Recognized leader in digital transformation, partner at Highbridge, founder of Martech Zone, public speaker, author, podcaster & consultant.
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I've been discussing the impact of artificial intelligence on business with my son, Bill, a leading data scientist in the e-commerce industry. I'm not as intelligent nor as educated as he is, but he appreciates my input from decades of marketing and technology experience. I respect his love of his craft and his visions of where it may bring us.
We both already realize the value of AI. At Highbridge, we've been using AI to assist us with research, developing and organizing content, and interpreting our analytics. My son's company has been using AI to help leading retailers target their customers better.
Bill clarified that the impact of AI is far more profound than how we currently use the technology. He recommended that I change my perception of AI to see it as a new medium, not a feature or technology.
AI may accomplish for humankind what the printing press or the internet did for us when it comes to organizing and disseminating information. It's a massive stage in our evolution. I never thought of AI as a medium, but take a look at one of the definitions of "medium" on Dictionary.com: "an intervening substance or agency for transmitting or producing an effect; vehicle."
Just as placards, mail, books, webpages and email are the "intervening substance" of human communications, I can see that AI will be as well. And just as businesses learned and developed processes to capitalize on those mediums, companies now need to capitalize on AI if they hope to succeed.
The adoption of AI is accelerating far more rapidly than our previous innovations—it's already being used in many industries, from manufacturing and healthcare to fashion and finance. I foresee companies skyrocketing or plummeting rapidly depending on whether they acknowledge or ignore this revolution.
It's Time To Adopt This Medium
When the printing press was developed, businesses had to adapt and adopt the ability to organize, write, design and distribute printed material. We take that for granted today, but it was a dramatic shift in the industry. The same happened with broadcast media and the internet.
In every case, brands that ignored the adoption of the medium were left behind. This will no doubt happen with AI as well. The recent buzz around contextual AI is not a fad that's going away, and it requires companies' immediate attention. We're already consulting with companies with thousands of products whose sales and marketing teams can't possibly memorize and promote every aspect. We can already develop data ingestion engines to transform current media, like product specifications, and train AI to provide personalized recommendations for buyers.
Proceeding With Cautious Optimism
I've personally deployed code that was generated using ChatGPT. While still in its infancy, AI has saved me significant time and expense while subsequently increasing interaction with our deployed tool sets. My dependency on building requirements, requesting quotes, acquiring a budget and waiting for results disappeared overnight as I deployed proven flawless, scalable and optimized code for user interaction. I now focus on the rapid release of innovative tools rather than the talent to build them.
One continued outcry concerning AI is that it will destroy jobs and lead us astray as it progresses to singularity (when AI is more intelligent than humans). I do not share this pessimism. In history, each revolution created more opportunities and growth than the previous one. Yes, we gave up blacksmiths for automobile assembly lines, but those lines led to industries that no one had ever imagined.
CompTIA's 2022 State of the Tech Workforce report estimated that 8.9 million jobs would be related to technology in 2022. This is a shift as companies adapt and adopt technology as part of their cultures and tool sets.
To adapt and adopt AI yourself, I recommend researching the following for your industry:
• What internal processes have been too complex to avoid human intervention where contextual AI could be tested or implemented?
• What external experiences could be automated to better serve your prospects and customers, or how could they be assisted by AI to serve themselves?
• How are your industry and competitors investing and innovating in AI?
When it comes to AI, you're only limited by your imagination. Adapt and adopt this new medium before others do.
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