Meet My New Writing and Creative Assistant: AI

What would happen if an AI wrote and created the images for my Digital Marketing Trends newsletter?

I asked myself this question as I was scrolling through my Twitter feed and saw a tweet from a well-known marketer that said, 'I'm really excited about the potential of AI for content creation. We're just scratching the surface of what's possible'.

It’s no secret that the landscape of digital marketing is always changing. In order to stay ahead of the curve, businesses have to be willing to adapt and change with the times. But what if the times changed so rapidly that businesses couldn’t keep up? That’s where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in.

Last year, we saw a surge in the use of AI in digital marketing. This year, we’re seeing even more. In fact, AI is being used in a variety of ways to improve the effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns. Here are just a few examples.

OK. The first sentence was written by me. Maybe not my best opening, but serviceable.

The next three italicized paragraphs, including the quote from an excited marketer that I DID NOT SEE, were written by the free version of HyperWrite AI, a natural language generator or artificial intelligence writing app.

And while the copy is a bit repetitive, it's not too bad. And I hate to admit it, but it sort of sounds like me, too. (What does that say about my writing style?)

I can't say the same for the image at the top of the post, which was brought to life by text to image generator, DALL-E-2, responding to my prompt 'digital trends newsletter in the style of pop art'.

'Deditals Treends' or 'Trens Tets' were two of the titles it proposed, along with colorful drawings that resemble a cartoonish cereal box or an illiterate kid's book ...

And this was the best I could do after a number of other aborted tries.

Judging from these two examples, it appears I may be a better AI writer than AI artist.

And I think you could probably make the same statement about my natural talents too: better at writing than generating visuals ??.

But How Did the AI Know That?

Well, actually, it didn't.

In this case, it's probably a combination of dumb luck and the fact that I haven't figured out how to give a text to image AI app the kind of prompt that would create something more usable.

Schulich School of Business marketing professor David Rice, who also claims to be artistically challenged, had better success and talks about how he achieved it in the latest Future of Marketing Institute newsletter.

And some ad agencies are doing a pretty good job figuring it out. Whether it's AI-inspired Heinz Ketchup or posters for an electronic music festival, the results are not too bad.

But they require time for the art directors to play around with different phrases and keywords, patience and, in the final analysis, a designer's touch.

And there's a price to pay for AI generated copy and art. And I don't mean the cost of subscribing to various services or apps.

For instance:

• Who owns the copyright to the final output? The agency? Client? Copywriter or designer? The AI software provider? The artist or writer whose work was used to train the AI? Those are questions that haven't yet been answered. And they led stock photo company Getty Images to ban the use of AI generated visuals for its site, at least for now.
• What data sources was the AI trained on? Did the company have permission to access the data? Are there biased or racist images or words? Harmful visuals? How do you manage that?
• In the case of writing, how truthful and trustworthy is the output? It may sound good, but if an AI can't explain how it arrived at its answer, it's difficult for people to tell whether or not it's been made up. A new chatbot from Deep Mind, uses Google search to back up its responses and asks people training it to rate how good they are.
• What about the ethics of machines persuading people to do what companies want? Or respecting user privacy and protecting data? How are businesses weighing possible negative consequences and mitigating them by building responsible AI practices into their products and services?
• And ultimately, how will AI alter the role creative people will play and opportunities for jobs?

Those are just some of the issues and challenges we need to consider.

Getting Up to (AI) Speed

It's easy for digital marketers to get wowed by new tech and tools. But how can you ensure you use them responsibly?

Here are four strategies to help you get started:

1. Learn about AI, what it is, what it does and the challenges. That means reading about it in books and on trusted media and blogs. You don't have to know how to code, but you do need to gain an understanding of the basics of narrow artificial intelligence and how it uses statistics to make predictions.
2. Develop a protocol and process for testing the tools. Include a standard list of questions and make sure you find out about the data sources, how the company protects your customers' data, how it was trained and whether its suggestions are explainable. Test and evaluate the tools before committing to any.
3. Figure out how the AI tools will affect your workflow and culture. Will jobs be lost? What training opportunities will you provide employees? Where will it fit in your current tech stack? Will the AI be considered an assistant or brainstorm idea generator? Who will have access? What ethical guidelines and policies will guide its use?
4. Make sure a human has final approval. As the AI output gets better, it will be easier for mistakes to happen. It's important to have a person or team at the top of the chain who vet all AI generated creativity. Similar to copy editors, they need a sharp eye and analytical mind to make sure they ask the right questions and catch harmful errors.

Speaking of understanding AI, my latest Digital Marketing Trends video looks at multi-model AI, the model behind text to image generation apps and explains how they work in simple terms.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Connect With Martin

Well, the AI has left the building. And I'm heading off, too as issue #63 comes to an end.

Personally, I'm both excited and scared about what the AI future might bring. But I'm open to exploring the possibilities.

Have you worked with AI tools to improve your creativity? Were you happy with your results? What safety protocols do you have in place to ensure it doesn't go off the rails with harmful outputs? Please add your thoughts in the comments below.

Be sure to reach out if you have questions about any of the videos in Digital Marketing Trends, or my other?LinkedIn Learning courses.

If you want to find me, follow me on?LinkedIn?or?Twitter.

Or visit?my?my website?and send a message or a question.

Before I go, I asked DALL-E 2 for a final image of Martin the person and Martin the bot.

Clearly neither the AI nor the real me are ready for the art director's hall of fame.

Thank you for reading and subscribing.

See you in a couple of weeks!