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Why AI should not be used as a PR gimmick
From Starbucks to Mastercard, every brand is touting the benefits of Artificial Intelligence. In reality, are marketers using AI as a gimmick than to solve anything of real value to customers?
Four years ago, the number of companies using the phrase artificial intelligence (AI) in their financial statements was just 6. This year, that has shot up to 244. What is the hype all about and why are brands shouting about AI from the rooftops?
Does AI actually mean anything to the customer? Top-of-the-heap product-driven companies know that machine learning and AI are not solutions by themselves. Brands like Slack, Netflix, and Spotify epitomise the ability for companies to think big and smart small. Their use of AI isn’t all show and gimmickry. For these companies, AI is something that is helpful, appropriately used, and almost imperceptible to their customers.
Slack, for example, has a team called Search, Learning, and Intelligence dedicated to helping customers cut down on time-consuming work tasks, like searching for files. Back in 2000, Netflix realised that people were more likely to rent movies if they could easily discover ones they might enjoy, and AI was used as part of the solution to this discovery problem.
Spotify, on the other hand, wanted the answer to this question: “what’s the fastest way to get users experiencing their core value? Is it the the ability to listen to whatever music they want, when they want it?” To solve this problem, Spotify launched Discovery
Using AI as a prop is all right as a temporary measure. For a long-term solution, AI has to solve product problems and not be a public relations exercise.