Is AI as revolutionary as the first browser?

During a roundtable discussion last month on “The Promise & the Reality: How can GenAI deliver for Marketing,” my colleague Ben Beath and I were contemplating what other inflection point compared to the explosion of interest this year in generative AI. Cloud computing? Social media? Somehow, it seems even bigger.

Gen AI feels like a revolution as big as the birth of the internet itself, and in my role as Chief Marketing Officer, I’ve been immersed in what it will mean for marketing.

Here’s what’s shaping my thinking so far:

·???????An AI tool that helps people write blog posts shows that in the last year we have created 15 billion words – almost four times what is in the English-language version of Wikipedia alone. In just 12 months!

·???????Microsoft says the adoption cycles in and around Gen AI are the fastest the company has ever seen. In the fall of 2022, it was tracking 80 companies that were working on Gen AI. It’s now 8,000.

·???????This is a technology that is going to be particularly impactful for marketing, not only because it has the potential to take over some routine, time-consuming tasks, but because it is opening new vistas of creativity.

At Avanade, we are already experimenting with – and beginning to use – Gen AI, from creating copy, optimizing online search to creative design, account planning, insights and segmentation. ?We are experimenting and innovating alongside other functions and aligned to how and where this technology should be deployed throughout our enterprise. The group dedicated to our own experiments is supporting and guiding the rest of our business in responsible usage, as well. And we're not just using Gen AI internally – we're also helping ?clients tap into the business value that it can bring.

During our conversation, we talked through many things that I’ve written about before: We should view AI as a copilot, not a competitor, and it’s critical to be beware the confidently incorrect output AI can generate. But something we dove a little deeper into is the need to try, fail fast, and try again. Encourage your team members to experiment. When you find something that has value, scale it. Once thoroughly tested, share it with your team, your company, your clients.

Our research shows that the nimblest organizations tend to be the most successful. Once you are past the learning curve, these transformative technologies can lead to a real competitive advantage for early adopters. Sit back and you risk being left behind.

Gen AI is not a “set it and forget it” tool. It will continue to evolve, learn more, and get better – fast. The rules today will not be the rules six months from now, so it will be important to get the balance right. The goal is to save human time, so humans can do more important stuff.

I believe Ben and I will be proven right. When we look back on these early days, we’ll see that Gen AI will prove to be as impactful as development of the internet. And we, as marketers, are in a perfect position to influence its evolution.