I’ve had the same dream for as long as I can remember.

In it, I’m walking through my apartment when I discover a door I’ve never noticed before. Behind it is an entire additional wing. Rooms I didn’t know existed. Light. Space. Possibility. It feels expansive, like I’ve been living inside only part of what was available to me.

When I wake up, there’s always a brief recalibration. The quiet reminder that the extra rooms don’t actually exist.

Lately, though, I’ve been thinking about how thin that line has become.

Because today, if I wanted to, I could take that dream and turn it into a floor plan in seconds. I could render it, furnish it, light it perfectly. A convincing version of something that has never been lived in.

That distinction matters more than ever.

I saw the same question show up recently in a completely different context when I read about Tilly Norwood.

She looks like a young actress you might expect to see in a campaign or a streaming series. Polished. Familiar. Convincing. But she is entirely AI-generated. And the detail that caught people’s attention wasn’t her realism. It was the suggestion that she might need an agent.

Because agents don’t exist to make something look real.
They exist to stand behind it.

At its core, representation is about responsibility. Someone willing to vouch. To explain. To take ownership when something goes wrong.

That question, who stands behind the work, came up repeatedly in recent conversations at The Luxury Roundtable Summit last week. Not as panic or hype, but as something more grounded. A recognition that AI is changing how information is produced without changing the human need for trust and accountability.

AI accelerates answers.
It does not explain meaning.

This is where advisory work begins to shift.

Access to data is no longer the advantage it once was. AI has flattened that playing field quickly. What it hasn’t flattened is judgment.

Clients are listening differently now. They want to understand how conclusions are formed, what assumptions are being made, and what’s being left out. They’re not asking for more information. They’re asking for orientation.

That’s where real advisory lives.

What Tilly Norwood ultimately reveals isn’t something about technology. It’s something about responsibility.

AI can generate outputs that look finished and persuasive. What it cannot do is stand behind them.

So humans step in.

If an AI-generated actress needs someone willing to vouch for her presence in the world, then AI-generated advice certainly needs someone willing to vouch for its meaning, its limits, and its implications.

That role hasn’t gone away.
It has simply become clearer.

Coaching Corner: Lead with credibility.

To lead with credibility in an AI-assisted world:

• Explain your process, not just your conclusion
• Be clear about sources and assumptions
• Separate data from interpretation
• Acknowledge uncertainty
• Stand behind the recommendation

Answers are easy to generate now.
Responsibility is not.