness, responsible AI, and leadership in the intelligence economy, Goodnews speaks on the misconceptions holding businesses back, what AI has changed inside Dochase’s own advertising process, the jobs debate, and where he sees the disruption of advertising and marketing heading next. Excerpts.
Many businesses and organisations still see AI as a theoretical concept. In your experience as someone who has navigated this space over time, what are some of the most common misconceptions businesses and organisations have about AI?
I think businesses have fewer misconceptions than individuals. One misconception is that AI will completely wipe out businesses or make them irrelevant. To some extent, that’s true. We saw similar shifts during the Industrial Revolution and the dot-com era. During the Industrial Revolution, machines replaced many forms of manual labour. Businesses built around those systems had to evolve. During the dot-com era, typewriters disappeared, and companies that manufactured them had to reinvent themselves. Take Toyota as an example. It started in a completely different industry before becoming one of the biggest automobile brands in the world. Artificial intelligence will have a similar effect.
Businesses built around repetitive tasks will struggle to scale because AI can perform many of those tasks faster and more efficiently. Imagine a client that previously needed 1,000 people to complete a process. With AI, they may now need only two people supported by the right tools. In that situation, the old business model no longer works, so that misconception is not unfounded but realistic.
Another misconception is believing you can understand AI just by doing the normal thing, without intentionally learning it. My advice to business executives, especially senior executives, is simple: go back to the classroom. Update your knowledge. Refresh your fundamentals. Learn what makes businesses uniquely competitive in the AI era, because AI is changing those fundamentals. Once you understand the changes, you’ll know how to navigate them. They should not think they will do the same thing as usual and get a different result.
Yet another quite funny misconception is that AI is only for young people. Most times when I try to talk to business executives about AI, many organisations assign AI to the youngest person in the room while senior executives stay disconnected from it, and that is totally wrong. That’s a mistake. AI is no longer experimental. It is a boardroom issue. It has become a C-Suite action item. Executives need to roll up their sleeves and learn AI. They need to understand its applications, how it affects decision-making, and how it changes the way organisations operate. That knowledge will help them make better strategic decisions.
Also, to buttress what I said about the C-Suite, you realise that the founders of Google had already stepped away from day-to-day operations, yet they returned because of AI. That shows the scale of this technological shift. If executives ignore it, the change won’t happen overnight. It will show up gradually through declining revenue, shrinking market share, changing customer preferences, and before long, they’ll discover they’ve become irrelevant.
How has artificial intelligence influenced the way your organisation approaches advertising, audience intelligence, and consumer engagement, especially for some of the clients you work with?
Artificial intelligence has become the core of what we do at Dochase ADX. Before AI became mainstream, we already relied on machine learning, which powered our decision engine. We pioneered programmatic advertising in Nigeria, where machines and software determine who should see an advert based on data and the likelihood that a person will buy a product.
Those early capabilities became the foundation for artificial intelligence. AI takes machine learning much further by giving systems greater autonomy and decision-making ability. Today, AI influences almost every stage of advertising. It begins with understanding the product, which used to be the responsibility of strategists. It then determines the creative direction, where the advert should appear, and which banner, video, or format should be shown to a particular individual.
If you introduce a product into our system, the AI at Dochase analyses the market, studies the product, identifies the people most likely to buy it, and matches the product with those audiences using its understanding of data, browsing behaviour, and consumer preferences. Research that once took agencies several months can now be completed in less than a minute.
It doesn’t stop there. The AI recommends the type of advertising copy that will resonate with each audience. For example, if you’re targeting young people, it identifies the language and messaging most likely to connect with them. Traditionally, that would have been the work of copywriters.
Next comes content generation. Typically, creating banners and other visual assets once required significant time and resources. Today, AI can take a product URL or description and generate creative designs in less than a minute. AI continues by deciding who should receive the advert and where it should appear. Because it understands both the product and the audience, it recommends the most effective platforms, websites, and apps for distribution. This makes campaign deployment much faster and more efficient.
Finally, AI analyses campaign performance. It evaluates customer acquisition cost, advertising spend, and overall performance, then provides actionable recommendations. It tells you which platform performed best, which creative delivered stronger results, and what should be improved. In essence, AI now influences the entire advertising value chain, from product understanding and campaign planning to execution, performance analysis, and strategic decision-making.
Beyond this automation, predictive analytics, and many other AI capabilities you mentioned, how do you think AI will continue disrupting the broader advertising and marketing industry?
AI will continue disrupting advertising. That’s no longer a prediction. It’s already happening. The industry will require fewer people to deliver the same or even better results. At the same time, those who remain and master AI will create significantly more value.
AI is also changing our definition of effective advertising. People once dismissed AI-generated content because they believed it looked artificial. Consumers don’t think that way. Most people care about whether the message is useful, engaging, and persuasive. Brands care about outcomes. If AI-generated content drives awareness, engagement, and sales, organisations will adopt it regardless of how it was created. That means professionals in advertising must adapt. We need to become the people directing AI rather than resisting it. AI will automate much of the execution, but creativity, strategy, and original thinking will become even more valuable.
Clients are increasingly focused on measurable business results. They want to know how many people purchased the product, how much it cost to acquire each customer, and which campaign delivered the strongest return. Artificial intelligence makes that level of measurement possible. As a result, marketing will become more accountable, more data-driven, and more performance-focused than ever before.
Many people are worried that AI will take their jobs. Speaking as an AI expert, what’s your honest view of that argument?
When people say AI will replace jobs, they’re only looking at one side of the story. AI will eliminate some jobs, but it will also create entirely new ones. History clearly shows us this pattern. The Industrial Revolution replaced many forms of manual labour while creating white-collar professions. The digital revolution eliminated some occupations while creating industries that never existed before. Artificial intelligence will do the same. Yes, some jobs will disappear.
But AI will also create new opportunities, many of which will be far more valuable. The real question is the level of wealth transfer that will happen in the AI era. Someone earning only a modest income today may be replaced by AI. At the same time, entirely new AI-powered careers will emerge, creating significant wealth for people with the right skills.
AI removes geographical barriers. People who build AI solutions become global workers rather than local workers. Someone sitting in Nigeria can build AI agents for companies in Sweden, Norway, Cuba, or anywhere else in the world. AI may reduce some local jobs, but it also creates global opportunities. The fear shouldn’t be that AI will take your job. The real question should be: “How is AI reshaping my job, and how do I position myself to benefit from that change?” Saying AI will simply take your job is a defeatist mindset. AI is challenging people to evolve, apply their existing skills differently, and create greater value.