Tech Power List 2024: Lynne Kjolso

Everyone in the ad industry is talking about AI, but it’s unclear what its implementation will mean for the future of business—a topic that elicits emotions from fear to fanaticism. Lynne Kjolso calls herself an evangelist for the future of AI. The VP of global partner and retail media at Microsoft said she’s able to build on the work Microsoft’s tech engineers do to democratize emerging technology for partners and consumers. The key to the future of AI? Sharing the tech with as many partners and consumers as possible, according to Kjolso, so that “people fall in love with and understand the power of AI, and that it’s not so scary.” Over the past year, Kjolso has led efforts to get partners, including publishers, retailers, advertisers and agencies, up and running with iterations of Microsoft’s AI-powered tech. Kjolso brought advertisers into Bing’s AI search feature Copilot, introduced the company’s tool for AI-generated creative in retail media and brought a tool to market for partners such as Snapchat to monetize AI chatbot features. Kjolso said that by helping partners monetize uses of AI within their businesses, “it will really help make AI accessible and more companies get on the train to democratize AI broadly.” See Ad Age’s Tech Power List honoring marketing leaders What is the biggest technological challenge facing your sector of advertising and technology, and why? Generative AI is the defining technology of our time and I think it will have a huge impact on how we market, advertise and work over the next few years. Generative AI will transform the way we manage, localize and optimize campaigns; it will supercharge creative capabilities in design and creative generation across all formats; and it will provide incisive analyses and surface insights that will ultimately make it easier for the industry to hire and train talent. Generative AI will also provide publishers and advertisers with the capability to personalize marketing at scale over the next few years. With any technology this powerful, the key challenge is to ensure that it is used responsibly. What piece of technology could you absolutely not live without, besides your phone? Is it cheating if I say Apple CarPlay? I know it’s connected to my phone, but I could not live without this smooth integration between my phone and my car, which not only helps me with mapping but enables me to review my calendar and take business calls seamlessly and safely, while driving. What’s your favorite blog, TikTok account, podcast or any must-follows in your media diet? Call me old-school, but I am something of an NPR junkie and decidedly not turned off by their editorial and talent choices over the last few years. Who is your technological hero, alive or from the past, who inspired you the most? I am a huge fan of the technologist Jaron Lanier. Whether writing on the power of AI, artificial or augmented reality, or why social media is ruining our lives (a thesis with which I agree), Lanier brings fresh perspective and deep technical understanding grounded by his deep humanity and creativity. I have a Ph.D. in philosophy and am super fascinated with the intersection of philosophy and cutting-edge technologies. My unofficial personal career ambition is to write philosophical footnotes for Jaron Lanier’s books. See Ad Age’s Tech Power List honoring marketing leaders

Lynne Kjolso, Microsoft’s AI evangelist, is bringing new tech to more brands

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