A Guide to Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)

There’s currently quite a bit of excitement building around the possibilities that artificial intelligence (AI) and new generative AI tools unlock.

For example, ChatGPT, a new generative AI tool launched in November 2022, is trained on 175 billion parameters or data points and passed one million users in just five days. From high school students to tech company CEOs, people everywhere are curious about what generative AI means and does.

Exactly what these tools are fully capable of and how they work is still being understood, but some tools out there are allowing us to start exploring and understanding the impact they can have on both individuals and brands. In this guide, we explain what generative AI is, types of generative AI, pros and cons, what it means for brands, and what the future of generative AI could be.

What is Generative AI?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence (such as perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information) done by machines, mimicking human intelligence to perform tasks, improve themselves, problem solve, and more.

Generative AI refers to AI that can generate new and novel content rather than just analyzing or acting on existing data. Unlike traditional AI systems designed to recognize patterns and make predictions, generative AI creates new content through a type of deep learning called generative adversarial networks (GANs).

This means generative AI can analyze and learn from data on the fly allowing it to generate net new content, which is the primary difference between it and other AI tools. It can be used to create better products and experiences through more “creative” and personalized processes.

Types of Generative AI

Generative AI can produce a variety of forms of content and outputs, including:

• Text: The most well-known generative AI tool to produce text is ChatGPT. These tools allow coders to build code much faster, can generate text such as news articles, poetry, blog posts, scripts, social media copy, and marketing emails, can summarize articles, and can even translate text into different languages.
• Images: Generative AI can create art from scratch, modify images in a variety of ways, add objects to pictures, and even produce 3D models from 2D pictures. Some examples of these tools include Mijourney and Lensa.
• Videos: Use these tools for video dubbing, creating new videos and scenes from scratch, transforming existing videos into new ones, storyboarding, masking, rendering, and more. Examples include Pictory and Potion.
• Audio: Create media from scratch using synthetic voices, convert, edit, dub, and translate audio, and generate new music tracks and sound effects.
• Avatar: Produce virtual beings via generative AI for fast creation and deployment of virtual and interactive characters in physical and virtual environments, such as virtual worlds and games/gaming platforms.
• Data: Generative AI can do a variety of things related to data ingestion and analysis. These tools are trained on real-world data sets, but they can also connect to your own data and modeling systems. Some things you can do include:
  • Make variable data sets based on specific volumes of data that you already have on your consumers, audiences, or leads.
  • Clean, filter, identify, and fill in data.
  • Explore data insights.
  • Interpret data to identify patterns and pinpoint frequencies.
  • Model data such as audience behavior, product design, retail environments, and more.
  • Make accurate customer and market predictions for the future.
  • Assess risks and take preventive measures.
  • Improve operating efficiency through data interpretation.

Pros And Cons of Generative AI

There are huge advantages to using generative AI, but there are also drawbacks that need to be carefully considered, especially around the ethical use of AI content.

Pros of Generative AI

• Can generate new content quickly and easily.
• Increases efficiency due to automation and integration abilities, such as automating repetitive or time-consuming tasks.
• Provides a variety of personalization opportunities.
• Helps with creative process (such as idea generation).
• Saves time and money with data processing and analysis and allows brands to make more informed decisions.
• Helps improve organic search engine ranking.
• Is cost effective.
• Is easily scalable.
• Streamlines and automates processes.
• Improves quality of outputs.
• Provides faster results.

Cons of Generative AI

• Can have questionable quality and sometimes facts need to be verified.
• People can feed biased data inputs into the AI tool, so it can sometimes produce biased outputs.
• Can be difficult to control, and harmful content can be generated.
• There are disputes regarding intellectual property rights surrounding content, specifically who owns content generated by AI.
• Still requires some human interference.
• Can pose security risks, such as providing the ability to create deepfakes.

What Does Generative AI Mean for Brands?

At a high level, generative AI can change the ways brands go to market, speak to new and existing customers, grow and increase profits, and more. Some industries that could be disrupted by these tools include:

• Content creation and management: Generative AI can help personalize how we receive content, such as generating predictive content based on live data. It will allow for customization of websites, products and descriptions, and other information automatically displayed for consumers. It can also help improve organic and website traffic.

The tools can quickly produce blogs, captions, website content, and other types of content quickly and based on real-time data. While it won’t necessarily take away the jobs of content producers, it can make their jobs much easier and more informed.

• Marketing and automation: Feed data through the AI for delivery of different versions of an ad that speaks to people where and when they are. Automatically create new advertisements based on existing ones, making it easier for brands to reach new audiences. Better discover revenue streams and find key audiences. Automate marketing or retention emails or efforts using customer workflows.

Ultimately, these tools allow marketing teams to tailor experiences for customers, simplify the development of marketing materials, answer complex customer questions, and increase conversion rates and return on investment (ROI).

• Art and design: Generative AI can help artists and writers create new works by generating new ideas and concepts, editing and proofing work, and even writing or designing for them.
• Entertainment: Use these tools to create new video games, movies, and TV shows, as they make it significantly easier for content creators to reach new audiences and develop content that will be successful.
• Social media: Social media marketers can use generative AI to help with content planning, generating captions and posts, developing art or creative to share, scheduling releases, and reputation management.
• Healthcare: Generative AI is already revolutionizing how physicians diagnose patients, as well as the drug development industry (including quicker time-to-market treatments and reduced costs). It allows for advancements like more accurate cancer diagnosis algorithms. And, it can also help with day-to-day medical tasks.

The Future of Generative AI

It’s estimated that global AI investment is projected to reach more than $433 billion in 2028. The global generative AI market was valued at $7.9B in 2021, and is expected to grow to $110.8B by 2030. Gartner estimates that by 2025, generative AI will account for 10% off all data produced.

Generative AI is essentially a brand new technology, so the data sets aren’t always up to date and there are still bugs to work out. While it’s not recommended to always trust everything you see now, we are starting to see how generative AI will be used and how it can significantly impact both work and home life.

With the ability to create text/images/video, analyze data, and more, a variety of industries are already seeing the value in AI technology and the future possibilities are almost limitless.

Contact Dragonfly

If you are interested in learning how generative AI can help accelerate your digital marketing efforts, Dragonfly Digital Marketing can help. Contact us via our online form today.