Building a more responsible ad ecosystem: Q&A with Ebiquity’s Ruben Schreurs

As AI adoption accelerates in advertising, so does the need for underlying infrastructure that can act intelligently, align with regulations, and uphold brand integrity. That’s where Ebiquity Group CEO Ruben Schreurs sees an opportunity for transformation.

In this Q&A, Ruben breaks down what agentic AI really means, why now is the time to act, and how Ebiquity’s new ERA Curriculum and pre-flight agent are reshaping the industry’s approach to responsible media.

Q: You’ve described agentic AI as a major shift in how decisions will get made across the advertising ecosystem. What excites you most about this moment? How do you define agentic AI in your own words?

Ruben: I don’t think there’s a binary definition for ‘agentic AI.’ It’s not that AI is either fully agentic or not. We’re seeing applications become more agentic over time, meaning they’re gaining more agency. They can make decisions more autonomously, execute multi-step tasks, and learn from what they encounter during those tasks to improve performance.

But that autonomy also introduces risk.

The more independently systems act, the harder it is to predict their behavior. So we need clear instructions, strong guardrails, and the ability to intervene when needed. That’s what makes this moment so important: we can unlock huge gains in efficiency and effectiveness, but we have to do it responsibly.

Q: You introduced the concept of “instrumental convergence” and warned that hope isn’t a strategy. Why is it so important to build in guardrails at this stage of AI adoption?

Ruben: Instrumental convergence is the idea that an autonomous system given a certain goal might, in pursuit of that goal, enact harmful or unintended consequences if not properly guided. The paperclip maximizer essay is the classic example: an AI tasked with making as many paperclips as possible ends up consuming all the world’s resources.

In advertising, that might mean an AI optimizing for clicks by running ads in harmful or misleading environments. If the instruction is just "maximize clicks," and we don’t set constraints, we’re going to see real consequences. That’s why regulation, policy, and brand values all have to be embedded into the systems from the start.

Q: What is the Effective & Responsible Advertising (ERA) Curriculum, and what gap does it fill for the brands and agencies you work with?

Ruben: The ERA curriculum is a training or operating manual for AI applications. It’s hosted by Ebiquity, designed for brands, and can be used with any platform or partner, though it’s natively integrated into the Scope3 Agentic Media Platform.

Think of it like this: if you prompt ChatGPT to generate a media plan, ERA gives the AI the additional instructions it needs to comply with regulations and brand policies. That might mean avoiding certain content types, respecting local advertising restrictions, or applying a brand’s internal standards.

We maintain the ERA Curriculum in a format we call .AIRF — AI-Readable Format — which minimizes compute requirements and ensures the guidance is clear, non-conflicting, and actionable. It allows advertisers to control how AI acts on their behalf, and to do it in a way that’s scalable, consistent, and sustainable.

Q: You’ve also previewed a new pre-flight check agent launching later this year. How does this shift the industry from reactive auditing to proactive planning?

Ruben: Historically, we primarily worked downstream. A campaign would run, and afterward we would review the investments to flag compliance issues or inefficiencies. But that doesn’t let you fix anything retroactively.

The pre-flight check agent changes that. When a media plan is created, brands and their agencies can run it through the agent, which will flag anything that doesn’t align with the ERA Curriculum — whether it’s regulatory, brand-related, or effectiveness related. Think of it like the pre-flight inspection on an airplane: it doesn’t catch everything, but it dramatically reduces risk before takeoff.

This also reduces the need for manual reviews and back-and-forth. It fits the speed and scale of modern planning cycles, and it gives advertisers a way to act responsibly from the very start.

Q: You’ve integrated ERA directly into the Scope3 Agentic Media Platform from day one — what made Scope3 the right partner for this launch?

Ruben: We’ve been a partner of Scope3 since the beginning. What brought us together is a shared belief that effective advertising and responsible advertising are not mutually exclusive. In fact, when you optimize for sustainability, you often improve performance as well.

As Scope3 expanded into agentic infrastructure with Brand Standards and the Agentic Media Platform, we saw a natural alignment. They’re focused on shortening the supply chain, improving transparency, and making the media ecosystem more effective and accountable. That aligns perfectly with what we do at Ebiquity.

Together, we’re giving advertisers the tools they need to act responsibly and grow their business — that’s the future we’re building.

Q: The ERA curriculum is live, the pre-flight agent is on the way, and AI is only accelerating. What’s next for Ebiquity and the industry?

Ruben: Advertising is a trillion-dollar global industry since this year, and it’s time to start operating like one. Too much waste, too much inefficiency, and too many avoidable risks exist in the system today. We need to mature. That means embracing AI, but doing so with purpose and responsibility built in.

At Ebiquity, we’re focused on turning these tools into real-world results. Not promises or pilots, but actual deployment. Scope3 shares that mindset, which is why the partnership works so well. We want to help this industry move forward in a way that delivers outcomes and earns trust. That’s what effective and responsible advertising really looks like.