Marketers' Hopes and Fears for Artificial Intelligence

Marketers’ Hopes and Fears for Artificial IntelligenceNew and Enhanced Edition

David BerkowitzChief Strategy Officer, Sysomos

@sysomos / @dberkowitz

dberkowitz@sysomos.com

About this presentation

This talk about artificial intelligence (AI) was initially presented at IAB Conecta in Mexico City in August 2017. This version has been annotated and edited for clarity. More content has since been added to provide further color around AI.

For the research featured here, Sysomos partnered with The Drum, which surveyed more than 200 marketing professionals in May 2017. The vast majority of respondents were in senior management levels, and they hailed from brands, agencies, media companies, and technology providers.

In the notes field of each slide, you can find links to any additional sources. For any questions about this talk, please reach out to me anytime.

Thanks for reading this.

David Berkowitzdberkowitz@sysomos.com

These are the associations

most people seem to have

with AI…

(and note, this talk was

given in Mexico initially –

hence the Spanish posters)

“The greatest benefit

of the arrival of

artificial intelligence

is that AIs will help

define humanity. We

need AIs to tell us

who we are.”-Kevin Kelly, The Inevitable

“47% of all jobs will be taken by

robots.”

- The Future of Employment

“47% of all jobs will

be taken by robots.”-The Future of Employment

Based on some analysis, like that provided by

the site willrobotstakemyjob.com, marketers’

jobs seem safe… for now.

Another version, hosted by

NPR, showed PR roles as fairly

automation-proof as well.

Yet another (released August 2017): willrobotbemyboss.com

Strong vs Narrow AI

Narrow AI refers to non-sentient technology focused on one specific task.

Strong AI refers to consciousness and sentience, where AI can be applied to any problem.

“In the next 10 years, 99%

of the artificial intelligence

that you will interact with,

directly or indirectly, will be

nerdly narrow, supersmart

specialists.”-Kevin Kelly, The Inevitable

“More and more products

and services will fuse

machine intelligence with

crowd work to help users

get things done.”-Shivon Zilis in Harvard Business Review

This isn’t the AI you’ve been looking for, but

it is an early example of predictive problem-

solving assistants.

Why is the race for AI so hot right now?

• Data sets

• Processing power

• Practical goals

• New algorithms

• ‘Adjacent possible’ (a concept popularized by

author Steven Johnson on how the same

invention or idea often surfaces in multiple

places at once because it’s the next leap

forward based on other available technologies

or ideas)

In the talk, we turned the presentation into a kind of game show, surveying the

audience about their views. For those who saw the presentation live, that interactive

feature won’t appear here, but I would love hearing your opinions about the topic.

Do marketers understand AI?

Yes46%

No54%

Are marketers investigating the full potential of AI?

Yes36%

No64%

Why do marketers want to invest in AI?

64%61%

49%

42%39%

36%

24%

Increase productivity Increase efficiency Generate newopportunities

New innovation Increase sales Cost savings Verify performance

Top applications for AI

49% 49%

40%

30%

27%24%

21%18%

11%9%

Competitiveintelligence

Customerservice/ CRM

Media planning/buying

Auditing:delivery,

transparency,fraud

Billing/ finance Communitymanagement

PR/analystrelations

Creative briefs Recruitment/ HR Legal/ rightsmanagement

What kinds of applications of AI are most interesting to your business?

Which function at your company will benefit the most from AI?

Exec team7% Brand manager

5%

Strategist/planner16%

Analyst/researcher25%

Media buyer/planner15%

Account manager6%

Creative10%

Production8%

Other8%

Marketers do not want AI in creativity or recruitment

16%

23%

5%

22%

9%

16%

44%

15%

5%

37%

Customerservice/CRM

PR/analystrelations

Competitiveintelligence

Legal/rightsmanagement

40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

How much of your job today do you think could be replaced by AI by the end of the decade?

AI can produce works of creativity

Left: David Cope has spent decades creating algorithmically-generated music, such as Bach

compositions that some people think sound even more like Bach than the original works.

Right: Researchers from Rutgers, College of Charleston, and Facebook’s AI research Lab used AI

algorithms to create art that critics couldn’t distinguish from human-created artwork

“Researchers at the e-

commerce juggernaut are

currently working on several

machine-learning systems that

could help provide an edge

when it comes to spotting,

reacting to, and perhaps even

shaping the latest fashion

trends.”

-MIT Technology Review

Impact on marketing activity expected over next 5 years

3%

14%

19%18%

8%

22%

4% 4%3%

1%

4%

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

How long do you think it will be before AI makes a significant impact on your marketing activity?

Will AI harm jobs in marketing?

Yes, some roles will be replaced by

AI61%

No, AI will let us work

more effectively

39%

Will the rise of AI lead to job losses?

2%

14%

26%

14%

12%

20%

5%4%

3%2% 2%

0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

How much of your job today do you think could be replaced by AI by the end of the decade?

It’s not just marketers who are concerned

It’s not just marketers who are concerned

14

23

29.1

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

New platform won't catch on

Platform obsolescence

I'm replaced by AI

Software Developer Fears

Source: Evans Data Corp

“The advent of AI didn’t

diminish the performance

of purely human chess

players. Quite the

opposite… There are more

than twice as many grand

masters now as there were

when Deep Blue beat

Kasparov.”-Kevin Kelly, The Inevitable

What job do you want A.I. to do?

What job do you want A.I. to do?

Create your A.I. job interview

Key takeaways: Get ready for a messy few years ahead

• For the next several years, technologies will

augment what we can do

• There will be immediate opportunities for

specialists who can identify and implement

AI

• Some jobs are more prone to replacement

by automation than others

• People are hesitant to relinquish creative

tasks to AI, but AI can replace creative

functions

¡Gracias! ¡Mantente en contacto!

dberkowitz@sysomos.com

@sysomos / @dberkowitz

www.sysomos.comThis really is my Spanish-language

LinkedIn profile. I took a few liberties

with my description.