78% of digital B2C marketers say AI helps marketing, while 47% responded that AI is dangerous: Optimove survey

In addition, 43% think it will replace some in marketing teams, yet humans are needed to guide AI

Almost eight in ten (78%) of digital marketers surveyed responded that AI is helpful in marketing. At the same time, forty-seven percent (47%) said it was dangerous in marketing. The results are from an Optimove May 2023 survey of 221 B2C executives responsible for digital marketing. The findings come on the heels of Geoffrey Hinton, an artificial intelligence pioneer and now former Google executive, saying that companies are accelerating to danger in creating products based on generative artificial intelligence.

Pini Yakuel, CEO and co-founder of Optimove said, “Many may fear that generative AI could be dangerous in marketing. But the operative question is, ‘What task are you asking it to do?’ It is not dangerous if asked to provide information on a subject or suggest viable solutions to a problem. Armed with information, the next action is still in the hands of humans. If asked to take unmonitored action, generative AI could go astray. So, humans need to monitor the actions of generative AI. Doing so is a powerful tool for marketers – not dangerous.”

The Optimove results underscore the question facing marketers, “how do we accelerate the use of AI in a responsible way?” At risk is the possibility of AI going awry.

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At the forefront is, of course, ChatGPT. In their first blog about ChatGPT, OpenAI described it this way: “We’ve trained a model called ChatGPT which interacts in a conversational way. The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.”

Admitting mistakes and rejecting inappropriate requests is a quantum leap forward for tech teams using AI. Compare this with Microsoft’s conversational bot, Tay, introduced in 2016. It was designed to engage people in dialogue while emulating the style and slang of a teenage girl. Within a day of its release, Tay tweeted more than 95,000 times, many of which were abusive and offensive.

Tay had a fundamental problem: It was designed to learn about language through interactions with people. Tay was shut down less than 24 hours after its release.

Seven years later, we are smarter, and so is AI. ChatGPT, as an example, is intelligent and sophisticated. Used properly, marketers can use AI to move to the new era of personalization in marketing without alienating customers.

Leading marketers are driving marketing actions guided by intelligence from the consumer. They start marketing activities from intelligence derived from a customer data platform (CDP). They use that intelligence to drive and guide marketing actions with a seamlessly integrated multichannel marketing hub (MMH).

Yakuel added, “Marketers we partner with use AI to optimize marketing campaigns. At the end of the day, the marketer is in charge. They build out experiences for customers, analyze data, and design experiments. Asking the right strategic questions still requires humans. But AI can save time, simplify things, or boost performance. For example, it can help determine the best communication a customer should get or provide insights by quickly analyzing vast data sets. But humans must measure, analyze, and monitor AI recommendations to ensure their marketing programs engage the customer.”

The survey also revealed that 43% think AI would replace some marketing team members. It is helping marketing teams with some rote actions, like writing email options. But it is still in progress with human decision-making.

Yakuel concluded, “AI should not replace the marketer – it should enhance the marketer. AI is a technology that helps marketing productivity by suggesting and creating marketing options, so humans make better decisions. It is humans who choose what to execute.”

Guided by humans, AI is being implemented responsibly to help marketers create deeper connections with their customers.

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