Over the last few years, there has been a massive advancement in the ability of machines to generate language, thanks in large part to deep learning transformer models. In fact, language generation has been called the “hottest thing in AI right now” and has huge implications and opportunities in practice for today’s marketers.
According to Gartner, modern natural language models represent a paradigm shift in the field of AI, with wide use case applicability. But the technology doesn’t replace humans; rather, it augments them. (Think Lee Majors in The 6 Million Dollar Man, not Michael Peña in Extinction.)
In my nine years at Persado, I’ve never heard of a company letting go of anyone because of our AI. What AI really does is make creatives more effective, removing the guesswork from marketing copy and replacing gut instincts with data-driven decisions. In the same way today’s tech tools have transformed all other aspects of marketing, now even the individual words and phrases marketers use can be algorithmically augmented to drive value systematically and measurably.
How AI language generation works
AI language won’t generate your ideas for you. You still need human beings for that. But it can quickly transform your ideas and concepts into words and provide you with alternative ways of saying something. Persado’s AI, for example, was built and trained specifically for enterprise and brand communications, unlike the more general purpose GPT-3 model which has been trained on the internet.
Persado’s AI talks to roughly 1.2 billion consumers annually, continually learning how to communicate with them most effectively. We have generated over 15 million messages in our history, and no two are the same. The AI uses more than 600 tags to categorize language based on the emotions, stories, narratives and motivators that drive desired outcomes. It also understands how to enhance and accelerate creativity across channels.
AI can help you speak to individuals at scale
Today’s consumers expect increasing levels of personalization, which is ironic in a world where brands rarely (if ever) interact with consumers face-to-face. In the heyday of brick-and-mortar, skilled salespeople could pick up various cues based on a person’s body language and manner of speaking that would help them connect with people individually and communicate with them effectively. Now, we are all faceless entities behind a screen.
What AI really does is make creatives more effective, removing the guesswork from marketing copy and replacing gut instincts with data-driven decisions.
To emulate that level of face-to-face personalization in a digital age, AI is essential. Before this technology, the best that creatives could do was generate a couple of ideas that sounded compelling to them based on past experience, run an A/B test in markets and see what happened. Then the next day, they’d start from zero and try again.
AI, on the other hand, can run multiple approaches to language simultaneously, and instantly adapt the messaging based on real-time data. A marketer can have an opinion on what would resonate best with certain customer segments. But a machine can ask a million people, who will answer by either responding to the messaging or not. And only an algorithm can interpret what that means across 1 million or 10 million interactions and create messages that speak to each of those people as individuals.
A superhuman partnership
It’s important to remember that while humans can come up with machines, machines could never come up with humans. New and innovative ideas will always be within the purview of humanity. But the exact way to communicate those ideas in a compelling and personalized way at scale—that’s where AI comes in. And a recent BCG study suggests the personalized language that is AI-generated could drive as much as $200 billion in incremental revenue for the Fortune 500 alone in the coming decade.
It’s a massive impact. While organizations are figuring out how to adapt, innovators are already implementing change by reorganizing their teams and incorporating AI as a team member. It’s imperative that the technology is championed at an executive level and becomes part and parcel of how copywriters, marketing managers, data practitioners and even agencies figure out how to make the most of the tool within the organization.
Otherwise, it will be nothing more than a science project in the corner of the company that never fulfills its promise. Adopting AI as a team member opens the door to value—in more ways than one. While the human team is focusing on strategic tasks that only humans alone can produce, AI is automating decisions at scale and creating incredible results.
In fact, our data shows that AI is more effective than humans at these tasks over 95% of the time. Leading teams are embracing AI already. It’s time to figure out how your team will respond to advanced technology. Are you ahead of the curve? Or falling behind it? Just like technology transformed the fictional astronaut Steve Austin into a bionic being who was faster, better and stronger than any mere mortal, AI can use the algorithmic choice of words to give human-generated ideas superhuman impact.
