For TransUnion’s Spiegel, Human Oversight Will Be the Governor on AI’s Engine

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — As artificial intelligence reshapes the marketing ecosystem, a new hierarchy of influence is emerging.

While automation will inevitably handle more of the day-to-day campaign mechanics, some think this will put a premium on the uniquely human ability to unearth consumer insights, build brands, and craft campaigns rooted in a deep understanding of data.

It will require a delicate balance between machine efficiency and human judgment, according to Matt Spiegel, evp of TruAudience growth strategy at TransUnion. In a video interview with Beet.TV, he argued that, while automation is both necessary and inevitable, the idea of a fully autonomous marketing future without human intervention is unlikely.

The myth of irrelevant identity

Many people think that, as AI agents take over decision-making, the need for granular consumer identity will diminish. Spiegel believes this is a “myth” and that the opposite is true; agentic systems will require an even deeper understanding of consumers to be effective, even if the process of using that data changes.

“Yes, we’re going to change how we transact on that. We’re going to change where the decisions happen,” Spiegel said. “But the idea that we’re all just want to move to a world where it’s just anonymized agentic decisions with no consumer insights, no ability to understand a person or household, I don’t think that’s going to be real.”

TransUnion itself has been working to prove that better data leads to better AI outcomes. In a recent collaboration, the company said integrating its TruAudience dataset with Actable’s machine learning models delivered a 10% lift in predictive accuracy, underscoring the value of a strong identity foundation for AI-driven marketing.

A human hand on the agentic wheel

The progression toward automation is not new. Spiegel drew parallels to the rise of search bidding and programmatic buying, which he called earlier forms of agent-based systems. The current evolution of AI is simply that same concept “on steroids,” he said, but it does not remove the need for human oversight.

“I do believe when you’re thinking about these large enterprise companies, there’s more to it than just is that particular campaign working,” Spiegel said. “We are going to find steps in the process where humans are going to have to double check, verify that.” He added, “I just don’t envision a world anytime soon where we wake up and humans aren’t touching the process at all. That doesn’t seem likely to me.”

A Forrester report on 2026 B2B trends found that 19% of buyers using generative AI tools feel less confident in their purchasing decisions, often due to the unreliability of AI-generated information, highlighting the critical role of human validation.

Governance as the governor

Ultimately, Spiegel argued that the pace and extent of automation will be determined by the ability of organizations to maintain control over their operations. The need for governance, compliance, and brand safety will act as a natural brake on a fully hands-off approach.

“That is to me the predominant question and it will be the governor on just how much automation happens,” he said. “Each company is going to have a different flavor of where they want to make sure they stick a human-in-the-loop process to make sure the automation is effectively delivering results.”

With firms like Gartner forecasting that worldwide AI spending will reach $2.52 trillion in 2026, the scale of the transformation is immense. Still, Spiegel cautioned against certainty. “Anyone that has a firm answer of exactly how this is going to go is predicting the future,” he said. “That’s where we are in this curve.”

You’re watching coverage from Beet Retreat San Juan 2026, presented by Alliant and TransUnion. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.