CHICAGO, August 6, 2025
— To hardcore AI evangelists, Jon Miller might’ve been spouting heresy. “Anyone who proclaims themselves to be an AI expert is just a couple weeks ahead of you,” the marketing expert and serial technology entrepreneur said in his opening address at Go2MarketEdge, a new event for sales and marketers in the food-away-from-home business. 


As Miller’s presentation and resume proved, he, too, is an avid proponent of the technology that’s being hailed as the most disruptive innovation the business world has seen since the advent of computers. 


He attested to using it as routinely as a chef might wield a saucepan, for tasks ranging from critiquing his take on the state of marketing to exhaustively researching mixology trends. (“I’m a cocktail nerd,” he admitted—before showing how he used AI to peg what drink could hold its own against the margarita on Chili’s menu.)


But after witnessing how business-to-business marketing had changed since he co-founded the Marketo CRM platform around 2005, he wasn’t ooh’ing and ahh’ing over artificial intelligence. He characterized it as a powerful tool, but still only an aid to human thinking, not a replacement for the walking brain carriers known as humans. 


“You’re still the one making the decisions,” Miller responded to an attendee’s question about AI’s range.


It will revolutionize marketing, he agreed, but it won’t replace the marketing department.


Indeed, though Miller hailed the power of AI, he highlighted three areas where it can’t equal the sales and marketing abilities of humans:


Craftsmanship. As good as AI has become in mimicking a human-made pitch, it can’t match the art a person brings to the task. “You can tell when something was done by AI,” Miller said. 


He advised the sales and marketing executives in attendance to provide that something extra in the form of data only their company can deliver. Presenting that info in a way that’s particularly meaningful to the client is the sort of craftsmanship AI can’t match, he suggested. 


Relationships. With enough earned trust, a buyer will look at a seller as more than just another supplier. There’s no such emotional bond with an AI app, Miller suggested. As he put it, “There’s no replacement for a partnership, of someone standing next to you and saying, 'This is awesome.’” 


Experience. Potential clients won’t have memories of skiing with the AI app that’s being used to land their business. Old sales tactics like customer junkets do work, said Miller, citing an experience of his own. And the smartest computer obviously can’t deliver those shared times.


Nor can AI deliver the experiential feel that many marketers try to instill in their messaging to prospects, he contended. 


“AI cannot summarize an experience the way a photo of your feet in the sand can capture the feel of a vacation,” Miller said.


Miller noted that AI is constantly evolving, its capabilities ever growing and improving.


He advised attendees to stay current by regularly experimenting with AI and its latest capabilities. Hands-on use will give them all the expertise they need, he suggested.


Go2MarketEdge is presented by IFMA The Food Away from Home Association in partnership with the tech companies Tastewise and Cut+Dry. The conference runs through Thursday in San Francisco, with the sessions held in a variety of high-tech facilities. The event was designed to be an immersive experience, with attendees seeing tech’s latest advances in action.


FAFH professionals who missed the conference can still explore the near-term future of marketing and sales technology via a companion virtual version of Go2MarketEdge that begins August 12, 2025. In a series of sessions that participants can “attend” from their desks, attendees will get a recap of the San Francisco event plus new content tailored to the remote format.


More information is available here.