Did I write this blog post?
Imagine how much more wisely our time would be used if bloggers, journalists, authors, and report writers didn’t have to write first drafts. Imagine if artificial intelligence used our raw data to write the first draft so that instead of spending five hours organizing and laying out copy, writers could instead spend five hours improving and finessing that draft.
In fact, Forbes is already testing a system like this. ‘Bertie’ suggests article topics based on things they’ve previously written author and then writes rough drafts for them. The author simply has to edit the content to their liking and then publish it. Not everyone is so hopeful about this potential opportunity though. In fact, OpenAI has a similar tool but the quality of the output is so good, they decided that the threat of abuse was too great to release it. Anyone who’s been a student with a 5000 word essay due the next day can understand why.
Survey Says: 11% of Canadians believe that AI could write sports articles for the Associated Press. (The Marketers Guide to Successful AI)
Is a chatbot right for your business? If you’re still unsure about implementing a chatbot, or whether it would generate positive ROI, you’ll be interested in this story from HubSpot. Their live chat team was having difficulty keeping up with the chat volume and they were unhappy about wasting their time answering basic questions instead of spending it converting relevant questions to sales. By transferring basic questions to the chatbot and only forwarding customers to a live agent when it was actually necessary, they drastically increased customer engagement and nearly doubled their sales leads.
Survey Says: 40% of Canadians believe that AI has the potential to improve customer service. (The Marketers Guide to Successful AI)
As SmartHomes are becoming more of a reality, people are starting to get used to their fridge door being a large digital screen displaying the day’s activities, the weather, shopping lists, and more. Are consumers ready to see those same digital refrigerator doors at the store? In fact, Walgreens is testing precisely that. With a system of cameras, sensors, and digital cooler doors, they are working on displaying targeted ads during the shopping journey. Cameras will identify passing shoppers and show them ads or products that might be more relevant to them.
Survey Says: 37% of Canadians would feel comfortable with a company using AI to provide customer service in the retail space. (The Marketers Guide to Successful AI)
We’ve heard a lot about how AI exaggerates human biases regarding gender and race. However, McCormick, a maker of seasonings, spices, and condiments, is using AI to reject human biases in the development of new flavour combinations. Since the AI tools know nothing of what ‘appropriate’ spices or combinations of spices for one food category are, they borrow flavour combinations from any food category and any region of the world to suggest options for other categories. The benefit? AI has sped up the product innovation cycle by two thirds!
Survey Says: 60% of Canadians would feel comfortable with AI providing recommendations of what to eat based on their personal medical history and goals. (The Marketers Guide to Successful AI)
From writing to chatting and innovating in the kitchen, AI has progressed to a point where it can be useful in many stages of the marketing process. But it still can’t do everything as these humorous ads from Michelob and Pringles so aptly remind us. Bon appétit!
Download the full results of our 2018 report, The Marketer’s Guide To Successful AI.