Can You Trust AI With Your Marketing?

Small business owners, don't waste your time on AI-generated marketing! So far, this new technology comes with many issues. Instead, turn to a marketing agency with real people who produce original content.

Significant Investments and Larger Disappointments

According to Goldman Sachs’ report “Gen AI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit?” tech giants, utilities, and other companies will invest an estimated one trillion dollars throughout the next few years on AI infrastructure in various sectors. Unfortunately, at this point, there is little to show for it.

Furthermore, Jim Cavello doesn't believe that AI is designed to solve the complex issues that investors are counting on. In all areas of the business world, tasks require mental work AND real-world interaction. AI is unable to improve the latter anytime soon materially.

Sachs’ report states, “The human brain is 10,000 times more effective per unit of power in performing cognitive tasks vs. generative AI.” Writer Alex Roddie believes that if we exclusively depend on AI, content will become rigid without creativity or originality. Acemoglu senses that AI won't be able to translate open-ended tasks with more than one correct answer.

Cavello predicts that AI won't make employees smarter. Rather than empowering them to find quality information, it will encourage them to find information faster. Roddie pointed out that there's already so much written content; there's no need to produce it faster.

AI has a history of making incorrect suggestions for ads and message prompts, whether grammatical errors, inaccurate prices, irrelevant content, or more. So, if employees don't take time to pay attention, they can release content that will harm their brand or confuse consumers. Here are some examples of significant problems that occurred with big companies:

• In its first public demo, Google's AI chatbot, Bard, answered a question incorrectly.
• In March and April of 2023, ChatGPT was banned in Italy over privacy concerns.
• In June 2023, Open AI was sued because ChatGPT hallucinated embezzlement claims.
• In December 2023, Microsoft's AI generator received criticism for producing violent images, including some of President Biden.
• In February 2024, Google's chatbot Gemini was criticized for producing racially insensitive and inaccurate historical images.
• In March 2024, a large pharmaceutical company stopped using Microsoft's Copilot AI tool due to its high cost and low value. The company used Office 365 Copilot for 500 staff and found it comparable to middle school presentations.
• In June 2024, McDonald's removed AI-assisted ordering from the drive-thrus after too many errors.

An MIT professor, Daron Acemoglu, said, “Technology that has the potential to provide good information can also provide bad information and be misused for nefarious purposes.”

Is AI in the workplace efficient? It may not reduce working time because, in modern Wall Street culture, you're expected to work 80-100 hours a week, no matter what improvements you make.

Acemoglu believes that some of the previously mentioned investments will go to waste. The time it would take them to pay off is uncertain. Furthermore, he predicts that in the next ten years, AI will only increase 0.5% of productivity in the U.S. and impact less than 5% of all tasks.

Some experts feel that too much optimism can significantly lead to premature use of AI since some corners of tech adoption haven't improved in the last ten years. Some business owners don't know where AI will fit into their processes because they haven't observed the breakthroughs that have been promised.

Another question to consider is: Is AI worth the cost? According to Cavello, the costs of AI are so high that they would have to decline dramatically to be affordable. Furthermore, it costs six times more for AI to update historical data in company models than for human employees to do so. If one company can use AI, so can its competitors. So, you won't be able to charge more or increase profit margins, or necessarily save money on manpower or hired services.

Lastly, even if AI was developed satisfactorily, the power grid may not be ready. ChatGPT inquiries take ten times as much power as Google searches. It's possible that the U.S. would have to start choosing who receives power.

Quality Over Quantity

Believe it or not, generative AI may decrease productivity in the office. The Upwork Research Institute published a study that states:

• 77% of employees that use AI reported that it added to their workload and decreased productivity.
• 47% of employees that use generative AI don't know how to meet their employers’ expectations around productivity. In fact, 38% feel overwhelmed about using AI at work.
• Only 26% of the 96% of C-suite executives that expect AI tools to boost productivity have AI training programs in place. Only 13% report a well-implemented AI strategy.
• 37% of C-level leaders report that their workforce is “highly” skilled and comfortable with using AI, but only 17% of employees agree with these reports.
• 39% of the survey respondents said that they are spending more time moderating AI-generated content, and 23% say that they need to invest time into learning to use AI. Meanwhile, 21% of the employees are being asked to do more work overall; 40% of them believe that they're being asked to do too much.
• 81% of C-suite executives admit to increasing demands on employees in the last year. 37% of them are asking employees to use AI to increase output. Additionally, 35% of them are demanding their employees to expand their skill sets, and 26% ask their employees to work more quickly.
•  Only 40% of C-suite leaders say that they have a high-level awareness of the AI skills required in their companies.

If you choose a marketing agency with authentic people, your content will be unique and reflect genuine intelligence and expertise. You'll be confident you're releasing accurate information that can yield positive results. And given that AI is so far proving to be inefficient, you’ll save time and money on expenses and in-house wages too.

So, call STS at 616-881-3753 or fill out our contact form to sign up for marketing services today. Invest in quality marketing working with a firm getting results for their clients for 15 years.

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