Navigating The AI Revolution: What You Need To Know If Your Marketing Agency Uses AI – Above the Law

Ed word: This text first appeared in Methods & Voices, a publication of the Authorized Advertising Affiliation.

In an period the place synthetic intelligence’s (AI) affect is proliferating, many have proclaimed the obsolescence of selling companies — or, on the very least, the demise of sure advertising and marketing capabilities. Can we eliminate copywriters now that ChatGPT can automate copy? What about graphic designers now that Canva has Magic Design, an AI design generator?

However how way more environment friendly and efficient does AI really make advertising and marketing companies? What ought to shoppers count on? And will shoppers be involved about how their companies are utilizing AI?

AI Isn’t a New Idea for Advertising Businesses

If we have been to play a phrase affiliation recreation with “AI,” most of us would instantly consider ChatGPT or one other common giant language mannequin (LLM), however these aren’t the primary AI instruments to have an effect on the advertising and marketing business. This know-how may really feel shiny and new attributable to latest dramatic jumps in its progress, however it’s been slowly permeating our workflows for years.

It’s probably that your advertising and marketing company is already utilizing AI and has been for a while. On the very least, it’s most likely utilizing Grammarly — the trusty digital writing assistant that combs by way of your copy to detect errors and plagiarism, recommend adjustments or spot gaps in writing.

The case for implementing AI into authorized advertising and marketing is acquainted by now: These instruments are multitasking powerhouses that scale back time spent on routine, mundane duties so entrepreneurs can commit extra power to high-level, strategic work and other people administration.

HubSpot’s 2023 report on the state of AI in advertising and marketing discovered that the commonest makes use of throughout all industries are:

Content material creation (48%)
Analyzing or reporting on information (45%)
Studying find out how to do issues (45%)
Conducting analysis (32%)

In-house entrepreneurs ought to count on AI and automation to extend their companies’ effectivity (HubSpot’s report discovered it could unlock nearly a month of extra work time per yr). However, as ever when working within the authorized business, excessive warning is paramount. Under is a breakdown of why generative AI requires cautious implementation and oversight, and isn’t all the time your greatest wager for a primary draft.

The place Generative AI Fails — and Find out how to Bridge the Hole

For the extra left-brained people amongst us, it’s the dream: a writing robotic that systematizes content material creation and pumps out copy in mere seconds. Very similar to the trusty calculator did for math, generative AI might revolutionize how we write. (Sure, William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, et al. are undoubtedly turning of their graves).

However maintain up: there are a number of the reason why companies — particularly these serving regulation companies — mustn’t use AI for pure content material creation.

1. Efficient Legislation Agency Advertising Is determined by Constructing Authority and Credibility

In a crowded market, leveraging a regulation agency’s repute and material expertise can set it other than rivals. In case your advertising and marketing supplies present dependable info and useful insights, readers will search it out. The issue is that purely AI-generated content material is the alternative of this; it lacks authenticity and real experience. And since AI pulls from current sources, your content material may inadvertently embrace beforehand used, revealed or trademarked materials.

To keep away from this concern, use human insights to tell your content material and information total technique and messaging slightly than relying solely on AI. Implement redundancy and plagiarism-spotting instruments to enhance your AI use.

2. Utilizing AI for Pure Content material Creation Will Give You Low-High quality, Uncopyrightable Content material

Everybody loves an accent, besides in terms of AI-generated content material. Textual content generated by instruments corresponding to Anthropic, ChatGPT and Perplexity have a sure cadence that units them other than human-written content material. However in contrast to the soothing tones of Morgan Freeman’s narration or the nice and cozy hug of Dolly Parton’s Southern twang, this telltale “accent” is neither charming nor distinctive. That’s as a result of the database of content material it’s counting on relies on current info. This may negatively impression search engine marketing, as search engines like google prioritize distinctive and useful content material that meets customers’ wants. What’s extra, the U.S. Copyright Workplace’s present place is {that a} work’s writer should be human, not AI, and it’s unclear how a lot human involvement is critical for copyright to use.

To keep away from this concern, use human editors to draft and refine content material, complement their work with AI and frequently consider its efficacy.

3. Present AI Instruments Have a Hallucination Drawback

Positive, people may get the odd stress headache, however generative AI is liable to frequent hallucinations (so frequent, actually, that a Stanford College examine discovered generative AI instruments designed for the authorized business produce false or deceptive info between 17% and 33% of the time). That’s as a result of this know-how was designed to foretell the following phrase in a sequence, and what the AI predicts ought to come subsequent based mostly on discovered patterns isn’t essentially what ought to come subsequent. This may result in misrepresentations a couple of lawyer, agency or authorized matter in advertising and marketing copy — and for a notoriously risk-averse business, that’s a giant deal. Simply have a look at what occurred to Air Canada when their chatbot gave inaccurate info to a buyer.

To keep away from this concern, have human editors copyedit and fact-check all AI-generated content material. Use AI to synthesize blocks of textual content into fast bullet factors slightly than counting on it for market-ready messaging.

4. AI Platforms Are a Information Privateness and Safety Minefield

Something you place into an AI platform may very well be used to generate copy and content material for different customers. Take ChatGPT’s phrases of use, which say it could use inputs and outputs “to offer, keep, develop and enhance our providers.” Equally, text-to-image generator Midjourney’s phrases of use say it has a perpetual license “to breed, put together spinoff works of, publicly show, publicly carry out, sublicense and distribute textual content and picture prompts you enter into the providers, in addition to any property produced by you thru the service.”

To keep away from this concern, by no means enter confidential info right into a third-party, public AI device, overview all phrases and circumstances and practice your workers on the related information privateness and safety issues. Look to know-how corresponding to Meta’s Llama or any LM Studio mannequin for housing confidential information as they run domestically in your pc.

5. Algorithmic Biases Lurk Throughout the System

Relying on the information used to coach its algorithms, AI platforms can unintentionally perpetuate biases by reinforcing stereotypes, encouraging unfair remedy and even discriminating in opposition to sure teams of individuals.

To keep away from this concern, don’t depend on AI to make selections or lead initiatives. Look to platforms that use various information units, conduct common audits and contain human oversight to identify and rectify potential points.

Suggestions for In-Home Entrepreneurs

Armed with these cautionary tales, there are a number of steps you may take to judge and optimize your advertising and marketing company’s use of AI. This includes gaining a transparent understanding of how AI is getting used and what which means to your agency, reviewing contracts and guaranteeing your company is following greatest practices.

Listed below are some concerns for discussing AI together with your agency’s company:

Ask your agency’s company what instruments they’re already utilizing and what they’re utilizing them for.
Talk about what you’re snug and uncomfortable with, and why.
Inquire in regards to the instruments your company is contemplating utilizing, together with the professionals and cons of implementing them.
Contemplate reviewing your contract to make sure it aligns together with your expectations and adheres to your boundaries. If there’s at the moment no point out of AI use, take into account including clauses to handle the way it ought to or shouldn’t be applied.

In case your agency’s company is following greatest practices for implementing AI, you need to have the ability to reply “sure” to the next questions:

Does the company disclose its AI use to shoppers for transparency?
Does it take away all private identifiers to anonymize information?
Does it be sure no delicate information is ever fed into an AI platform?
Do people overview all of the company’s output earlier than shoppers obtain it?

Your Company Nonetheless Wants People

As a human myself, I’m thrilled to jot down the above heading. And it’s true: AI gained’t change your advertising and marketing company, however it could degree up your company’s operations and content material if applied strategically.

Whereas AI excels at analyzing huge quantities of information and automating time-consuming duties, it wants the contextual understanding and artistic instinct of human entrepreneurs. Efficient authorized advertising and marketing requires a deep understanding of market dynamics, relationship constructing, shopper preferences, cultural nuances and model growth. With these abilities, we will interpret AI-generated insights in a significant manner.

As with every nice rent assigned to a brand new position, permit AI to discover its most pleasing strengths (which occur to be finishing your most tedious, routine and time-consuming duties) and depend on its human colleagues for strategic course, crucial oversight and artistic innovation.