1. What exactly is AI?
Various definitions of artificial intelligence exist, but we will refer to the definition provided by Wikipedia:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the capability of machines to exhibit intelligence, distinguishing it from the intelligence shown by humans and animals.
To clarify, this article will focus on generative artificial intelligence, a branch of AI that made a significant impact over a year ago with the public introduction of ChatGPT, which has since dominated social media discussions. Let's return to Wikipedia:
Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI) refers to a form of artificial intelligence that can create text, images, or various other types of media through the use of generative models. Generative AI models analyse the patterns and structure of the training data they receive, allowing them to produce new data that shares similar traits.
To put it simply, we are discussing the use of AI to produce an output based on a request, commonly referred to as a prompt. The output can encompass a wide range of elements – from data and insights to suggestions, innovative marketing concepts, music, literature, or art. This output is generated through the analysis and learning derived from the vast amounts of existing ‘big data’.
AI understands the appearance of a cat, so when prompted to generate another image of a cat, it usually performs well. It understands the distinctive style and writing structure of Rabie Burns, so when we request it to create a poem (perhaps an ode to a cat?), it will probably reflect a striking similarity. The AI acquires knowledge and can subsequently create new content based on that understanding.
It resembles the way your mobile device anticipates the next word as you type... It’s not about guessing the word; it’s about anticipating what it could be based on your usual typing patterns and the common phrases used by others globally... It has acquired language patterns by analysing numerous examples from people's texts, WhatsApp messages, and other sources, and it employs logic to propose your next word. The existing AI tools operate on similar principles, yet they have the capability to function at scale, forecasting not only the next word but entire paragraphs, chapters, and even books! This article provides a detailed scientific explanation of the topic.
2. What was the learning process?
How did AI acquire knowledge? The developers of the different AI systems provided it with extensive data. OpenAI, the organisation responsible for ChatGPT, began by training its AI on a wide array of text-based datasets. These included publicly available information, content gathered from the live internet, and material sourced from entities that are now expressing dissatisfaction over its use without prior consent, with the New York Times being a notable example.
It is estimated that more than 45 terabytes of text data were utilised in the training of ChatGPT at its initial launch. While it may not seem substantial at first glance – the computer I’m currently using has a 20 terabyte drive (though I’m utilising only a small portion of it) – the fact that the data consists solely of plain text (without large images or videos) means it represents a significantly large amount of content that needs to be referenced.
Various AI tools that focus on images, such as Acknowledgement, have been trained on vast datasets comprising hundreds of millions of images. This extensive training enables them to comprehend visual appearances, identify patterns, and subsequently generate similar or related visuals. Numerous artists express frustration towards these tools, as their creations were utilised to train AI algorithms without consent. Consequently, anyone can produce artwork in their style without the artists receiving any royalties or even a simple acknowledgement.
3. Utilising artificial intelligence in business marketing
Numerous use cases exist for small and medium businesses regarding AI, but this article will specifically highlight generative AI, with a focus on business marketing as an excellent initial example.
Online Platforms
Not too long ago, companies needed to collaborate with web design firms or possess some HTML knowledge to launch an attractive website. With the rise of AI, there are now cost-effective tools available that can create websites in just seconds.
Wix.com, for instance, prompts you with a few fundamental questions regarding your business. With just a click, a fully functional website tailored to your organisation type goes live, complete with pre-filled content that, although requiring some adjustments and enhancements, serves as an excellent foundation. 10Web is an AI-driven web building tool that guarantees the creation of a website in just minutes by simply responding to a few questions and then adjusting the results to meet your needs.
If you enjoy hand-coding HTML, CSS, or JavaScript and prefer building websites the traditional way, Similar is knowledgeable in all web coding languages and can provide significant assistance in that area as well!
Another tool worth exploring for website creation, along with presentations, documents, and more, is Gamma. Simply specify your needs – “A one-page website for my dog walking business” – and watch as it comes to life in moments, complete with pertinent sections like “about us” and “our dog walking services,” featuring quality text and images to help you kick off your project. These AI tools understand the characteristics of a standard dog walking website, a plumbing website, or a personal training website. They are equipped to help you replicate something similar.
Images
Images are essential for every business. Strong images and visuals are essential for effective marketing across your website, social media channels, email newsletters, and beyond. Up until now, entrepreneurs had the option to capture their own images, engage professional photographers, purchase stock photos, or attempt to design graphics using tools like Photoshop or Canva.
With the remarkable expansion and swift advancement of generative-AI tools for image creation, there is now an alternative – utilising platforms such as Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, or Stable Diffusion, and effortlessly “generating” any image you require, just by making a request.
Several of these tools offer free initial access through freemium models, with varying effectiveness for producing specific types and styles of images (refer to this blog for a comparison of outputs). However, they all fundamentally serve the same purpose – converting text into images by generating visuals from a given description or prompt.
To create stunning food photography, prompt Firefly with the following: “advertisement food photography splash of lemon juice on salmon steak, bright colours, studio lighting.” You’ll receive several images to choose from, each suitable for a Michelin star restaurant’s website, showcasing an impressive level of photo-realistic detail that makes it hard to believe a professional photographer didn’t invest hours capturing the perfect shot. The AI generated it. It hasn’t merely scoured the internet for images to present to you; it has created these images from the ground up – they are entirely unique and do not exist anywhere else.
Not every image will turn out flawlessly, and there's a blend of creativity and technique involved in formulating the ideal prompt. However, with some experimentation, you'll quickly discover what yields the best results. You can request specific styles, such as photorealistic or cartoon sketch, and even share reference images for the system to align with the style of your own existing photos.
Begin by utilising your own images and apply AI “in-painting” techniques to alter specific elements within the scene. This allows you to eliminate distractions, such as an unwanted tree in the background that appears to be growing from your head, or to incorporate AI enhancements. You can transform the background for an ideal product shot or replace gloomy skies with bright blue ones. Image manipulation has become remarkably accessible and cost-effective, with numerous tools available for free or operating on a ‘freemium’ model. You can explore and experiment with these tools at no cost, transitioning to a small, affordable monthly subscription once you choose to use them for commercial purposes.
Visual Content
Not too long ago, the majority of businesses relied on professionals for creating video content. Professionals equipped with high-end video equipment, advanced lighting setups, quality microphones, and additional gear. While traditional methods still hold value, the rise of AI has revolutionised video creation, allowing for faster production without the necessity for costly equipment or specialised skills.
Similar to certain image generation tools, it is now possible to create videos simply by describing your requirements. Platforms like Runway and Pika enable the creation of short video clips from your text-based prompts or by uploading a single still image to kickstart your video sequence. As stated on Runway's website – “If you can imagine it, you can generate it.”
These tools can also be utilised to alter existing videos that may be too expensive (or difficult) to re-shoot, allowing for modifications to any element in the frame, including the presenter's attire or the background setting. While the outcomes may not always be flawless and certain methods may yield better results than others, these skills can be acquired swiftly and effortlessly, especially when contrasted with conventional video editing approaches.
OpenAI's newest offering, Sora, can generate videos lasting up to one minute, ensuring excellent visual quality and closely adhering to the user's initial request. Although this medium is still in its infancy, the outcomes are remarkable (despite some imperfections), and innovative video storytelling is experiencing a thrilling evolution.
Additional budget-friendly AI tools for video generation are D-ID and HeyGen, both of which excel in producing 'avatar-based' videos. Upload an image of any individual, whether real or fictional, and assign them a voice, personality, and dialogue. In just seconds, you can generate engaging video content suitable for websites, social media, online educational resources, or simply for entertainment purposes. While these videos can’t truly substitute for real people speaking directly to the camera, they offer a much faster production process than traditional methods. For those who feel camera shy, an AI-based digital twin can take over the speaking duties from here on out!
HeyGen is particularly adept at imitating real individuals and their mannerisms with impressive accuracy. The AI model can be trained using real video footage of you, allowing it to learn your appearance, voice, and behaviour on camera. It features impressive language translation tools, allowing you to create welcome videos for your website. Now, you can fluently communicate in French, Japanese, or Hindi with your non-English-speaking visitors.
Although these tools offer innovative marketing possibilities, they also come with drawbacks, as some unethical individuals exploit them to create ‘deep fakes’ of real people without their consent. Always ensure that you have the consent of individuals before creating AI representations of them. When sharing these representations online, it's advisable to be transparent with your audience about their artificial nature, as they may already suspect it. It's important not to obscure the fact that these are AI-generated creations. Have a great time creating videos featuring animated characters, or even get your cat to engage with your audience on social media.
written text
Ultimately, in the realm of AI-generated marketing content, we can certainly leverage AI to assist in crafting written text. One of the key tools to explore is ChatGPT from OpenAI, which has consistently captured media attention since its launch in November 2022. However, there are several other noteworthy alternatives worth experimenting with, including Google’s Gemini, as well as Perplexity and Claude, both of which are rapidly gaining traction in this field.
These tools are referred to as “LLMs” (large language models). As previously mentioned, they can generate natural language due to their training on extensive amounts of written data. You interact with them by engaging in a back-and-forth conversation.
Request a poem from ChatGPT for your friend's 30th birthday, and it will generate a delightful rhyme perfect for their birthday card. However, if you explore further, you'll discover that these tools offer a wide range of capabilities!
5 Marketing Use Cases for ChatGPT to Explore
1. Your AI personal assistant
Request assistance from ChatGPT, similar to how you would with your personal assistant. Utilise it to address enquiries that are essential for your understanding, supply relevant facts and statistics to complete your report, clarify concepts that may be confusing, and conduct the necessary research to support your needs.
Exercise caution, as the complimentary version of ChatGPT has a knowledge cut-off set in January 2022, meaning it lacks information beyond that point. The premium version, beginning at Rs.1711 per month, features a later cut-off date of April 2023. Additionally, it has the capability to search the internet using Microsoft Bing, enhancing its built-in knowledge base. Be cautious of 'hallucinations' – a phenomenon that occurs with many large language models, where they sometimes generate information that seems credible but is actually false.
ChatGPT excels at the task of summarisation. Provide a substantial excerpt of text or direct the premium version to a relevant webpage, then request a summary, possibly highlighting the five most important points. It typically excels at summarising the content for you, allowing you to grasp the main ideas swiftly without needing to read everything in detail.
2. Your AI business consultant
Many individuals lack access to an accountant for immediate financial guidance. Similarly, not everyone has access to a marketing mentor or a PR expert readily available for advice. While the Business Gateway team strives to provide support to businesses around the clock, there are times when we cannot be available, and that's where ChatGPT can play a crucial role.
Looking for clarity on the advantages and disadvantages of VAT registration? Simply describe your circumstances and seek guidance and suggestions from ChatGPT. Are you in search of inspiration for a fresh company name, an engaging marketing strapline, or perhaps an entirely new business concept? Engage in a brainstorming session with your AI adviser, exploring various ideas that could ignite a solution that suits your needs. Overall, the guidance provided is likely to be reliable (though it's always a good idea to verify certain details), satisfactory, and based on your enquiries, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by the creativity this system can exhibit!
3. Promotional Material
Many small business owners are leveraging ChatGPT to enhance their marketing and social media content. These AI large language models are quite effective at crafting marketing content, whether it's assisting in the creation of concise social media biographies—like enhancing your Instagram bio or rephrasing your LinkedIn headline—or producing detailed blogs for your website.
The capability of ChatGPT to rephrase text for various audiences or to better fit different platforms can be a significant time-saver for you. A LinkedIn post can be effortlessly transformed for Facebook by simply asking, adopting a more casual and enjoyable tone in the process. Your 500-word blog can be transformed into a series of 280-character posts for X (previously Twitter!), providing you with weeks of valuable content to share.
Finding it challenging to contribute meaningfully on Small Business Saturday or during other well-known ‘awareness days’? Simply consult ChatGPT for sample content that connects your business, product, or service to this theme. While it may not be flawless, this guide will provide you with inspiration for creating enjoyable and engaging social media content, helping you overcome the frustrating “blank page syndrome”!
4. Concept Development and Motivation
What should you do when you're unsure of what to say? When you're feeling the heat to post something on Facebook or craft a fresh business blog, yet you're grappling with writer's block and struggling to come up with creative concepts.
The capability of ChatGPT to assist you in generating ideas for inspiration is remarkable. Consider it your imaginative companion, always ready to offer suggestions and exchange ideas with you. Provide detailed information about your business, including your services and location, and request creative ideas that can be utilised across all your social media platforms. If you have the initial spark of an idea, share it with ChatGPT and request a critique. Ask for further suggestions on how to enhance and refine your concept.
The key is to engage in a dialogue with ChatGPT – having extensive discussions, delving deeper into concepts, and examining them thoroughly from various perspectives. Just as you would collaborate with a team of business partners to generate ideas, the AI can assume various roles and personalities to assist you in that process.
5. Understanding Customer Perspectives
Keep in mind that marketing encompasses much more than merely the promotional material shared across your digital platforms. Effective marketing hinges on a deep understanding of the target audience and delivering genuine value, and ChatGPT can assist in achieving this goal.
Request assistance in identifying various customer types for your business. Once you have a selection, choose one and ask for a more comprehensive “customer persona” that outlines their demographics, goals, challenges, and values. Explore further by enquiring about their usual daily activities and the reasons they may require your product or service. Conclude by having ChatGPT outline the potential reasons this customer might hesitate to make a purchase (often referred to as the 'objection to the sale') and generate strategies to persuade them to reconsider.
By immersing yourself in the mindset of customers, you will be better prepared to develop effective marketing strategies and tactics that truly connect with them, offering solutions to their challenges and adopting a more customer-focused approach.
Keep in mind that the examples provided are not limited solely to ChatGPT. There are various other LLMs to explore, and it’s worthwhile to experiment with platforms such as Google’s Gemini or Anthropos's best. Claude to determine which AI system suits your needs best.
Three Easy Tips for Using ChatGPT
Here are a few straightforward suggestions to help you maximise your experience with ChatGPT or any other language models you may opt to utilise:
1. Utilise it as an ‘input’ rather than an ‘output’.
Avoid simply duplicating the provided content and presenting it as your final result. Utilise it as your foundation, your motivation, and transform it. Infuse your unique character, flair, personal stories, and illustrative examples. Enhance it. Personalise it to reflect your style.
2. Provide extensive detail wherever possible.
Stay proactive with your prompts. You might be familiar with the classic programming concept known as “GIGO” – which stands for garbage in, garbage out. For ChatGPT to generate pertinent responses to your prompts, it is essential to provide comprehensive input. Utilise the “Customise ChatGPT” feature to provide specific instructions, sharing detailed information about yourself, your business, your objectives, and your customers, among other relevant aspects. You can also guide it on how you would like it to respond in terms of tone, style, and personality. Adjust the settings to make the default output resonate more with your style!
3. Instruct it on the expected conduct.
If you seek expert-level responses, instruct ChatGPT to adopt the specific role you need. “Emulate a journalist… and craft a press release tailored for UK tabloids to highlight our new charity initiative…” or for a more imaginative approach – “Emulate a rock musician…” Write a song inspired by the style of Bon Jovi, focussing on the theme of rebelling against artificial intelligence. Include suggested guitar chords for the composition. Clarifying the role you wish ChatGPT to assume enables it to adopt the appropriate character, ensuring that responses are framed from that viewpoint and confined to the expertise and reasoning of that specific role.
For enhanced prompting, consider utilising the “Triple R Prompt framework.” This approach will aid you in crafting more detailed requests in a structured manner.
4. More than just marketing
This article has concentrated on marketing as a prominent business opportunity arising from generative AI and ChatGPT. However, it's important to recognise that these tools offer a wide range of capabilities beyond just marketing. Assisting in the development of internal company documents, policies, and strategies, as well as expediting web design briefs, funding applications, and conducting spreadsheet data analysis and reporting.
Remember that LLMs excel in various languages, not just English. These are useful tools that can aid in translation tasks or even in creating basic HTML webpages, as they are familiar with most coding languages as well!
5. All rights reserved.
Regarding the pertinent question – “What about copyright?” ” – it’s somewhat ambiguous. In the UK, copyright law mandates that a human creator must be responsible for the creation of copyrighted works. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (CDPA) specifies that works generated solely by a computer do not qualify for copyright protection. With that in mind, it can be argued that no individual holds copyright over assets created by AI. The CDPA indicates that the individual responsible for the creation tool may be regarded as the author, suggesting that there is a case for copyright to be awarded to the developer of the AI tools.
It is clear that the legal framework has not evolved alongside the rapid advancements in technology. While it is improbable that utilising these AI tools will lead to legal complications, we recommend conducting thorough research, reviewing the terms and conditions, and comprehending the usage rights that different tools may impose on you. For instance, Midjourney clarifies that although you will have ownership of all the visual assets generated through the tool, you also provide them with complete rights to utilise those images in any manner they choose.
OpenAI, the organisation responsible for ChatGPT, states that you retain ownership of both the 'input' (the prompts you provide) and the 'output' produced. However, they caution that either may be utilised to assist in training their AI models and enhancing their services.
6. Additional ethical considerations
In addition to copyright issues, numerous businesses are hesitant to embrace AI because of various ethical considerations, such as:
Content generated by Gen-AI tools frequently exhibits bias and a deficiency in diversity.
Concerns about privacy arise from the fear that private data entered into these systems may be exposed as public information, which is particularly alarming when it involves personal data. It is crucial to ensure compliance with GDPR regulations.
Clarity (or absence of it) – what is the source of the information utilised by the AI system? Whose artistic style has been imitated without any compensation? Could the use of these AI tools negatively impact dedicated creatives?
The environmental implications of these new AI systems are significant, as they demand substantial computing resources, extensive server farms, and considerable electricity to operate.
Job displacement is currently one of the most significant concerns regarding the use of AI. Many people are asking, "Will it take my job?" ” As these systems continue to advance in power and their capacity to generate content approaches that of human creators, one must consider whether these creative roles will remain necessary in the future. A report from the UK Government forecasts that within the next five years, 7% of all jobs may become obsolete due to the rise of AI automation. The percentage increases to 30% in the following two decades. It is important to note that the growth of AI, along with new and emerging technologies, will lead to the creation of numerous new jobs and roles.
It is quite common for various marketing sectors to underestimate the influence of AI, frequently ridiculing its effectiveness or emphasising its shortcomings. “It’s not even close to the level of expertise that professionals can achieve,” they exclaim, and you know what? They’re absolutely correct!
A skilled and experienced PR consultant with a decade of expertise will consistently produce a more effective press release than ChatGPT. An experienced web designer with two decades of expertise in crafting small business websites and a keen understanding of market demands should consistently be capable of developing a superior website compared to Gamma. A Photoshop expert with years of experience mastering their skills and utilising advanced tools and techniques can certainly challenge Midjourney. This is particularly true when we incorporate the "human element" – that unique advantage stemming from genuine intelligence rather than artificial.
However, small business owners often lack the specialised skills needed to complete tasks effectively, the time to acquire those skills, or the financial resources to engage top consultants and suppliers. Consider the ongoing demands placed on small business owners to generate content for their social media channels, all while managing a multitude of other responsibilities. This often leads to uncertainty about what to communicate and a lack of time to strategise future marketing efforts. That's where leveraging AI can be beneficial. While it may not be the ideal answer, in certain situations, it frequently proves to be the appropriate choice.
With that in mind, it's important to recognise that ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence (AI) programs are simply tools available in your toolkit. Do not depend on them to manage your business automatically. Be cautious and don't assume they will always act in your best interest. Stay proactive and remember that there will be times when you need to tap into your own creativity. Utilise them when they are beneficial, and choose an alternative tool when it is more suitable for the task at hand.
Understanding how to utilise popular AI tools and enhancing your skills in AI literacy is an excellent foundation for ensuring your business remains relevant in the future.
"AI itself won't replace your job. It's the individual leveraging AI that may take your position."
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