Explainer | Artificial Intelligence, and its impact on advertising

What Is AI?

We all know and have probably done it: copy-paste — that quick fix where we select a text/image/etc., copy it, and paste it at the required destination. Now, when AI is implemented, you come up with something much grander, like ClipDrop, which is an app that allows you to copy-paste objects from real life around you, to any document you desire.

AI can be defined as the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. Human beings learn from their past; similarly AI learns from the past data. There are many kinds of AI, and they have been broadly categorised into three types:

Weak AI: Also called ‘narrow AI’, they are designed to do specific tasks that are relatively simple, and can be done easily by a human as well. They include tasks such as scheduling meetings, changing traffic lights, and recommending products on a retail app or movies/shows on an OTT platform.

General AI: On par with humans in terms of intelligence, the tasks that they can perform are similar too. They require human intervention only to a limited level. These types of AI adapt to changing situations, and apply whatever insights and understanding they have derived from the data provided.

Super AI: This category of AI does not exist yet, and are supposed to function independently, without human intervention. They would be capable of taking decisions through ‘senses’ similar to human beings, and would be making calculations far beyond human capabilities.

AI In Advertising

The process of implementing AI in advertising involves sequential steps, and advertising agencies across industries have adopted them. These steps are as follows:

Consumer Insight Discovery: This is the initial step of the process. This would commonly be something like the home page of a website or the home screen of an app, which companies use to collect data from customers.

Targeted Ad Creation: In this second step, the customer’s preferences are determined, and advertisements are created for their individual consumption based on how each customer is classified.

Media Planning And Buying: An advertisement is only as good as the time and space in which it is portrayed. This step involves determining the time and space in which the customer is most likely to see an advertisement. A person who is at home cooking, and a person driving their car will require different advertisements for successful consumption.

Advertising Impact Evaluation: Now that the advertisement has been published, it’s time for analysing its impact. While the advertisement has been published, its real-time impact is constantly being analysed, so as to immediately adapt to any changing needs.

Future Of AI Based Advertisements

The most frequently asked question about AI, across the spectrum, is: ‘Will AI replace humans?’ The answer is a resounding ‘No’…

…for now.

Currently, AI cannot make decisions on its own, and it always requires human intervention at one stage or the other. The best that can be said about AI is that it augments the people involved in the advertising industry. AI will no doubt improve over time, and it will show in the form of better personalisation, and interactivity.

Context has also been a big issue in the advertisement industry, as can be understood from the Lexus advertisement, where the company enlisted IBM’s Watson, which arguably the best AI in the world, to make an advertisement for it. It was fed hundreds of thousands of award winning advertisements, and based on that it came up with a script, which had to be brought to life humans.

The context of the advertisement is up for interpretation, as many people understood it differently. This will not be an issue in the future anymore, as AI will be able to learn and adapt much better to the segments that it is supposed to be catering to.

K Rajeshwari is Senior Associate Professor, Marketing, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, and Srivibhu Timmaraju is a student, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai.

 Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.