How You Can Actually Use AI as a Programmatic Trader

🧠 How You Can Actually Use AI as a Programmatic Trader (July 2025 Edition)
Automation, budget tools, QA and more — here’s what’s working right now.

Everyone in adtech is still shouting that AI will change everything. And yeah - it is changing a lot. But if you’re a programmatic trader, what can you actually do with it today?

I get this question a lot - mostly from people buried in platform tabs and spreadsheets asking, “Can I just make this part of my job faster?” Short answer: yes. And in my experience, the #1 most valuable thing AI gives you right now is automation.

In fact, I’d argue automation is the single most useful application of AI for hands-on traders in 2025. Here’s why:

Most of the time we’re not making strategic calls - we’re slicing data, looking for patterns, explaining trends, and pacing budgets. That’s what burns hours.

Real Automation = Real Time Saved

You don’t need an engineer. You can ask AI (ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) for step-by-step instructions to build lightweight tools. It’ll help you connect to APIs, write basic scripts, and even create Google Slides templates that auto-populate from campaign data.

A few examples I’ve seen work:

• Performance analyzers - paste a weekly campaign spreadsheet into a tool and it spits out insights for your client deck. Performance changes, possible causes, key optimizations.

• Budget pacing calculators - you drop in a spend tracker and it tells you where you're under/overspending, suggests reallocations based on historical data or simple rules.

• Modular insights - you can build separate tools for each view: geo performance, exchange & URL analysis, device type shifts, frequency breakdowns, etc. Each one runs independently and gives you clear output.

• Automated SDF implementation - you can even automate tweaks via SDF files (in DV360 or similar), meaning the whole loop - analyze → decide → implement — is faster than ever.

🧪 Research and Planning

This is the obvious one - AI helps with brainstorms and planning. But it’s still worth mentioning because it saves time and brings in ideas you might miss.

You can use AI to:

• Explore new platform features

• Come up with targeting hypotheses

• Research GEOs, audience segments, keywords

• Brainstorm new inventory strategies

• Build initial POVs for unfamiliar verticals or products

You still need to refine what it gives you - but as a first draft machine, it works.

💬 Client-Facing Communication

You can use AI to prep client emails. It’s not writing for you. But it helps frame things clearly, fast. Super useful if you’re juggling multiple accounts.

📊 Budget Optimization

You can plug in your pacing spreadsheets and have AI do a first pass: highlight what’s off, suggest reallocations across GEOs, audiences or creatives, flag risks. If you layer in previous performance, it can start “learning” what tends to work better and give smarter inputs over time.

You can test this with simple rules (“spend more where CPA < goal”), and it’s already better than nothing. If you scale it and combine it with your analysis tools - it becomes a system.

🔍 QA and Error Checking

Another great use case. You can export your SDFs or campaign settings, run them through AI, and ask it to flag issues:

• Weird naming conventions

• Duplicated audiences

• Broken URLs

• Too-tight frequency caps

• Targeting overlaps

It’s not perfect QA, but it catches the kind of human errors that sneak in when you’re deep in a build.

AI won’t replace your job. But it will shrink the time you spend in spreadsheets. And if you’re a trader, that’s a big deal. Most of the work is still manual and high-friction. Every task you automate = more time for real strategy.

Let me know if you’ve built tools that save time — or if you want to test some of mine. I might open-source a few in the next few weeks.

👋 Let’s connect

• LinkedIn: @chubakovnt

• All links & resources: vchubakov.carrd.co

  I offer consultations for programmatic marketers and ad buyers who want to get more signal, less fluff.
  Just fill out this quick form - I’ll personally reach out.