INBOX INSIGHTS: Securing Our Digital Ghosts, AI Use Cases
Trust Insights
We are a marketing analytics consulting firm. We help you solve marketing's data and analytics problems.
INBOX INSIGHTS: Securing Our Digital Ghosts, AI Use Cases (12/4) :: View in browser
? Download our newly revised Unofficial Guide to the LinkedIn Algorithm, just updated with new information from LinkedIn Engineering!
Securing Our Digital Ghosts
The concept of a “digital ghost” has been on my mind lately, sparked by a recent conversation with Chris Penn. For those unfamiliar, your digital ghost is the collection of your work—emails, content, call transcripts—that lingers on long after you’ve left a company. In the age of generative AI, this ghost could theoretically be reanimated, mimicking your work style and processes to create value for the company, without you being there.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t science fiction. It’s very much possible. As Chris pointed out, a skilled AI practitioner could use your digital ghost to replicate how you worked when you were there. This reality raises tough questions about governance, ethics, and employee rights. What are we doing as companies, as employees, and as an industry to ensure these technologies are used responsibly?
The Ethical Challenge of Digital Ghosts
The issue isn’t just that digital ghosts exist—it’s that they can be exploited. Under typical “work-for-hire” agreements, anything you create for a company is owned by them. This means they could potentially train AI on your work and continue benefiting from it indefinitely, long after you’ve moved on.
This hits at the core of something I value deeply: treating people with respect and fairness. It’s one thing for a company to retain your work as part of its knowledge base; it’s another entirely for that work to be repurposed by AI without your knowledge or consent.
The bigger issue, as Chris rightly noted, is that companies need strong governance and retention policies to even manage this kind of data responsibly. Yet, in many organizations, these systems don’t exist or are woefully inadequate. Without them, we risk falling into the trap of using AI as a shortcut—exploiting digital ghosts instead of valuing the living, breathing people who bring real innovation to the table.
How We Can Do Better
As I reflected on this conversation, it became clear that addressing these challenges systematically is non-negotiable. This is where the 5P Framework—Purpose, People, Process, Platform, and Performance—can be especially helpful:
Using this framework, companies can evaluate their current practices and identify gaps. For example, do you have retention policies that clearly outline what happens to employee-created data? Do your contracts include clauses about training AI on this data after an employee leaves? These are the kinds of questions organizations need to start asking—right now.
Lessons from Experience
One of the recurring themes in my career has been the need for strong governance and process development to prevent problems like this from spiraling out of control. It’s not always easy, and it’s rarely quick, but the work pays off.
For example, when I’ve helped organizations evaluate their data practices, we often start with what’s already in place. Do they know where their data lives? Who owns it? How it’s being used? From there, it’s about building workflows that ensure transparency and accountability. These processes aren’t about controlling employees—they’re about building trust, which is ultimately better for everyone.
It’s also worth emphasizing the human element here. Generative AI and digital ghosts challenge us to think about what makes our work unique. AI can replicate patterns, but it can’t replace creativity, experience, or judgment. By investing in governance and ensuring ethical AI use, we’re not just protecting data—we’re preserving the value of human contribution.
What Comes Next
The conversation about digital ghosts isn’t going away, and it’s one we all need to engage with, whether we’re business leaders, employees, or somewhere in between. If you’re part of an organization, now is the time to start asking hard questions about your policies and practices. Are you thinking about the long-term implications of how AI is trained on your data? Do you have a plan for managing employee-created content responsibly?
And if you’re an individual, it’s worth considering what rights you might want to protect in your contracts. This is still a relatively new area, but the decisions we make today will shape how we work with AI in the future.
We’re all navigating this space together, and there’s no single right answer. But by taking a thoughtful, intentional approach—whether through frameworks like the 5Ps or simply asking more “why” questions—we can chart a path forward that balances innovation with integrity. Let’s keep this conversation going, and let’s commit to doing better.
Let’s Take the Next Step Together
Since we’re now full throttle getting things done for the end of the year and 2025 planning, let’s collaborate. I want you to succeed, and Trust Insights can help! The reality of digital ghosts is a wake-up call, and it’s not something to tackle alone. Whether you’re evaluating your current governance practices or looking to build them from scratch, Trust Insights can guide you every step of the way.
Here’s how you can get started:
Are you being haunted by digital ghosts? Reach out and tell me, or come join the conversation in our free Slack Group, Analytics for Marketers.
- Katie Robbert, CEO
December 2024 ?? One Click Poll
Please click/tap on just one answer - this is our monthly survey to see how we’re doing, so please do take it each month!
How likely are you to recommend Trust Insights as a consulting firm to someone in the next 90 days?
Share With A Colleague
Do you have a colleague or friend who needs this newsletter? Send them this link to help them get their own copy:
Binge Watch and Listen
In this episode of In-Ear Insights, the Trust Insights podcast, Katie and Chris discuss your digital ghost. You will learn whether employers can put your digital ghost to work, the legal and ethical implications of employers using your digital assets, how to safeguard your digital likeness, and what you need to negotiate with your employer.
Last time on So What? The Marketing Analytics and Insights Livestream, we did a Halloween special on AI-powered share of voice. Catch the episode replay here!
On this week’s So What?, we’re doing our quarterly AI bakeoff to see how the latest and greatest models are performing. Are you following our YouTube channel? If not, click/tap here to follow us!
In Case You Missed It
Here’s some of our content from recent days that you might have missed. If you read something and enjoy it, please share it with a friend or colleague!
Paid Training Classes
Take your skills to the next level with our premium courses.
Free Training Classes
Get skilled up with an assortment of our free, on-demand classes.
领英推荐
Data Diaries: Interesting Data We Found
In this week’s Data Diaries, let’s take a sneak peek at some data from our upcoming series, the 12 Days of AI Use Cases. This is the successor to the previous series, 12 Days of Data. We’re retiring that series for a couple of reasons.
First, more than half of the data we featured in the series, such as Instagram and Facebook data, is simply no longer available. Meta discontinued access to that data this past July and made it clear there were no viable alternatives except for a few select organizations.
Second, as we’ve seen this past year with generative AI hogging the spotlight, data is incredibly valuable but as an ingredient for other uses. Data by itself doesn’t do much unless you take action with it.
So to that end, we’re launching the 12 Days of AI Use Cases beginning tomorrow, December 5, on the blog.
However, to fuel that, we needed to know what the major AI use cases are. We looked at all the digital ink spilled this year about AI use cases on every publication tracked by AHREFS with a domain rating of 25 or higher and used Meta’s Llama 3.1 model to read and classify them all in one of the 7 generative AI use case categories:
How are people being told to use generative AI? What’s been written in 2024? Out of 13,295 use cases from 1,949 articles, we found:
Keep in mind that we looked broadly at all generative AI use cases, not just marketing ones. This is from every publication in every industry that the AHREFS catalog knows about.
The irony here is that generation, the top use case, is the skill that generative AI has the most trouble doing. Generation often requires extensive prompting, examples, and steering to do a good job, whereas tasks like summarization need very little guidance, yet rank #3 on the chart of things that people have written about generative AI in 2024.
What’s the key takeaway? It’s important to know and understand the media diet when it comes to a technology like generative AI. Just because a use case category is popular doesn’t mean it’s the best fit for the technology.
Trust Insights In Action
Job Openings
Here’s a roundup of who’s hiring, based on positions shared in the Analytics for Marketers Slack group and other communities.
Join the Slack Group
Are you a member of our free Slack group, Analytics for Marketers? Join 3000+ like-minded marketers who care about data and measuring their success. Membership is free - join today. Members also receive sneak peeks of upcoming data, credible third-party studies we find and like, and much more. Join today!
Blatant Advertisement
Imagine a world where your marketing strategies are supercharged by the most cutting-edge technology available – Generative AI. Generative AI has the potential to save you incredible amounts of time and money, and you have the opportunity to be at the forefront. Get up to speed on using generative AI in your business in a thoughtful way with our new offering, Generative AI for Marketers, which comes in two flavors, workshops and a course.
Workshops: Offer the Generative AI for Marketers half and full day workshops at your company. These hands-on sessions are packed with exercises, resources and practical tips that you can implement immediately.
Course: We’ve turned our most popular full-day workshop into a self-paced course, available now and updated as of April 2024!
Interested in sponsoring INBOX INSIGHTS? Contact us for sponsorship options to reach over 30,000 analytically-minded marketers and business professionals every week.
Upcoming Events
Where can you find Trust Insights face-to-face?
Stay In Touch, Okay?
First and most obvious - if you want to talk to us about something specific, especially something we can help with, hit up our contact form.
Where do you spend your time online? Chances are, we’re there too, and would enjoy sharing with you. Here’s where we are - see you there?
Featured Partners and Affiliates
Our Featured Partners are companies we work with and promote because we love their stuff. If you’ve ever wondered how we do what we do behind the scenes, chances are we use the tools and skills of one of our partners to do it.
Read our disclosures statement for more details, but we’re also compensated by our partners if you buy something through us.
Legal Disclosures And Such
Some events and partners have purchased sponsorships in this newsletter and as a result, Trust Insights receives financial compensation for promoting them. Read our full disclosures statement on our website.
Conclusion: Thanks for Reading
Thanks for subscribing and supporting us. Let us know if you want to see something different or have any feedback for us!