We Asked Chat GPT Why Marketers Should be Wary of Using AI 

Posted on by Jessica Scanlon

 . . . and We Thought We’d Post the Results with Some More Commentary 

AI and machine learning will likely win “Person of the Year” by Time Magazine (if it can win such an honor). The topic of AI has taken over all the discussion in the tech and agency blogs, podcasts, and conventions. Before diving headfirst into turning over your work to AI tools like Chat GPT, it’s important to understand the limitations and implications of using it instead of human-generated work in terms of marketing your business. 

As a fun exercise, we asked Chat GPT to write a 500-word article on the top three reasons marketers should be wary of using AI for their marketing. Here’s what it wrote: 

Proceed with Caution: Top Three Reasons Marketers Should Be Wary of Using AI for Their Businesses 

Introduction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative technology across industries, including marketing. Its potential to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and optimize campaigns is undeniable. However, amid the growing excitement around AI, marketers must exercise caution and evaluate its implications carefully. In this article, we highlight the top three reasons why marketers should approach AI implementation with caution. 

Ethical Concerns and Consumer Trust

One of the primary concerns surrounding AI in marketing is the ethical implications it may carry. AI algorithms rely heavily on vast amounts of data to make decisions and predictions. However, biases present in the training data can be inadvertently perpetuated, leading to discrimination and unfair treatment of certain demographics. This can have severe consequences for businesses, including damage to reputation, legal repercussions, and loss of customer trust. 

Marketers need to be aware of the ethical challenges associated with AI and ensure that their AI systems are transparent, accountable, and free from bias. Regular audits and ethical reviews of AI models and algorithms are essential to prevent unintended harm. Striving for diversity and inclusivity in the data used for training AI systems can help mitigate bias and ensure fair treatment of all customers. 

Over Reliance and Loss of Human Touch

While AI can automate many aspects of marketing, there is a risk of overreliance on technology, which can result in the loss of the human touch. Marketing is a field that thrives on creativity, intuition, and understanding human emotions. AI, though powerful in analyzing data and patterns, may struggle to replicate the nuances of human interactions and the ability to empathize with customers. 

By relying solely on AI-driven solutions, marketers may miss out on valuable insights and fail to connect with customers on a deeper level. Human judgment, intuition, and creativity remain invaluable assets that should complement AI technology, rather than being overshadowed by it. Striking the right balance between human expertise and AI capabilities is crucial to leveraging the full potential of both. 

Lack of Contextual Understanding and Unforeseen Errors

AI algorithms are trained on historical data and patterns, which means they operate within the context of the past. However, marketing is an ever-evolving landscape, where consumer preferences, trends, and behaviors are subject to constant change. AI may struggle to adapt to new and unexpected situations, leading to errors or misinterpretations of data. 

Marketers should be mindful of the limitations of AI and ensure that human oversight is maintained. 

Pretty impressive right? The temptation to let a robot generate content for your business is strong especially when you see how quickly it works. However, reading through it you can see a few issues – the main one being its lack of tone. Now, we can go back and ask it to rewrite the same content in a warmer, more approachable way, and keep iterating until we’re happy. However, engineering Chat GPT, researching its statements, and editing for tone to match your brand’s voice could take just as much time as writing 500 words. 

In a recent podcast from the Agency Management Institute, marketing agency attorney Sharon Toerek spoke specifically about the legal implications of using AI in marketing. She predicts case law will start to define the limits and uses for AI tools in business, but until then, one major takeaway that all marketers need to be aware of is AI use in intellectual property law. 

“Anything generated from an AI tool, according to the copyright office right now, is not ownable in terms of copyright. Only human-generated content is entitled to copyright protection,” Toerek said. 

Copyright protection in marketing is important, especially for website content, branding, taglines, company names and logo, photography and graphics. Not to mention the issues you may run into if your AI generated content and graphics are accidentally violating someone else’s protected work. 

It is much safer and more effective to use human-generated content in your marketing, branding and website work than it is to use AI generated content at this time since the parameters for effective and protected use have yet to be established.