If you want a bright idea, get a real human being
WWhere is the creativity in something that has been artificially churned out by a machine?
hile no-one can dispute the rise in power of AI, it can never replace the human factor; the ability of creative people to conceive relevant and standout advertising campaigns. Think of “Yebo Gogo”, “Beat the Bends, “Molo Mhlobo Wami”, “It’s not inside, it’s on top!” or “Alive with Possibility ”— all were built on insight, human truths and local understanding, all are the result of human creativity that AI simply can’t replicate.
AI is one of the most controversial topics in advertising today. Though still relatively new, it’s reshaping traditional marketing paradigms and driving industry transformation. But it also raises profound ethical and societal concerns around intellectual property (IP) rights, privacy and the potential for job displacement.
With its machine-learning capabilities, AI enables us as marketers to analyse vast data sets, predicting trends and optimising campaigns with unprecedented precision, in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. Effective and efficient; as a local brand used to say: “Saving you time, saving you money”; but is it putting “you” (us humans) first? Importantly, AI now goes way beyond just “data intelligence ”— it uses its capabilities to create content, and marketers are now merrily taking advantage of this.
At one level there are the likes of Google who use AI to generate and deliver “automatically created assets” so that when you search online for a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes, you are instantly served Jimmy’s ads. And at another level, we now have brand managers saying they can write better adverts than their agencies, just by asking AI to do it for them. With ChatGPT, a simple query churns out comprehensive content in a few seconds. Similarly, art generation tools such as NightCafé, Dream or Jasper Art can be asked to create imagery, so now copy writing and artwork can be done by computers rather than humans, for a fraction of the price, in a fraction of the time.
So, initially an “intelligent operational tool”, AI has evolved into also being an “intelligent creative tool ”— but where is the creativity in something that has been artificially churned out by a machine that has been force-fed information and imagery? What of the time-aged traditions and codes of conduct when we respected the IP of others, when no self-respecting creative or brand custodian would rip off someone else’s work? What of people’s personal privacy, and times when spying was wrong?
What of the potential for misuse, where the risk of fake and even malicious application looms large? (AI can create hyperrealistic content known as deepfakes, making it a powerful tool for spreading misinformation; it will be interesting to see how AI will be used in the upcoming election ads — what will be real, what will be fake?) And what of people’s livelihoods, their incomes and their passions, where automation will make an impact on the future wellbeing of writers, musicians, artists and creatives? The challenge is to ensure that AI empowers, rather than endangers, humanity.
AI’s rise in advertising is impossible to ignore, its ascent is already transformative. But South African advertising has long been at the top of global creativity rankings because of the likes of the big ideas cited above, because of people dreaming up big ideas, rich with local relevance and strong on human truths — and here AI fails.