It's only been a couple of weeks since I interviewed Tammy Nam, CEO of newly rebranded AI agency The Brief, and the concept of AI-generated ad agencies has already evolved into something I'm dubbing the AIAOR. You already know what the AI stands for, but in case it's not already self-evident, the AOR part stands for agency-of-record.

Neither should be an entirely new concept, but as far as I can figure out, this column may be the first time the two acronyms have been mashed into one.

A Google query returned "no results found," although Google's Gemini synthesized its meaning (see below), possibly because I had just given it a prompt to generate the image above delineating The Brief at the center of a spoke-and-wheel graphic showing nine major agencies (and a reference to 791 others) being served by it.

To be fair, Nam previously noted that The Brief already services those agencies, but the new news is that it just launched "The Agency Package" this morning, enabling other shops to "increase their content creation output by up to 10 times more per month."

As someone who has covered the ad agency business so long, I've often marveled at the iterations of the AOR -- from the good old days of full-service shops through the unbundled morass of media and diversified advertising services fragmentation, through a host of in-house, co-house and hybrid-house iterations -- as both agencies and their clients have evolved their needs, services and relationships over time.

I don't expect the evolution of the AOR to wind down anytime soon, but the AI AOR represents a different kind of game changer for advertising account relationships.

On the one hand, I can understand why some of the world's biggest ad agencies already are outsourcing at least some of their services to an AI-enabled startup specializing in AI content generation.

In that sense, is it really any different than agencies subcontracting creative output to independent production houses and studios? But given that AI-enabled startups also are migrating into other service areas, including perhaps the biggest of them all -- you know, strategy -- it may only be a matter of time before there is a one-person, $1 billion AIAOR.

“The traditional agency model is being squeezed from all sides," The Brief's Nam states in this morning's "agency package" announcement, adding: "For many of our agency customers, The Brief has become their best-kept secret — a creative partner that helps them do more with less, even amid constant pressure on teams and budgets. While we built our platform with brands in mind, we know agencies face distinct challenges. That’s why we’ve added tools like branded share links, DAM integration, and expanded brand kits, so agencies can manage multiple clients seamlessly while maintaining their own identity. It means they can focus on what they do best: creating exceptional work, not repetitive tasks.”