Decades of science-fiction movies have led us to believe that machines will replace humans in every way imaginable, even in marketing to humans. However, artificial intelligence still cannot create the perfect marketing campaign currently. Will artificial intelligence and machine learning ever be an essential part of marketing or is it nothing more than just a gimmick?
According to Harvard Business Review, machine learning and artificial intelligence are the most important technologies of the twenty-first century (E. Brynjolfsson, sd). Artificial intelligence and machine learning are often used as substitutes for each other, while they are technically not the same. Machine learning means that humans have to ‘teach’ a computer to perform a task based on a large amount of data, after which the computer can perform the task by itself based on information that is new, but still contains the same data types as the data it used to learn. Artificial intelligence, however, means that computers can learn by themselves, without the input of humans. Scientists often call this artificial general intelligence.
Humans have still not been able to implement this technology successfully. Still, companies often use the term ‘artificial intelligence’ as a public relations gimmick instead of using it to improve their products, says Intercom senior data scientist Kevin McNally. Right now, many of the biggest companies in the world are already using machine learning in some form or another. In 2013, only 6 companies mentioned the term ‘artificial intelligence’ in their earnings call, while in 2017, this rose to 244 mentions. McNally reckons that it is time for companies to start using machine learning to its fullest potential. He says that it is important for companies to use machine learning in a way so that it adds value for the customer. Nowadays, too many companies add ‘artificial intelligence’ to their products to increase the perceived value of the product (McNally, 2017). This not only adds minimal value for the customer, but also increases the price of the product, which could lead to customers becoming wary of this term.
Companies that have been using machine learning correctly, according to McNally, are companies like Netflix and Spotify. These companies use machine learning to recommend movies and songs for customers based on other movies they have seen or songs they have listened to. This may not be the most exciting implementation of artificial intelligence that is available today, unlike self-driving cars for instance, but is one of the most helpful implementations. So, it is important for companies to focus on useful implementations of machine learning, but the future lies in artificial general intelligence. A team of 352 experts have predicted that artificial general intelligence will be able to perform any task as well or even better than scientists by 2060, while Elon Musk reckons that this point in the future will lie closer to 2030 or 2040. This means that machines will be able to perform better than humans at creating a successful marketing campaign not so far in the future (Ryan, 2017).
So, companies generally are not on the right track to integrating machine learning into their marketing strategies. Eventually, machines will be able to outperform humans in any task, including marketing. I believe that companies can prepare themselves for the future in the best way, by finding ways to integrate machine learning into their products in ways that add value for the customer and to keep up with the latest developments in this field. All in all, artificial intelligence is definitely not a gimmick for marketing if used well!
Bibliography
Brynjolfsson, A. M. (n.d.). The Business Of Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved 10 10, 2017, from Harvard Business review: https://hbr.org/cover-story/2017/07/the-business-of-artificial-intelligence
McNally, K. (2017, 07 18). It’s Time To Stop Using AI As A Marketing Gimmick. Retrieved 10 10, 2017, from co.design: https://www.fastcodesign.com/90133598/its-time-to-stop-using-ai-as-a-marketing-gimmick
Ryan, K. (2017, 6 6). Elon Musk (and 350 Experts) Predict Exactly When Artificial Intelligence Will Overtake Human Intelligence. Retrieved 10 10, 2017, from Inc.: https://www.inc.com/kevin-j-ryan/elon-musk-and-350-experts-revealed-when-ai-will-overtake-humans.html
