A bi-weekly newsletter designed to empower marketing leaders, courtesy of Modern Craft.

Machine Earning

AI models run the gamut from wow to yikes. But does AI pose an existential threat to marketing teams? Or will it power incredible gains? Let’s take a moment to pause and reflect.

• AI models are capturing the world’s attention for their uncanny simulation of human speech.

• Many have found it entertaining to ask ChatGPT to generate essays, poems, and reports.

• While others have become creeped out by, for example, Bing Chat threatening, cajoling and declaring its love.

• Amongst marketers, the conversation has taken a different turn.

• Chris Schermer explains: “We went from imagining what AI could do to seeing what it will do, to and for our profession.”

• Schermer worries AI will make most people—including leadership and clients—think it can replace chunks of the marketing team.

• If you find yourself having to convince others that AI is a collaborator, not a replacement, there are plenty of expert voices ready to back you up.

• Let’s start with Ted Chiang. He encourages us to think of AI-generated content as a blurry jpeg. A low fidelity simulation that doesn’t hold up under close scrutiny—and gets blurrier and blurrier over time.

• He explains: “It retains much of the information on the Web, in the same way that a jpeg retains much of the information of a higher-resolution image. but, if you’re looking for an exact sequence of bits, you won’t find it; all you will ever get is an approximation.”

• John Warner compares the result to something a student would write when they don’t know anything about the topic and just wing it. It lacks depth and originality.

• The similarity is no coincidence. The American education system trains many students to follow a rules-based, standardized form of writing.

• Ian Leslie points out just how common this kind of conformity is across different industries, like music and movies.

• When it comes to marketing content, this approach leads to the dreaded “sea of sameness.”

• Tom Roach agrees. He warns that sameness is never a winning strategy. Instead, it’s a race to the bottom.

• With this in mind it’s worth remembering that Google still considers AI-generated content to be spam.

• As Rory Sutherland points out, we marketers already spend too much time figuring out how certain things work, like targeting and technology. And not enough time thinking about how people work.

• Rishad Tobaccowala takes this notion a step further. Even as AI rises, he firmly believes that the future of marketing is all about people.

• Our very own John Ounpuu explains it this way: “Marketing is fundamentally about humans connecting to humans. There might be tools there that help you. But the idea of marketing being replaced by AI feels a long way off. Good marketing always starts with empathy and understanding for the people you're attempting to engage.”

• So by all means, play around with AI. As a person, entertain yourself. Explore the frontiers of human-machine love if that’s what you’re into.

• As a marketer, keep an open mind. Maybe ChatGPT sparks a new idea. Maybe it nudges you out of writers’ block and gives you an outline you can build on.

• But at the end of day, breakthrough marketing starts with people.

Pause + Reflect is lovingly assembled and sent out every second Sunday by Modern Craft, a Vancouver-based consultancy dedicated to helping marketing leaders succeed. If you enjoy it, please share it with someone special. And if you're not signed up yet, you can subscribe here.