Amazon Ads Agent Replaces Ad Console as Agentic AI Takes Over

Amazon has retired Ad Console, its longstanding interface for buying and managing campaigns, and replaced it with Amazon Ads Agent — a rebuilt ad platform powered by agentic AI. The company unveiled the update at its annual Unboxed advertising event in San Francisco.

The move extends a product Amazon first tested a year ago. In 2024, Amazon launched Ads Agent as a chat-driven tool that automates parts of the ad-buying experience, including managing targeting across campaigns and optimizing bids. That tool now powers the entire platform rather than sitting alongside it as an optional layer.

Kelly MacLean, VP of Amazon Ads, told ADWEEK that the change is not simply a rebrand. Agents have been fully integrated into the platform and into the workflows advertisers use.

What this means for practitioners

For advertisers, the shift moves automation from a convenience feature to the default operating environment. Campaign workflows that previously ran through manual console controls — targeting management, bid optimization — now sit inside an agentic system designed to handle them automatically.

That carries practical implications. Teams accustomed to granular manual control in Ad Console will need to relearn workflows inside an agent-first interface. Performance marketers who already used the 2024 version of Ads Agent for cross-campaign targeting and bid optimization will face a shorter adjustment curve, since the underlying automation capabilities remain the same.

MacLean's statement that agents are embedded in advertiser workflows — not layered on top — signals where Amazon expects campaign management to go: less manual input, more delegation to automated systems.

Official confirmation versus speculation

Confirmed by Amazon: the platform replacement, the Unboxed announcement, the prior 2024 launch of the chat-driven Ads Agent, and MacLean's characterization of the integration as substantive rather than cosmetic.

Not yet confirmed: rollout timing details beyond the Unboxed unveiling, migration mechanics for existing Ad Console campaigns, pricing changes, if any, tied to the new platform, and performance benchmarks comparing agent-managed campaigns against manually managed ones. Advertisers evaluating the switch should treat early efficiency claims with caution until independent performance data emerges.

Why it matters

Amazon controls one of the largest advertising businesses in the world, and a full rebuild of its core campaign interface around AI agents marks one of the most concrete agentic-AI deployments in the ad industry to date. Competing platforms have announced AI assistants and generative ad tools, but Amazon has moved from optional automation to a structural replacement of its primary buying interface.

For agencies and in-house teams, the immediate tasks are operational: audit current campaign structures before migration, document manual optimization routines that the agent will now handle, and monitor whether automated bid and targeting decisions match or beat prior manual performance.

Expect Amazon to publish rollout specifics and migration guidance as the platform reaches advertisers broadly — and expect the industry to watch closely whether agentic campaign management at this scale delivers measurable performance gains.