Why we looked
We’ve been doing a good deal of outreach for Transmitter’s agency AI services. In conversations with people who were interested, very few were confident in the actions they were taking.
A good deal of experimentation is still needed. Many of these teams need advice. Very few are seeking it from people and systems that can actually change how the work gets done.
That prompted the public-site scan. We wanted to see whether agencies’ public evidence of AI talk, services, internal use, hiring, and training matched what we were hearing.
The conversations and the scan pointed in the same direction. They remain different kinds of evidence: what people told us, and what agencies made visible on their sites.
From here down: plain numbers from agency pages we could open. Unknown means we found no public evidence in this pass.
The talk is everywhere
Across all 114 hiring agencies, 96 talk about AI on their sites (84%). In the three focus markets combined (Toronto, Austin, Ohio, n = 84), 72 talk about AI (86%). Talking about AI is now table stakes on agency websites.
Examples:
- Single Grain — “We don't advise on AI. We deploy it.” and “We operate as an AI-native team. Every role uses AI.” AI Automation Engineer
- Noble Studios — “Noble Studios treats AI as a tool to strengthen experts.”
- Mighty Citizen (Austin; not hiring) — “We view AI as a tool and a partner.”
What agencies sell
62 of 114 hiring agencies (54%) sell AI-named services. In the city set, 45 of 84 (54%) do. Offers range from AI SEO/GEO and visibility audits to custom agents and chatbots.
Examples:
- Allegiant Digital Marketing (Austin) — homepage: “We don't resell AI.” Sells AI SEO.
- ForeFront Web (Columbus) — “AI SEO Services (AEO & GEO): Get Cited, Not Just Ranked.”
- 42connect (Cleveland) — “AI Search Optimization” and “we integrate modern AI SEO strategies.” Professional SEO services
- Kuno Creative (Cleveland) — “Strategy, content and ops powered by AI.”
- ROC Media (Toronto) — launched “AI Visibility Audits” covering ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
What agencies build for themselves
32 of 114 (28%) show internal use. In the city set, it’s 23 of 84 (27%). Public sites understate process. Still, a few make it visible:
- thoughtbot — “AI in Focus is our long-running weekly livestream dedicated to building real AI software.”
- Ample (Cincinnati) — “We just moved Ample from personal Claude accounts onto a Team plan.”
- ZoCo Design (Columbus) — “What we learned testing AI in our UX Research process.” Related: Will AI replace designers?
Hire, upskill or train
Hiring signals sit much lower than talk:
- AI-titled role: 12 of 114 (11%)
- AI skills in existing roles: 18 of 114 (16%)
- In-house training: 3 of 114 (3%)
Examples:
- Postali (Columbus) — “AI Systems Engineer”; SEO and AI Results Optimization Services.
- TheAppLabb (Toronto) — four openings, three are AI-titled (Sr. AI Engineer; AI Architect (AWS & Agentic AI); AI Account Director; plus a Data Engineer). Careers listing
- Xeo Marketing (GTA) — “we’ll train you on the AI-specific parts.” Growth Marketing Specialist
- tbk (London, ON) — “Use AI and agentic workflows as a core part of how you build” and mentorship “helping the team build real fluency with AI.” RevOps AI services
- Pound & Grain (Toronto) — “AI is part of your daily workflow… Claude and Gemini… These aren’t experiments — they’re your everyday tools.”
The gap between talk and action
The funnel falls at each step for the 114 hiring agencies:
- Talk: 96 (84%)
- Sell: 62 (54%)
- Internal use: 32 (28%)
- AI-titled role: 12 (11%)
- Training: 3 (3%)
Ohio shows the widest gap between talk and selling: 28 of 29 (97%) talk; 14 of 29 (48%) sell.
Hiring or not, the talk sounds the same
Hiring did not predict AI talk. Against 22 non-hiring controls:
- Talk: hiring 72 of 84 (86%) vs controls 19 of 22 (86%)
- Sell: 45 of 84 (54%) vs 12 of 22 (55%)
- Internal use: 23 of 84 (27%) vs 5 of 22 (23%)
This comparison uses the three-city hiring set (n = 84) to match the city mix in the controls.
Toronto, Austin and Ohio (directional view)
Sample sizes and margins limit city-level certainty. Treat the gaps below as directional.
| Group | n | Talks AI | Sells AI | Internal use | AI-titled role | AI skills | Training |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | 36 | 31 (86%) | 19 (53%) | 9 (25%) | 5 (14%) | 4 (11%) | 1 (3%) |
| Austin | 19 | 13 (68%) | 12 (63%) | 4 (21%) | 1 (5%) | 5 (26%) | 0 (0%) |
| Ohio | 29 | 28 (97%) | 14 (48%) | 10 (34%) | 1 (3%) | 4 (14%) | 0 (0%) |
| Three cities | 84 | 72 (86%) | 45 (54%) | 23 (27%) | 7 (8%) | 13 (15%) | 1 (1%) |
Ohio leads on talk (97%) while selling sits at 48%. Austin is smaller (n = 19) and inside a wide margin. Toronto’s rates cluster near the combined averages.
Why clients will notice
Clients will hear similar talk. They will feel the difference in delivery: what gets built, who owns it, and how the team learns.
Industry signals point the same way:
- Crealytics (citing Forrester and 4A’s): nine in ten US agencies use GenAI; 81% aim it at staff productivity; only 27% build their own tech and 34% expand into AI services; Forrester: 54% lack AI-agent expertise.
- Digiday (Media Buying Summit recap): Monks says it rethought staff structures and client teams around AI; “no clear answers yet” on staffing.
- Digiday on Forrester Wave (media agencies): agentic buying and AEO now scorecards; Publicis got the lowest score (1) on agentic buying for lack of tangible pilots or client impact.
- Ogilvy ECHO: consent-first AI platform; “talent must sign off on every asset.” Led by named AI roles (e.g., Global AI Creative Lead).
Five questions for agency leaders
Use these to shift from saying to doing:
- Where does AI change how our team works, not just what we sell?
- Who owns AI here: a role, a habit, or nobody?
- How do we train people, and is that time on the timesheet?
- What do we review before work reaches a client?
- Can we show a client proof, not a claim?
Where Transmitter Studios fits
We are a production partner for agencies. We build the workflows, tools and structured knowledge behind daily AI delivery. Your agency keeps its voice and client relationships.