Ep. 84: Jose Benitez, CEO & AI Lead at Garnier Miami

Jose Benitez, CEO & AI Lead at Garnier Miami, joins host Karina Jimenez to share how nearly three decades in advertising and a lifelong curiosity for technology led him to become an early adopter of AI and an advocate for its role in the creative and marketing industries. Today, he applies that experience not only with clients and his agency, but also in the classroom, helping creatives understand how to use AI more intentionally. Jose explains why he sees AI as an amplifier rather than a replacement for creativity, allowing leaner teams to move faster while shifting repetitive, operational work away from people so they can focus on higher-value creative thinking. He also explores how AI is transforming everything from agency operations and content production to media optimization, ideation, and even coding. They also discuss why experience and human judgment become even more valuable as AI-generated output improves, the importance of using these tools ethically, and why understanding human connection remains at the core of great marketing regardless of how much technology changes. For the next generation of creatives, Jose’s advice is to embrace not only change, but the speed of change: keep learning, experiment without fear, and don’t limit yourself to a single lane.