The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
In recent years, AI’s adoption has skyrocketed, with McKinsey reporting a 50% adoption rate as of last August. This trend is not slowing down, and AI’s reach extends across various industries. Almost daily, the media highlights new AI platforms or applications within different sectors.
Marketers, take note: giants like Coca-Cola and Mars have embraced AI with open arms. Mars
has utilized DALL-E, an AI capable of generating realistic images and art from textual descriptions. VentureBeat reports that Mars is just beginning to explore AI’s potential, with Shubham Mehrish, head of Mars’ global digital, data, and analytics teams, emphasizing the ongoing search for processes that could benefit from AI and machine learning.
Coca-Cola has introduced “Create Real Magic,” an AI platform that allows digital artists to create unique artworks using elements from Coca-Cola’s archive. This initiative offers fans a chance to contribute designs potentially featured on digital billboards in Times Square, blending GPT -4’s text generation with DALL-E’s image creation capabilities.
Major holding companies are also joining the AI race, sometimes venturing into risky territories. WPP’s collaboration with Nvidia to generate images and the integration of Adobe Stock and Getty ImagesImages’ for tailored content creation are prime examples.
The consensus among marketers is clear: the question is no longer if AI should be used but how, where, and when. A staggering 91% of C-suite executives expect their marketing teams to leverage AI for enhanced efficiency and competitive advantage. If your CEO hasn’t inquired about AI yet, it’s only a matter of time. Familiarizing yourself with the available AI tools is crucial.
Conversational AI
Technologies like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard are making headlines daily. ChatGPT, in particular, stands out for its ability to generate relevant, coherent, and original text based on prompts. This includes transforming written descriptions into visuals, generating software code from natural language, and summarizing extensive texts while maintaining their core ideas.
Generative AI
Generative AI learns from existing data to create new, realistic content, including images, music, speech, text, and product designs. Popular platforms like Midjourney, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion excel in generating images from textual prompts. Notion AI, a generative AI writing assistant, offers customization beyond ChatGPT, enabling users to create databases, tables, notes, and lists.
Adobe Firefly
Imagine a Photoshop enhanced fiftyfold, where generative color and fill options are readily available, allowing for the creation of an endless variety of images. This tool is a marketer’s dream, offering the flexibility to experiment with countless designs tailored to specific consumer segments or personas.
Grammarly
This cloud-based typing assistant excels at identifying and correcting spelling and grammatical errors, already integrated into over 500,000 websites. Grammarly is expanding its capabilities to include plagiarism detection and style customization, significantly reducing editing time.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft Copilot integrates with Microsoft 365, transforming words, charts, and meetings into productivity tools without compromising security or privacy. It aims to enhance analytical capabilities in Excel, expressiveness in PowerPoint, productivity in Outlook, and collaboration in Teams.
AI User Personas
Understanding how to effectively implement these AI tools involves recognizing the three types of team members you’ll encounter: Enthusiasts, Skeptics, and Pragmatists. Each group plays a crucial role in the adoption and integration of AI within your organization.
How We’re Approaching It
Starfish are adopting a pragmatic approach to AI integration, forming a task force to evaluate its potential uses. Their focus is on creating efficiencies in client and project management and data summarization, aiming to reduce time spent on these tasks by up to 60%.
Final Thoughts
The rapid adoption of AI raises questions about its impact on the workforce, legal implications, and creative possibilities. Success with AI requires a pragmatic approach, recognizing its benefits while being mindful of its risks. AI should be seen as an amplifier of the creative process, enhancing efficiency, service speed, and profitability.
Published by: Holy Minoza
