Artificial Intelligence Hype

Marketers are increasingly excited about the potential of AI. L’Oréal chief digital officer Lubomira Rochet described a commonly shared sentiment:

“I believe AI is as big a revolution as the internet itself. It’s going to power more of our interactions with our consumers, be it through advertising, CRM or even ad serving. All those compartments of marketing will be transformed by AI. It’s a great way to get more personalized than we’ve ever been.”

Few trends are currently as hyped as Artificial Intelligence. And as we’ve all learned from the Gartner Hype Cycle, hyped trends inevitably climb a peak of inflated expectations.

Artificial intelligence has become a broad, amorphous, catch-all term. As Christian Monberg at Boomtrain put it, “We’re early in a convoluted market. AI means a lot of things.”

"If marketing kept a diary, this would be it."

- Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs

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Companies are rebranding existing services as “AI-powered.” Media agencies are starting to add AI to business titles. Here’s how Josh Ziegler of travel technology shop Zumata described the hype:

“AI has been touted as a silver bullet with infinite magical powers. The dawn of AI taking over the world and being a plug and play technology has fostered a misconception of what is truly possible today.”

Savvy marketers will have to continue to navigate the promise from the hype and be wary of chasing technology for technology-sake.

Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years:

“Digital Transformation“ November 2016

“Shiny Object Syndrome“ January 2015

“Big Data“ January 2014