Agency Execs Test AI Agents in Live Ad Deal Negotiations
The Development
Digiday developed an interactive simulation using Gemini-powered AI agents to replicate the buyer-seller dynamic of an advertising deal negotiation. Rather than a theoretical exercise, the simulation used live AI agents representing both sides of the transaction. Wpromote's Skyler McGill and Butler/Till's Ryan Lammela served as human test subjects, negotiating directly against the AI system. The experiment is designed to surface how AI agents actually behave under negotiation pressure—where they concede, where they hold, and whether human instincts still carry an advantage. Digiday will make the simulation publicly playable at the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit, scheduled for May 6–8, 2026, in Palm Springs, California, giving a broader audience of agency and media professionals firsthand exposure to the mechanics.
Our Take
This experiment matters beyond the novelty. AI agents entering ad negotiations isn't a distant scenario—DSPs and SSPs are already automating deal parameters, and the logical next step is agents that negotiate terms autonomously on behalf of buyers or sellers. What Digiday's simulation actually tests is whether human negotiators understand the behavioral logic of these agents well enough to exploit or counteract it. McGill and Lammela's participation signals that forward-leaning agencies are already treating this as a skills gap to close, not a trend to observe. The agencies that get reps against AI negotiators now will have a structural advantage when counterparty AI becomes standard in programmatic deal-making. The simulation format is also a preview of how AI literacy will be trained across agency floors—not through decks, but through adversarial practice.
The Exploit
Action Item
If you're a programmatic lead at an agency, register for the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit before May 6 and use the live simulation to map exactly where your negotiation instincts break down against AI-driven counterparties.