Unless you’re living off the grid (in which case you aren’t even reading this), you’ve probably been hearing a lot about artificial intelligence (AI), including its current and potential uses, abuses and challenges. Although we can trace the roots of this technology back to the 1950s, it now plays a major role in our lives. Whether you realize it or not, you’re already using AI, and so are we. But don’t worry, the machines aren’t planning a revolt, at least not at Market Mentors where the human touch can never be replaced.

AI Is All Around You

Here are a few of the many ways AI is already working for you:

Streaming recommendations. Those movies and programs Netflix thinks you’ll like? AI compiles and recommends content based on your viewing habits and hobbies.
Internet traffic routing. AI algorithms continuously analyze network conditions and user behavior to dynamically reroute traffic to help prevent congestion and reduce latency.
Fraud detection and cybersecurity. AI acts as a sentry, identifying data patterns indicative of potential cyber threats, such as fraud, hacking or malware.
Weather prediction and climate modeling. AI-powered models can make highly accurate predictions by using big data from satellites, weather stations, and ocean buoys.
Drug discovery and healthcare. AI has accelerated drug discovery by analyzing extensive biological and chemical data, and aids in medical image analysis, enabling early detection and improved diagnosis of conditions like cancer and neurological disorders.
Smart energy management. By analyzing energy usage patterns, weather forecasts and occupancy data, AI optimizes energy consumption in smart grids and buildings.

We could go on, but the key takeaway is this: AI is here to stay.

AI at MM

There are myriad ways our team could use AI-powered tools to enable more efficient processes and maximize potential.

Design

Asset rescue
Image placement
Background modification and replacement; check out this pic of Ashley enjoying her dessert in the desert (word play a bonus)!

Video

Audio cleaning
Video stabilization
Video smoothing

Copy

Idea generation and baseline inspiration
Copy variations for A/B testing
SEO keywords

Website Devopment

Documentation search
Idea generation (coding)
Language translation

Digital

Programmatic display (check out our previous blog about this)
Paid meta
Reporting

Account Services

Ideating target audience mindset
Presentation generation
Streamline administrative tasks

What do most of these uses have in common? They can free up our team to focus more time on developing effective strategy, research-backed recommendations and amazing creative that gets results.

Doing Our Due Diligence

You may have noticed in the section above that the operative word is “could”; AI certainly has incredible potential to streamline some of our functions, but that doesn’t mean we’re currently using them all. While we see lots of opportunity in the AI arena, we are proceeding with caution (thanks to our internal AI Task Force).

There are (and likely always will be) a lot of challenges around the use of AI. For example, content generated through ChatGPT and other sites can be inaccurate, incomplete or someone else's intellectual property. And we’ve seen some AI-produced videos that are, quite frankly, nightmare inducing (we’ll spare you the full horror, but here’s a screen grab from a burger commercial we found).

Video still from an AI-generated burger commercial showing distorted faces.

AI Lost Media. (2023). Burger Blast Ad 1995 - AI Generated Commercial. YouTube. https://youtu.be/0bJ_kO12f-I?si=H8xQv_rhD84RxAek.

Technology is growing so rapidly, our legal system is lagging (way) behind. Do you know what amount of AI generated content has to have the human touch to be copyrighted? It’s a trick question (sorry); there aren’t any guidelines yet.

Proposed legislation varies by state. In Massachusetts alone, there are currently proposed laws with regard to AI and workplace surveillance, mental health services, opt-out of personal information sale and targeting and dystopian work environments, as well as large-scale generative AI model operating standards. Meanwhile, the federal government is tackling everything from algorithmic discrimination protections to data privacy and more.

Our Commitment to Clients

We will continue to work as hard for our clients’ businesses as we do for our own. If there are AI applications that allow us to do this more effectively, we’ll research and vet them, establish agency guidelines (including client transparency), and implement them as appropriate. But AI will never replace the out-of-this-world creativity, strategic savvy and impressive expertise across all aspects of our industry that our in-house specialists bring to the table every day.