AI washing – Marketing phenomenon or a new scourge in the making?

AI washing, what? If this term equally stumps you or you have yet to hear about it, don't be surprised, as AI Washing, or AIW, is making its presence felt like a new marketing strategy.

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Simply put, AI washing is a marketing strategy increasingly being deployed by brands to enhance or exaggerate the amount of AI technology used in their products.

The primary intent of AI washing is to often deceptively make a brand look like it owns the high ground of AI technology and appears more advanced than it is, leveraging the massive interest in AI.

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AIW takes its name from "Greenwashing" when a brand or organization makes false or misleading claims about its positive impact on the environment.

India is now a marketer's dream destination for the latest technology-enabled products. Given the enormous demographic dividend, our middle class with disposable incomes and conspicuous consumption is over 300 million, or the whole of the USA.

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AIW is fast becoming a ruthless bandit, given the number of brands making exaggerated claims of AI in their products. Given the lax or relatively no laws governing this space, consumers currently have a lot to fear and be wary about.        

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How do you think you could avoid AI washing?

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The following framework must be established from the brand side before regulators step in and bring in stringent measures.

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?? Are your AI claims for your product authentic with zero exaggeration? Are the AI product claims made both tangible and transparent? These need to be without conditions, apply environments, and have performance enhancement claims that need to be unconditional and have data or scientific sources of truth to back them up.

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?? Is your AI-enhanced distinctly doing something more than a non-AI product?

How are you proving this, and again, under what conditions? This must be substantially justified since most AI-enabled or enhanced products have premium pricing.

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?? Are there any ethical or product risks with the AI features or enhancement? Consumers must thoroughly know the pros and cons of using AI-enhanced products. For example, can the product be easily hacked or cause any privacy concerns for the customer? Therefore, are you disclosing specific operational, competitive, and legal risks regarding using AI?

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?What do consumers need to do?

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• Seek and confirm evidence. When considering a brand or service with AI, ?seek and conform hard proof of how AI has been used in products. Specifically, ask if the brand or product relies heavily on a ubiquitous AI model used generically in competitive products or elsewhere.

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• Make a competitive comparison—AI vs. non-AIL offering—Consumers shouldn't blindly consider a product solely because it makes tall AI claims. They should holistically compare the product under consideration and carefully evaluate its potential benefits and challenges, especially if the AI features are in question.

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• Research and be updated with Industry developments. As AI branches out into newer and more diverse industries, research on tech experts ( not influencer marketers) and consumer activists' reviews of claims and benefits are made possible by AI-enabled brands.

?In the US, the regulator has already started watching AI Washing critically with warnings of avoiding practices adopted for greenwashing in the past.

?Given the potential of misuse in India, combating AI washing requires a huge industry and collaborative effort. Especially for a country like ours, where our laws are relatively less punishing & stringent ( an odd Patanjali case notwithstanding), we need to develop regulatory guidelines for AI advertising protocols. Prevention needs to be better than cure.

Is ASCI listening?

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#AIadvertising

#AImanipulation