The participants in our discussion were: agree that artificial intelligence and other tools that automate activities in the digital area are not just innovations with limited application, but are significantly changing the entire market. – We are intertwined with algorithms. This is a change that we cannot stop. An extremely narrow path. And if some companies aren’t on it yet, they’re falling without even knowing it – said Anna Gruszka, chief growth officer at adQuery.
Gracjan Chagowski, Sales Director for Poland at Teads, highlighted that currently 80% of all marketing campaigns use technologies such as AI or machine learning. – We are no longer in the research or experimental phase, but in the AI revolution phase: implementation and adaptation to this environment. Either you ride this train or watch it go. – he pointed.
In online media, changes are a bit slower when it comes to AI-powered content creation. – GPT Chat and its subsequent versions and other large language models in English already work well, but in Polish they are still very imperfect and the market has not yet fully adapted them. This revolution is still to come. We are at the beginning, in a somewhat experimental phase – admitted Marcin Bartnicki, innovation director at Wirtualna Polska Media. – I believe that next year there will be a major breakthrough that someone in the market will be proud of, and in the next two, three, five years the media will work differently.. Large language models will find many applications, he predicts.
AI accelerates and supports
Booksy Polska has been using technologies like machine learning to analyze its users’ preferences for years. Przemysław Barszcz, the company’s country manager in Poland, noted that there is currently no legal framework for AI. “Today we are asking ourselves where the ethical and legal limits of AI are. Since companies can absorb everything, there is a great temptation to know practically everything about their customers and users,” he said, warning against the social media industry’s well-known mistakes in regulating AI.
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AI is already changing the media and marketing job market a lot because it significantly speeds up content creation. Marcin Bartnicki pointed to copywriters as an example. “If someone knows how to skillfully use tools to support text creation, they will create more texts. If someone doesn’t do this, they will fall behind, earn less and leave the profession,” he explained. “The same will happen with other specializations in the sector,” he noted.
In marketing companies, artificial intelligence replaces people in repetitive activities and in analyzing large data setsthat helps in planning and implementing campaigns based on various parameters. If only companies would adapt to this early enough, like the organization I represent. We have invested in machine learning teams for a long time, said Anna Gruszka. Gracjan Chagowski, on the other hand, highlighted that Teads uses AI not only to determine the main parameters of the campaign, but also to analyze advertising creations. – These are solutions that speed up certain tasks and thus free up employees’ time. But they do not exclude the work of a graphic designer or creative strategist, they only support it, he said.
In the case of Booksy, automation also frees up the time of hairdressers or beauty salons who collaborate with the platform, as it helps them to quickly obtain information at any time. “We have implemented a chatbot tool. Currently, around 50 percent of the questions we receive are answered in real time,” Przemysław Barszcz described.
Human control required
Of course, automated tools will not solve all the problems reported by a client or complete all the stages of advertising activities. – Every business is very much based on relationships, even if at first it is an online relationship, sooner or later there will be some kind of interaction with a person. This human factor will not be eliminated, artificial intelligence will support it – said Przemysław Barszcz.
– Hallucinations or confabulations are inherent to artificial intelligence – they are a feature of it, not just a flaw. Therefore, we should always expect that these AI algorithms can “spit out” something inappropriate. If we do not have our own technologies that check in real time whether brand safety and anti-fraud systems are maintained, then we may have a problem – said Anna Gruszka.
Marketers and publishers need to be careful when using AI-generated content, too, because there is a lack of regulatory regulation in this area. They also have to compete with entities that exploit these vulnerabilities. “We have content inflation in the market, which is the result of the fact that you can generate an entire sitemap on a specialized topic and fill it with content instantly. The entry threshold is low,” Marcin Bartnicki noted. “This is a challenge for the entire market, also for tech giants like Google, which enable such mechanisms to work,” he noted.
Artificial intelligence is also used for cyber attacks. – Various types of actions, campaigns that try to extort data, money or other information from us. This is a very big challenge in terms of customer service. Today we receive calls from bots pretending to be company employees, our colleagues who work with us from desk to desk – described Przemysław Barszcz.
One of the main threats in the media is fake news, the creation of which is greatly facilitated by AI. – Fake news is older than artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence can increase its credibility, but it is impossible for the trained eye to distinguish them. Journalists will not be convinced. The problem is the broad media competences of the entire society, said Marcin Bartnicki.
The strategy of technology providers like AI is also important. “The more transparent these companies are with us, the users who actually use these solutions, the more we start to trust them,” said Gracjan Chagowski.
Not only AI
Participants in the discussion expect that AI will not be the only rapidly growing technology in the near future. Anna Gruszka pointed to green technology and Web 3.0. – Despite some fluctuations in the currency market, this is still a trend, at least for the next few years – she noted.
For Gracjan Chagowski, adaptability is essential. – Nowadays, users are bombarded from many sides, so if we, as marketers and companies, want to follow these users and adapt the message to the way they behave, we must follow this path very carefully – he stated. In his opinion, the importance that omnichannel and CTV strategies will benefit.
Przemysław Barszcz also mentioned hyper-personalization. – This means even better personalization of the recipient of my service or product. Cloud computing will develop very strongly because companies need and want as much data as possible, he noted.
According to Marcin Bartnicki, other solutions will emerge – for both recipients and advertisers – based on large language models. – I think that if we develop what we are working on now and come up with some more interesting things, the media will undergo a significant transformation, not seen for at least a decade – he predicts.
Next Thursday at 10:00 am there will be another debate in the “Influencers 2024” series – entitled “New horizons in e-commerce”. The speakers will be Jakub Biczkowski from nazwa.pl, Magdalena Kubisa from BLIK, Michał Mel from Google Polska, Zbigniew Nowicki from the Chamber of Electronic Commerce and Damian Wiszowaty from Gonito. The debate will be led by Patryk Pallus, editor-in-chief of Wirtualnemedia.pl.
The debate will be available for viewing on the homepage and social media profiles of Wirtualnemedia.pl.
