What's the ChatGPT Hype? Zenith Content and Search teams share what marketers need to know.

Schools, boardrooms, and everywhere on social — we can’t stop discussing AI Chat. It’s the hottest topic of 2023 thanks in large part to ChatGPT. Just two months after its November 2022 launch, ChatGPT reached 100MM active users, making it the fastest-growing consumer app in history.

But, what is it?

ChatGPT is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) language model developed by OpenAI. It uses deep learning algorithms to generate human-like responses to questions and prompts. People are using ChatGPT as a go-to resource for providing advice, faster decision making, translating languages, and generating creative content.

It’s helpful, it’s fun, and it’s changing the way people interact with technology. So, like any new tech, our Zenith team can’t wait to get in the sandbox and see what it does.

As we become accustomed to?ChatGPT, the way we search will undergo a radical transformation. Our queries will be more conversational, using open-ended questions as we would if we were talking to a friend or colleague, making our results more personalized and ultimately relevant.?

We expect this to have a big impact on Google and Microsoft search engines.?ChatGPT?has ignited an AI race, accelerating both companies to integrate generative AI technology into their search engines.?

Microsoft Bing?is not wasting any time gaining a competitive edge. After announcing a multibillion-dollar extended partnership with?OpenAI, Microsoft revealed plans for “new Bing,” which will feature a chat-integrated toolbar offering a conversational search experience. As?OpenAI?plans to charge for?ChatGPT, Bing may become one of the only free GPT access points.

Google?responded by announcing Bard, their own experimental AI chatbot, and plans to integrate the technology into search and other products.?A limited set of Google “trusted testers” currently have access as Google prioritizes responsible AI and ensures that responses meet a “high bar for quality, safety and?groundedness?in real-world information”.

Our Advice for Advertisers

1. Unlearn Outdated Strategies

Rather than controlling targeting at the most granular level, AI will use a multitude of data signals for real-time decisions. Advertisers will focus less on “What keywords should I target?” and more on “What customers/ business data should guide AI decision-making?”

2. Continue to Test & Learn

We identify limitations before adopting at scale. Zenith has focused on testing AI-solutions like Google’s “Broad Match” in combination with smart bidding to improve reach and performance. Across tests with nearly two dozen brands, we have seen a 94% success rate. While encouraging, we see these AI innovations are not off-the-shelf ready.

3. Use YOUR data

Advertisers should use unique business insights from their data to inform and tailor strategic decisions, and don’t let industry trends and conjecture sway your strategy. Only your own performance data will determine if and how your consumers’ behavior is evolving.

Generative AI technologies are accelerating consumer evolution from the age of on-demand product access to instant access to personalized product sets. Today’s shopping experience has become noisier and more challenging to navigate: consumer discovery preferences TikTok over Google, the Amazon experience and Prime memberships are on the decline, and content creators have an overwhelming influence on shopping decisions.?

Consumers don't want to decide—they simply want the best product/value. With these emerging technologies, consumers can accelerate down their path to purchase faster than ever before.

Enter Conversational Commerce.?Today, chatbots are robotic and impersonal.?ChatGPT?provides more insightful and relevant responses, curates products and recipes to consumer tastes, and quickly learns to express brand personality. Bing's AI chatbot has already made a name for itself with its feisty and bizarre responses to early-access users.?

While still in nascent development, media brands and publishers are actively developing roadmaps to integrate?ChatGPT?into their ecosystem to drive efficiencies and create more personalized content and curated experiences. The long- and short-term impact will be great across multiple channels.

• Branded Content:?With standard editorial overview,?ChatGPT?can generate enormous content at scale for publisher pipelines. Recently, Buzzfeed announced plans to utilize?ChatGPT?for editorials, quizzes and listicles.
• Audio:?ChatGPT?is impacting personalization on apps like Pandora and SoundCloud to improve recommendations, offer artist trivia and curate playlists. Last week, Spotify announced “digital DJ,” which combines its personalization tech with generative AI.
• Influencer:?Beyond streamlining campaigns,?ChatGPT?may impact the virtual influencer world by using its ability to create more personal engagement with fans and followers or give “interviews” to press.
• Creative:?While further down the roadmap, creative agencies have started leveraging the technology in copywriting. Mint Mobile has even gone a step further by tasking?ChatGPT?to write a script for an ad starring Ryan Reynolds, which the CMO claims as an experiment for now.

ChatGPT?is a powerful tool that has the potential to revolutionize the way we generate text, from content to coding. We must recognize the importance of human expertise to guide its use and ensure the outcomes are quality and ethically sound. With proper oversight,?ChatGPT?can be leveraged to quickly create new content paths, shaped into more dynamic content by expert practitioners. Once it fully ingests human linguistics, could we even see a?ChatGPT?generated script for the next Hollywood blockbuster or Hulu series?

We think the sky is the limit.