Currently companies can apply online marketing in various ways. Ads are placed all around. Websites are constructed in ways that humans respond to best, as data informs of how consumers behave and how to improve statistics such as conversion and click-through rates (Fogden, 2023). Search engines form something of a marketplace for webpages where online auctions are used to determine what will be shown. Marketeers use search-engine optimization (SEO) and paid search-engine advertising (SEA) to win auctions and feature amongst the first results (Eology, n.d.). This is how it has been. Now, one development shows potential to change it all. Since February 2023 Bing is powered by Open AI’s GPT-4, an advanced AI that Bing uses to improve its search engine and to act as a copilot and chatbot (Mehdi, 2023). This approach can forever change the way we use search engines and how results are generated. It could even change the way we interact with the internet altogether.
Right now, marketeers target us directly. Their methods are based on getting information directly to their target audience in the most appealing way. The intervention of AI may change this. Granted, an AI like GPT-4 is trained on pre-existing datasets and does not have direct internet access, so its responses cannot be influenced so easily. I asked Bing AI, which connects to Bing’s search engine, whether its response is influenced by paid search advertising, and it still categorically rejects the possibility. According to it, Bing AI and even the search results it might draw on only try to use the most relevant and reliable sources to provide information. Additionally, it says that any ads and sponsored links are filtered out by its internal tools. Perhaps advertising does not influence it, but still search engine optimization can help websites appear more relevant and end higher up the results. In this way internet marketing already focuses on convincing the search algorithm of a website’s value, not the user directly.
Regardless, we might get to a point where we rely on AI assistants to get all our information, or where search engines are run entirely by an AI which browses the internet, filters through information, and presents us with the best results. AI certainly has a promising future in real-time content moderation (Darbinyan, 2022). And, according to Santiago (2023), marketeers can even use it to protect their brand. But when marketeers themselves are the ones who need to get information through an AI gatekeeper, how will they respond? Many current strategies can make content appeal to humans, but what will the AI respond to? If AI is the middle-man, marketing efforts might have to be constructed in such a way that AI filters and retells information in the way marketeers ultimately want to reach consumers. It becomes important to consider what the AI will respond to, what it will need to see the information’s value.
Perhaps AI ushers in the end of traditional online marketing to consumers. Perhaps AI will simply assess an offer at its true value, and recommend it only if there is a good fit with the consumers needs, be it a new chair, information, or entertainment. Think about recommendations on social media platforms such as TikTok, which use algorithms that carefully select content that a user will probably like. This might be a preview of how we will receive all information: moderated by AI, and it could be a win-win situation. Marketeers could rely on AI to do the work of targeting, personalizing, and distributing content to the right audience, while users can rest easy knowing the information is of utmost relevance. AI could moderate content better than either marketeers or consumers themselves ever could.
References
Darbinyan, R. (2022, June 14). The growing role of AI in content moderation. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/06/14/the-growing-role-of-ai-in-content-moderation/.
Eology. (n.d.). SEA know-how: How to use search engine advertising unerringly! Eology Magazine. Retrieved October 16, 2023, from https://www.eology.net/magazine/sea-know-how#jump_function.
Fogden, T. (2023, April 14). What makes a good website? 12 must-haves. Tech.co. https://tech.co/website-builders/what-makes-good-website.
Mehdi, Y. (2023, March 14). Confirmed: the new Bing runs on OpenAI’s GPT-4. Microsoft Bing Blogs. https://blogs.bing.com/search/march_2023/Confirmed-the-new-Bing-runs-on-OpenAI%E2%80%99s-GPT-4.
Santiago, E. (2023, April 7). AI content moderation: How AI can moderate content + protect your brand. HubSpot. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/ai-content-moderation.
Very good review of the changing marketing space. From targeting consumers directly to content being filtered by AI. A very interesting disrupting change in an industry that is moving so fast. A very positive point also that you connect your story to your own experiences using bing!
Very good review of what has been happening in the marketing space. I really enjoyed that you did your own research and attached it to this blog by using bing. One of the things that was slightly missed is how AI is already impacting the marketing space. Through my personal network I’ve come across a marketeer that is already using generative AI to reduce his own workload. It already throws up interesting questions such as how original is the content being provided to brands when done by generative AI? How will this impact branding decisions and what happens to quality?
Hey Coen, very interesting article that you have written, particularly about GPT-4 in online marketing and search engines. The introduction of advanced AI like GPT-4 to enhance Bing’s search engine is indeed an interesting development and the whole world is changing rapidly because of it. Your post raises intriguing questions about the future of online marketing, especially regarding the potential shift from targeting humans directly to catering to AI algorithms to do this. I wonder, however, if this could also be dangerous in a way. What if you are only shown search results based on your preferences. Is there still a way to change your interests or is AI going to decide that for you?