As 2026 approaches, the advertising industry finds itself at a crossroads, caught between the allure of AI-driven creative transformation and the uncertainty that surrounds widespread adoption. Generative video models are advancing at breakneck speed. Production timelines are collapsing from weeks to minutes.
Creative teams that adopt generative video are able to iterate faster, test more, and produce high-quality assets at lower costs. Their momentum, argues Kevin Croxton, is what will ultimately force the rest of the industry to accelerate.
Croxton is the VP of B2B Strategy at Lightricks, a leader in visual AI solutions. He oversees strategy for the company’s LTX and Popular Pays platforms. In recent years, Lightricks has been diversifying, shifting its strategic emphasis from B2C mobile apps to business solutions and proprietary AI models.
Looking ahead to 2026, Croxton anticipates a great deal of change in the ways advertising teams handle ideation and production. As ethics and transparency gray areas are addressed, he says, creative pipelines will standardize around AI, reducing friction that has long slowed creativity down.
As we near the end of 2025, what’s your take on the ad industry’s current AI adoption maturity level, and what needs to change for that maturity to grow dramatically in 2026?
I think adoption is still fairly low. We’re mostly seeing early adopters testing it out, while a lot of big brands are still sitting on the sidelines. Over time, that’ll change as more people get used to AI-generated ads and the results become undeniable. Sometimes there’s backlash, sometimes there’s not. It depends on the brand, the audience, and how thoughtfully it’s used.
What’s really going to push adoption is the scrappier brands that are trying to punch above their weight. They’re already experimenting, and as their success becomes visible, larger companies will have to take a stance and find ways to use it. Legal and compliance hurdles need to be worked out, but there’s still a ton of low-risk potential in areas like idea generation, storyboarding, and pre-production. A lot of teams are overlooking those use cases because they’re too focused on the “final pixel” debate.
Looking holistically at the advertising industry ecosystem, who is driving AI adoption the most — agencies, creatives, or advertisers? Why?
I think agencies want to lead, but they’re often slowed down by more risk-averse advertisers. Some creatives are jumping in, others are still skeptical. But ultimately, it’s going to be the brands that drive change. Especially small and mid-sized ones that need to take risks to compete at a higher level.
Those are the companies that will push AI forward, because efficiency and speed are real competitive advantages. The bigger players will follow once they see proof at scale. We’re seeing this play out right now on the LTX platform, where smaller teams are using AI tools to streamline creative production, iterate faster, and test more ideas. And they’re doing it all at a fraction of the traditional cost.
AI-generated video content keeps getting more photorealistic. Do you think we’ll reach a point soon where the tech becomes the go-to for video ad creation?
Absolutely. That’s exactly why we’re in this space. I think of it like the early days of visual effects in film. When filmmakers started using green screens and CGI instead of real stunts, everyone pointed out what was “fake.” Now, nobody cares. It’s just part of how movies are made.
The same thing is happening in advertising, but it’s evolving ten times faster. With open-source solutions like our recently released LTX-2, brands can generate realistic, high-quality video content in minutes instead of weeks. It’s efficient, it’s cost-effective, and it’s good enough that audiences don’t care how it was made. They care whether it connects.
What are you seeing when it comes to influencers’ attitudes toward AI? Do they feel threatened or inspired? How do you see that changing in the coming year?
Like any big shift, there’s an adoption curve. The early adopters who embrace AI will simply do better. We aren’t talking about fads like LaserDiscs. It’s here to stay, and it’s only going to improve.
The curve for AI is moving much faster than what we saw with the internet or social media. The creators who leaned in early back then built empires; those who hesitated fell behind. The same thing will happen here. Influencers who experiment now will find authentic, smart ways to blend AI into their work. And they will have a huge advantage as the technology becomes mainstream.
A lot of media attention around AI in adtech focuses on audience targeting and content personalization. Is that where the biggest opportunities lie?
Yes and no. Personalization is a big part of it, but it’s not the whole story. The real opportunity is in producing higher-quality creative more efficiently, regardless of format.
Think about what happens when AI reduces the cost and time to produce video. Suddenly, brands can replace static imagery with motion across campaigns. That’s a major engagement boost. AI makes that scalable for more teams.
And looking ahead, we’ll reach a point where creative assets can be personalized on the fly and generated dynamically for each viewer based on specific parameters. That’s when it gets really exciting. The LTX platform is already paving the way for that, giving brands and creators a choice between our own LTX-2 model for unmatched speed and efficiency or other leading models like Veo 3 for different stylistic goals.
Where do you see the conversation about AI ethics headed in 2026, both in adtech and in general?
I think the ethics conversation is going to mature a lot next year. We’re shifting from “Should we use AI?” to “How do we use it responsibly?” Transparency, provenance, and disclosure will all matter more, especially in advertising, where audience trust is everything.
That’s why open models are so important. With LTX-2, our team has worked closely with developers and academic researchers to ensure transparency and community feedback are built into the process. Open collaboration keeps the technology honest. It’s how we make sure innovation doesn’t outpace accountability.
Will the use of AI in advertising have a watershed moment in 2026? What’s coming next?
2026 will be the year AI stops being the shiny new thing and becomes part of the creative infrastructure. It’ll be in every campaign, whether for ideation, production, or optimization.
The big shift will be around efficiency. The winners will be the ones using AI to move faster and produce better creative at scale. AI’s not here to replace creativity. It’s here to remove the friction from it. That’s the watershed moment we’re heading toward.
