---
title: Matt Wilkinson on Marketing Personas For the AI Age
description: Matt and Niels discuss Matt's new book, The Buyer in the Loop, and why AI-backed synthetic personas are the marketer's next great tool.
image: https://aiintheuk.com/hubfs/WhatsApp%20Image%202026-09-15%20at%2015.19.35%20(1).jpeg
---

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New episode · 18 September 2026

# Matt Wilkinson on Marketing Personas For the AI Age

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## Featured this week

In a bit of a change from our regular scheduling, this week we went deep on Matt's new book, *The Buyer in the Loop*, and the concept of synthetic customers: AI models of your buyers built from real interviews, sales calls, and forum data that you can actually interrogate at any point in a project.

Having both seen good marketing get worn down by internal review until it sounds like the company talking to itself, we discussed how having a grounded, queryable buyer in the room changes that dynamic. [Listen to the full episode](https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/niels-footman/episodes/Matt-Wilkinson-on-Marketing-Personas-For-the-AI-Age-e3osn8c)

## Also this week

**Cross-party committee calls for a dedicated AI law as OpenAI backs binding UK rules** — Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights and OpenAI are, unusually, asking for the same thing. [Read more](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyzvgj70y4o)

**King Charles warns AI leaders of 'existential dangers' at Scottish gathering** — Jensen Huang, Demis Hassabis and others were summoned to Dumfries House for a conversation about keeping AI in the service of humanity. [Read more](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/king-charles-urge-ai-leaders-protect-humanity-scottish-meeting-2026-09-17)

**Month-old DeepMind spinout Emulate nears $700m seed at $3.7bn valuation** — Three former DeepMind researchers have been in talks for a $700 million raise roughly four weeks after founding their company. [Read more](https://www.ft.com/content/0b83cb60-0d07-49a7-a46a-654077a75b39)

**Ofcom: one in five UK adults now use AI for news** — Twenty-one percent of adults reached for an AI tool for news last month, with online sources overtaking television overall. [Read more](https://broadbandtvnews.com/2026/09/15/ofcom-one-in-five-uk-adults-use-ai-for-news)

**Scotland pauses new AI data-centre approvals for up to a year** — Holyrood is holding off while it works out planning guidance, with proposals already in the system requiring more power than Torness nuclear station generates. [Read more](https://www.computing.co.uk/news/2026/government/scotland-delays-new-ai-datacentre-approvals-for-up-to-a-year)

**Ofcom warns AI is 'supercharging' online child-abuse material** — The regulator told a Lords committee that the Online Safety Act is making progress, but AI is pulling hard in the opposite direction. [Read more](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ai-supercharging-online-harms-children-ofcom-b3050558.html)

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### Niels Footman

Co-host. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielsfootman/) · [footforwardai.com](https://footforwardai.com)

### Matt Wilkinson

Co-host. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattwilkinson/) · [Strivenn](https://strivenn.com)

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