Most of us have heard about Pixar Studio’s movie WALL-E where AI bots develop consciousness and feelings but could this become a reality? Probably not, but in 2016 Microsoft’s Tay.AI began tweeting obscenities within 24 hours of going online so was quickly shut down. ( Source: Samantha Masunaga LA Times March 25, 2016)
Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) generate appropriate marketing content?
We’ve all found ourselves in the position of not having enough time to generate quality content for blogs and social media, let alone videos and podcasts. In fact, 89% of the commercial leaders I spoke with recently said developing regular content was a major bottleneck. What can be done to resolve this issue? There are several solutions available which have advantages and disadvantages as presented in table 1.
Solution
|
Advantage |
Disadvantage |
Hire a dedicated content writer
| In-house | Costs associated with salary and benefits Narrow breadth of expertise Turnaround time |
Use an agency
| Turnaround time | High agency fees
|
Use a freelancer | Turnaround time | Unknown domain knowledge |
Subscription marketing | Turnaround time Domain knowledge Low-cost | New concept |
Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning | Fast turnaround Mass collation of content Predictive content
| Lack of emotion and sentiment Algorithm errors Inappropriate context Expensive service New concept |
Table 1: Available solutions to alleviate the content generation bottleneck
Everyone likes the idea of blogs and social media but they don’t see an immediate return on investment (ROI) so generally stop the activities before they have a chance to take hold. This is usually because the posts have been sporadic and /or low quality. Take a look at your content, posted over the past few months, and ask yourself if there is anything compelling about it. If someone else had written the content, would you take the time to read it?
What’s the solution?
To alleviate human workloads, we are turning to automation, AI and ML. Marketing automation has been in effect for several years but requires human input for campaign design and content generation. AI and ML are new concepts being used by Amazon, Facebook, and Google to characterize current customers in their database, analyze purchasing patterns, and provide insights. These are then used to develop highly personalized campaigns. (Source: Brad Power Harvard Business Review May 30, 2017)
AI and ML still require a human to define parameters and develop training modules, but turnaround time of mass data is fast. If using bots to generate content, it is always good practice to perform QC before deployment. Without these safety guards in place, you could run the risk of renegade AI.
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