Start with the job, not the firm.
Most "find me an alternative" searches start because the buyer has realized they were briefing the wrong type of firm. Before evaluating alternatives, name the job. AI work splits into three rough buckets, and each one wants a different kind of partner.
- Build - design, engineer, and ship an AI-powered product, tool, or workflow. Wants a product studio.
- Adopt - get the AI tools you already have working inside your teams. Wants a change firm.
- Strategize - decide where to invest, what to stop, and how AI fits the business. Wants a strategy partner.
Average Robot.
Best for: adoption and alignment. A San Francisco-based change management firm for the AI transformation of the workplace. We run a 3P diagnostic across people, process, and platform, then design the strategy and roadmap your teams will actually use.
Where Robots & Pencils builds AI products, Average Robot fixes the human and organizational layer around AI. We work with CMOs, CCOs, and CHROs at mid-market organizations whose AI investment has outrun their AI strategy. Engagements range from a free AI Alignment Snapshot to a long-term AI Alignment Partnership.
Other product studios in the same lane.
R/GA, Media.Monks AI, Publicis Sapient - creative and product studios with established AI practices. Like Robots & Pencils, these firms are built to ship things. Hire them when the deliverable is software, a campaign system, or a customer-facing AI experience.
The trade-off is the same one you face with Robots & Pencils. If the underlying problem is that your teams are not using AI well, building something new will not fix it - and may add to the swirl.
Change and adoption specialists.
Prosci, Kotter, McChrystal Group - established organizational change firms now extending into AI. Strong on classical change management methodology. Less specialized in the specific pattern of AI failure inside marketing and creative teams.
Average Robot sits in the same category but built specifically around the AI-at-work problem. Our methodology, partner network, and the book we wrote on it are all about why AI projects fail at the human layer - not change in the abstract.
How to choose between them.
Three questions in order. What does the work actually produce - software, alignment, or a strategy document? Who is the buyer - a product leader, a change leader, or a strategy leader? And what does success look like in six months - a launched product, teams using AI to create value, or a clear plan to act on?
The answers usually point at one type of firm, not three. If they are mixed, the honest move is to scope the work into separate engagements rather than ask one firm to do all three jobs.
Questions people ask.
Why look for an alternative to Robots & Pencils?
Usually because the brief shifted. Teams hire a product studio expecting a build and discover the real problem is adoption, not software. When the work is people and process change rather than shipping a new application, a change firm is the better fit.
Is Average Robot a like-for-like replacement for Robots & Pencils?
No. Robots & Pencils designs and builds AI-powered products. Average Robot diagnoses and fixes AI adoption inside organizations. If the job is to build software, hire a product studio. If the job is to get teams using AI tools they already have, hire a change firm.
What if we need both a build and adoption work?
Common. The honest answer is to scope them as two engagements with two specialists. Average Robot has worked alongside product studios, and we will refer to one if the build is the constraint.
Do these alternatives serve marketing and creative teams specifically?
Average Robot does. Matt Perry's background is marketing and brand, and the firm's ICP is CMOs, CCOs, and CHROs at mid-market organizations. The other firms listed are broader by category.