Marketing Begins with a Story
New Technology, New Stories & New Ways to Tell Them
With the surge of recent stories surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and its vast capabilities, there’s been a growing interest and a fair amount of trepidation when it comes to understanding this rapidly evolving technology. While it seems like AI has magically appeared everywhere overnight, it isn’t as random or new as we think. It is now being applied in new ways that are accessible to just about anyone in any field.
Large-scale skepticism stems from stories of outlier and unregulated use, the speed of its capabilities, and the reality that the law has not caught up to provide regulations yet, but the real fear is mostly in the unknown.
Like books, radio, film, television and even more traditional forms of content creation like folkways and oral tradition, the possibility to create and distribute information, as well as misinformation, can happen quickly, and often evolves over generations. With this there is a need for quality controls in the development of this technology to ensure accuracy, competency and strategic priorities are understood and met.
AI and Growing Your Business
Will AI be a path toward growth, future innovation and a helpful and reliable tool for gathering and broadcasting information?
First impressions are important and with AI there’s been an overwhelming proclivity for doomsday representations from Hollywood. With everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey’s HAL to the more recent M3GAN, it’s easy to let our imaginations run wild with fear of the unknown. It’s also important to remember those helpful screen stars like benevolent C-3PO and R2-D2 that served to support the hero in their journey.
AI is a Powerful Resource for Marketing
We now have access to capabilities that previously were thought to be out of reach thanks to Artificial Intelligence. Similar to research tools like Google that have allowed humanity to leapfrog hours spent in piles of books at the library, AI allows users to automate mundane tasks and analyze huge amounts of data quickly and with a high degree of accuracy.
Despite its many benefits, AI also comes with a set of constraints that puts limits on what it can and cannot do. One of the main limitations of AI is its inability to think and reason like humans.
So far, AI can only follow rules and instructions, including those that have been programmed into it. It lacks a general understanding of the world that allows us to recognize patterns, draw logical conclusions, and make intuitive leaps. As a result, AI can be easily fooled by changing the rules or context of a problem (prompting), or by introducing unexpected data points.
Creatives Work With Technology To Drive Innovation
AI is also limited in terms of creativity and innovation. AI can automate certain processes, but it cannot generate new ideas or come up with creative solutions to complex problems. This means that AI is not suitable for tasks like designing products, solving complex problems, or developing innovative “out-of-the-box” solutions. A few use cases for AI include:
- Initial drafts of copy
- Image and video creation
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Customer Service Chatbots
- Coding and Bug detection in software applications
Another limitation of AI is its reliance on data. AI algorithms require large amounts of accurate, reliable data to be effective. If the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the AI may not produce the desired results. This can be a problem when dealing with real-world scenarios that include uncertainty and unknown factors.
Marketing Evolves As Technology Evolves
AI can be limited by its own complexity. As AI systems become more complex, they can become increasingly difficult to understand and maintain. This makes it difficult to debug problems or modify the system as needed. Additionally, complex AI systems may take a long time to process data or generate results, making them unsuitable for real-time applications.
There’s also the potential ethical and human rights challenges such as,
- AI tools lack transparency: AI decisions are not always understandable.
- Artificial intelligence is not neutral: AI-based decisions are subject to inaccuracies, discriminatory outcomes, and embedded or inserted bias.
- The collection of data and privacy of court users is subject to surveillance practices.
- New concerns for fairness and risk for Human Rights and other fundamental values.
It Ain’t What You Do It’s The Way That You Do It
Joan Baez, Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, En Vogue, and Boyz II Men all have one thing in common: they’ve all covered “Yesterday” which was first performed and recorded by The Beatles on their 1965 album Help! What was the differentiator? The unique characteristics of each performance made them intrinsically different and valuable.
Why does this matter for AI? In order for marketing to be strategic and effective, qualitative differentiators need to be present. Think of all the drab, lifeless versions of “Yesterday” that never made it out of a teenager’s bedroom. This goes to show that access alone to AI or a given set of data, like a song, does not guarantee uniqueness or success. Simply mirroring AI generated content will not suffice.
While TikTok was previously poised to surpass Google in search capabilities, one thing is clear when it comes to information and creativity: while content is still king, we will exist in a kingdom of interpretive style that resonates with users and drives engagement.
This will enable users to choose their favorite use of content and, like the remakes of The Beatles’ “Yesterday,” there’s plenty of room for poetic license (including the good, the bad and the ugly), depending on your audience. This is where your marketing team will be able to fine tune and optimize your messaging.
River Avenue Digital & Artificial Intelligence
We’re excited to have a research assistant that doesn’t sleep, eat, complain or go on vacation, but we all realize that we need to experience these things to make better creative decisions.
Technophobes take heed. Artificial Intelligence is here to stay and early adopters will be rewarded.
AI is a reflection of our history and our attempts to create and recreate knowledge in the service of building a better world. If AI seems temperamental, impatient, or weird it’s because humans are, and we are the ones prompting it. If AI has made your life easier, helped understand a complex subject or demonstrated a capacity to renew hope, it’s because it’s based on humanity.
Want to learn how our team of marketing experts can use AI to help your organization reach its potential? Reach out and let’s talk!