The AI Revolution and Marketing (Part One)

"If you're not thinking about AI, you're not thinking." ~ Chris Meyer

Cick to enlarge.

One of Paul Gauguin's most famous paintings is a series of questions: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? It’s the last of these questions that especially concerns many of us today. Where are we going with regards to the impact technology is having on our lives and careers? AI is but one facet of the current tech revolution which is re-shaping our lives in ways as yet unknown.
 

In the news media AI seem to be everywhere now with new stories appearing every day. Many play on our fears, stoking concerns about plagiarism, cheating in school, the energy drain caused by AI data centers, mass layoffs and Hollywood-inspired Terminator scenarios.

Other stories present AI as a game changer that will eliminate unemployment and make all of our lives better. Still others suggest that all this hype is a big nothingburger. (On August 6 NPR aired a story titled “10 reasons why AI may be overrated.”)

By way of contrast, Reason magazine recently devoted an entire issue to the AI phenomenon, underscoring its significance. Articles ranged from utopian to dystopian, practical to far-fetched, deepfakes, warfare and poetry. In short, AI touches everything. To be sure, they also issue warnings and underscored AI’s current shortcomings, including Google’s debacle of 2024.

In this article we’ll highlight some of the ways AI is already being used by marketers. A follow-up column will address ethical concerns, risks and other related matters. 

AI in Marketing

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the field of marketing by enabling more efficient, personalized, and data-driven strategies. 

 

Many of the ways AI is being used in marketing are simply extensions of decades-long trends. For example, personalized recommendations. E-commerce platforms like Amazon use AI to analyze user behavior and recommend products tailored to individual preferences, increasing the likelihood of purchase. It’s not really new. It’s simply been enhanced.

 

AI algorithms are now being used to analyze vast amounts of customer data to identify distinct segments based on behavior, preferences, and demographics, allowing for more targeted marketing campaigns. This allows companies to create more personalized marketing campaigns, improving the effectiveness of their marketing efforts by reaching the right audience with the right message. Though customer segmentation has been taking place for decades (Chromaline was doing this in the late 1980s using a Unix computer operating system) AI can process and analyze data much faster and more accurately than traditional methods, enabling businesses to better understand their customers and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly.

 

AI is now being used for Chatbots. Virtual Assistants have come a long ways since Microsoft’s intrusive Clippy, who first appeared in Office 97. 

 

There is currently widespread use of AI for all manner of content creation. The use of AI for ad copy, blog posts, social media updates, and email newsletters is saving time and resources for many marketers. During the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, AI algorithms were generating basic news reports, summarizing event outcomes, and even providing insights based on data analysis. The technology was often used to produce quick, straightforward reports on events like Olympic competitions, where speed and accuracy are important.

 

Many companies are now using AI to predict future trends and customer behavior. Trained on historical data, machines can identify patterns and relationships. Predictive analytics is especially useful for companies that invest heavily in research to develop new products.

 

Walmart uses AI for dynamic pricing which adjusts prices in real time based on demand, competition and other factors, to seize opportunities and maximize profits.

 

AI tools are also being used to gauge consumer sentiment based on media posts, reviews and other user-generated content. Some use this information for reputation management, though small companies can get a feel for how they are perceived by occasionally reading reviews on Yelp and similar platforms.

Ad targeting and optimization is now being managed by AI on platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads. Mailchimp and SendGrid now use AI-driven algorithms to personalize email content and optimize send times for better engagement and conversion rates.

 
I myself have been reading, writing and thinking about AI since 2016. In order to understand AI’s strengths and limitations, I’ve been experimenting with several large language models (LLMs) and various AI art programs. For example, with ChatGPT you can feed your blog post into the prompt box and instruct it to give you 10 potential titles. In seconds you have 10 headlines to play with. Or if writing a book, you can request themes for 10, 20 or 30 chapters. And Voila! There you have it.

 

In other words, it’s great for brainstorming. (I asked ChatGPT for 24 chapters on a book about cars. If I were to follow through it would be a most interesting and comprehensive read.)

Red Flags
“Not too long ago there were many concerns raised regarding students using AI to write their papers,” said David Beard, Professor of Rhetoric at UMD. “Today, colleges are encouraging getting familiar with AI.” He directed me to UMD’s Dr. Liz Wright, who is currently developing a class on the use of AI among writers -- understanding when and how and how best to use it. 

 

“Assuming that the technology stays,” Dr. Wright said, “we have to prepare our students for it.” We also need to be aware that AI is environmentally dangerous, she added, foreshadowin our next column.

 

In many respects AI is big tech’s latest shiny new toy. No one knows yet what will come of it, but we’d be remiss if we failed to examine some of the red flags many observers are waving. 

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Originally published in Business North, September 2024

Related Links

A.I. Is Already Taking White Collar Writing Jobs. Who's Next?

Interview with David Asch Offers Insights On A.I. 

Surviving AI by Calum Chace Is a Must Read for Those Who Plan to Be Here in the Future

What's It All About?

The last major painting of Paul Gaugin, a leading Post-Impressionist painter of the nineteenth century, is titled, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? It is a painting fraught with symbolism, which he painted while in self-exile in Tahiti. The title itself asks significant questions, three of the big questions that sometimes prod us and other times haunt us, but always probe our inner depths.

It's good to step back and reflect now and then on the big questions. Too often we're buried in the trivial with thoughts like, "What shirt should I wear today?" and "What should I have for lunch?"

Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College, wrote a book with the interesting title Because God Is Real: Sixteen Questions, One Answer. I like catchy titles, and thought provoking subject matter, and found the introduction to this book resonating with me.

All our lives, we keep discovering who we are. None of us comes to the end of that road in this life. None of us completely knows who we are, once we stop fooling ourselves.

You are a one-and-only individual that nobody could ever replace. Nobody who ever lived in the past was exactly like you, and no one who will ever live in the future will be exactly like you. You have a special job to do in this world that no one else can ever do. Each day of your life, you find out a little more about what that job is.

But you also share the same human nature with all other human beings. Your task on earth is to be you, the one and only you; but it is also to be a human being, and that task is the same for all of us. You take different courses in school, but we all take a course called Life. Life's greatest tragedy is to pass all your courses but flunk Life.

The title of the introduction is Three Questions Everyone Should Ask Themselves. For Kreeft, the three questions are:
Who am I?
Where did I come from?
and
Where am I going?

Hear any echoes? Gaugin wrestled with his life, and we wrestle with ours. Sooner or later we all must wonder, "What's it all about?"

Kreeft's essay on the three questions is a good read, even if the intended audience of the book it introduces is only a Catholic catechism class. Anything that smacks of religion sounds terribly boring or even frightening for some. But in point of fact, religion and ethics are more relevant than ever in our post-modern world. And at the end of the day it is important to know who we are, and what we are not.

Since the three questions are "for everyone" it only makes sense that they apply equally well to artists. This is why galleries and art curators seek "an artist's statement" when submitting samples for consideration. What's this artist all about? Where's she coming from? How deeply has she thought it through and where is she going?

These are questions I wrestle with as regard my own work. They're simultaneously challenging and stimulating. The work itself becomes the answer, and like many of the pieces begun initially without aim, it is exciting to see what will happen next. A work of art, like life, can have many happy surprises. Hence, the forward look to what will happen next.