What's new in Creative AI

In this episode, Spark's co-founders, Emma and Jules discuss the launch of the Spark AI Maturity Score. They walk through why it's worth doing, how the questions actually work, and what your results mean once you've got them. And of course, they delve into latest tool updates worth knowing about.

See where you stand: https://www.wearespark.ai/spark-ai-maturity-score

00:00:00 - Welcome & Summer Roundup

00:02:15 - Launching The Spark AI Maturity Score

00:04:30 - Usage Isn't Capability

00:06:30 - Why This Model Is Different

00:09:30 - Four Pillars & Four Stages

00:14:00 - Score As A Team & Benchmarking

00:16:30 - Tool Updates

00:21:47 - Closing Thoughts & Show Notes

Spark AI – AI training, consultancy and agent building for agencies and brands. Your AI performance partner

Find us here:

Emma LinkedIn

Jules LinkedIn

Wearespark.ai

Subscribe to the Spark Intelligence Newsletter

Resources mentioned:

Omnicom, Adobe & Axiom creative-at-scale partnership: https://www.omc.com/newsroom/omnicom-expands-adobe-partnership-to-drive-industry-specific-ai-powered-marketing-transformation/

Google NotebookLM: https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2026/05/keep-your-sources-up-to-date-with-automatic-Drive-syncing-in-NotebookLM.html

Gemini Sheets Canvas: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/workspace/sheets-canvas-for-google-sheets-spreadsheets/

Spark AI is a consultancy helping agencies and creative teams build organisation-wide AI capability. Together, we'll build the engine that changes not just how your team works – but what your organisation is capable of.

Spark co-founders, Jules and Emma unpack what's actually changing in agency AI adoption right now: why culture change matters more than model choice, how creative AI has quietly gone mainstream, and why pricing models are finally shifting for real. Plus interviews with Toby Walsh of Made by Humans and Tracy Kylon, Microsoft's head of AI for advertising.

Video chapters:

00:00:00 - Intro & What's Ahead

00:02:41 - Culture Change Over Tools

00:09:43 - Made by Humans Interview

00:18:37 - Workflow Redesign with AI

00:23:22 - Microsoft Copilot & Claude Co-work

00:37:05 - Brand Is the New Code

00:43:09 - The 3Ds of AI Skills

00:47:13 - AI Pricing Models

Harness AI across your organisation – and deliver more for your clients, protect your margins and create opportunities that simply didn't exist before.
https://www.wearespark.ai/

Spark AI news and services:

• Subscribe to the Spark Intelligence Newsletter: https://spark-intelligence.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Jules LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juleslove/
• Emma LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmawhartonlove/

Resources mentioned:

• Made by Humans: https://www.madebyhumans.world/

• Microsoft Clarity AI Visibility: https://clarity.microsoft.com/ai-visibility

• Workflow redesign research: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6513481
• Discussion on webflows: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bima-house-cannes-2026-tickets-1987046323042?aff=oddtdtcreator

Spark AI is a consultancy helping agencies and creative teams build organisation-wide AI capability. Together, we'll build the engine that changes not just how your team works – but what your organisation is capable of.Jules and Emma dig into three findings from the Spring 2026 Spark Report: why agencies are saving time with AI but not seeing the benefit, the governance gap that's leaving teams exposed, and the growing distance between how confident people feel about AI and how capable they actually are. Plus a Spark team update and what Jules and Emma have been building.

Resources mentioned:

The Spring 2026 Spark Report – AI in Agencies: From Activity to Advantage: https://www.wearespark.ai/the-spark-report-ai-in-agencies-benchmark

Matthew's article in The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/generative-ai-creativity-governance-economy-content-renaissance-b2957183.html

Spark Sessions – Chris Murphy, Tuncarp: https://www.wearespark.ai/spark-sessions-creative-ai-operating-system-with-tuncarp 

Book in to meet us in Cannes – https://www.wearespark.ai/cannes-2026

Harness AI across your organisation – and deliver more for your clients, protect your margins and create opportunities that simply didn't exist before.https://www.wearespark.ai/

We've dedicated this entire episode to The Spark Report.Our fourth bi-annual benchmark on AI in agencies is out now. We surveyed 70+ agencies, combined that with qualitative research and interviews, and this edition – AI in Agencies: From Activity to Advantage – is about the gap between doing AI and building something lasting from it.Jules and Emma go through all six key findings: where recovered time is actually going, why Shadow AI has become a governance issue, what the 83% vs 15% confidence gap really means, and why the biggest divide in AI adoption now sits inside a single agency rather than between them.Practical, research-backed, and direct.📊 Download The Spark Report: https://www.wearespark.ai/the-spark-report-ai-in-agencies-benchmark📘 Grab our book Shift – AI for Agencies: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1781339511/🧠 Subscribe to Spark Intelligence: https://www.wearespark.ai/spark-intelligence-ai-newsletter-for-creative-industries

We've dedicated this entire episode to The Spark Report.

Our fourth bi-annual benchmark on AI in agencies is out now. 70+ agencies, combined that with qualitative research and interviews, and this edition – AI in Agencies: From Activity to Advantage – is about the gap between doing AI and building something lasting from it.

Jules and Emma go through all six key findings: where recovered time is actually going, why Shadow AI has become a governance issue, what the 83% vs 15% confidence gap really means, and why the biggest divide in AI adoption now sits inside a single agency rather than between them.

Practical, research-backed, and direct.

📊 Download The Spark Report

📘 Grab our book Shift – AI for Agencies

🧠 Subscribe to Spark Intelligence

In this episode of What's New in Creative AI, Jules and Emma, co founders of Spark AI connect three threads: new research on what AI fluency actually looks like and how to measure it, hard data on where AI creates real commercial value for agencies (and where it doesn't), and a growing burnout problem that nobody's addressing properly. Plus updates on what's happening at Spark AI. What we cover:

1. The 11-Point Fluency Check: How to measure if your team is actually skilled or just frequent users.
2. The Valuation Hit: Why only 1 in 4 agencies have updated their contracts - and how that’s giving acquirers a negotiation lever to lower your multiple.
3. The Exhaustion Paradox: Why AI is saving time but leaving teams more tired than ever (The "workslop" cycle).All the links we refer to in the pod: Spark AI news and servicesAI Accelerator:https://www.wearespark.ai/ai-acceleratorBook: Shift – AI for Agencies:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shift-Agencies-adoption-operating-transformation/dp/1915483161Subscribe to the Spark Intelligence Newsletter:https://spark-intelligence.beehiiv.com/subscribeFuture of Skills & Hiring Report:https://www.wearespark.ai/future-of-skills-hiring-ai-agenciesJules LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juleslove/Emma LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmawhartonlove/Section 1: AI FluencyAnthropic’s AI Fluency Index Research:https://www.anthropic.com/news/ai-fluency-indexEthan Mollick’s One Useful Thing:https://www.oneusefulthing.org/Section 2: AI & agency commercials and performanceWebinar: AI Strategy, Profit, and M&A with Rory Spence:https://www.wearespark.ai/ai-strategy-agencies-2026-profit-m-aThe Wow Company:https://www.thewowcompany.com/Section 3: AI BurnoutHBR: AI Doesn't Reduce Work – It Intensifies It:https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies-it

🚨 We're back! And there's a lot to catch up on.

In the latest episode of What’s New in Creative AI, we dig into the biggest shifts shaping the future of marketing, content and creative work - and share some major Spark AI news. 👇

🎙️ In this episode, we cover:

• The launch of our book Shift AI for Agencies - now an Amazon #1 bestseller
• Why the cost of AI content is collapsing (and what that means for creative value)
• The “infinite content” problem - and 4 things that will stay scarce
• How brand experiences are evolving
• What happens when content, code and labour all become basically free
• What WPP Open Pro and Figma’s Weevy deal tell us about the new agency landscape
• 3 mega-shifts in media, including agentic buying and AI-powered browsers
• Claude Skills, Synthesia video agents, and Copilot’s latest upgrades

If you lead a creative team or agency, this is your quick, clear and critical update on what matters now in AI - and what’s coming next.
📕 Grab the book: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1781339511/]
🧠 Join our newsletter: [https://www.wearespark.ai/spark-intelligence-ai-newsletter-for-creative-industries]

We’re back from Cannes Lions with a lot to unpack.

Spark's regular 30 minute podcast on what's new in creative AI - everything you need to know to grow your creative business and career in a world with AI.

We cover:

— Latest updates to AI tools and new launches

— AI news and gossip relevant to creatives

— AI creative campaigns out in the wild

— How we are using AI within our business

Featuring Spark AI co-founders Jules Love and Emma Wharton Love.

Learn more about how we support teams, run workshops, and create clarity in a fast-moving space:

👉 ⁠wearespark.ai

Spark's regular 30 minute podcast on what's new in creative AI - everything you need to know to grow your creative business and career in a world with AI. We cover:

— Latest updates to AI tools and new launches

— AI news and gossip relevant to creatives

— AI creative campaigns out in the wild

— How we are using AI within our business

Featuring Jules Love and Emma Wharton Love

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At Spark, our mission is to empower marketing and creative agencies to confidently adopt and apply AI – turning uncertainty into inspiration. We help you cut through the noise, stay ahead of change, and build bold, creative work with AI in your toolkit.

Learn more about how we support teams, run workshops, and create clarity in a fast-moving space:

👉 wearespark.ai

Spark's regular 30 minute podcast on what's new in creative AI - everything you need to know to grow your creative business and career in a world with AI. We cover:
— Latest updates to AI tools and new launches
— AI news and gossip relevant to creatives
— AI creative campaigns out in the wild
— How we are using AI within our business
Featuring Jules Love and Emma Wharton Love

-------------------------------------------------------------------

At Spark, our mission is to empower marketing and creative agencies to confidently adopt and apply AI – turning uncertainty into inspiration. We help you cut through the noise, stay ahead of change, and build bold, creative work with AI in your toolkit.

Learn more about how we support teams, run workshops, and create clarity in a fast-moving space:
👉 wearespark.ai