Whether you’re excited, curious, or dreading the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), it’s starting to show up more and more in different areas, including marketing.
As an emerging technology, AI is already playing a pivotal role in medicine, science, engineering, advertising, as well as data analysis.
Just look at how you are already benefiting from AI with the likes of Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and Google Assist. And that’s only the start.
Computers are expanding capabilities, learning from various stimuli, and responding in human-like ways like never before.
While not everyone can agree on the various advantages and disadvantages of AI, it is here to stay, so learning all you can about it will help you use it to your advantage now or in the near future.
This blog post will cover artificial intelligence’s pros and cons, but before that, let’s understand exactly how it works.
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How Does Artificial Intelligence Work?
No longer a futuristic concept, machines with AI capabilities now do things previously restricted to the workings of the human brain.
Essentially, artificial intelligence allows a computer to learn and think on its own.
But how exactly does it work?
It all starts with designing the AI to meet a specific goal. From there, it is trained on available data as it learns how to best achieve the given goal.
When it reaches a level of learning, the AI then takes on the data independently, without human intervention.
Now it is expected to use that data to achieve the goal on its own.
Then, after analyzing all the data, AI makes predictions based on what it finds.
Going forward, it uses what it learns to improve its approach. In other words, it gets smarter and smarter.
This can be good or could go terribly wrong down the road. Yet, today it offers a set of pros and cons you and your organization need to know now.
Pros of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The pros of AI applications may revolutionize sectors or industries going forward in profound ways, including the following:
1. Diminishes Human Error
Humans can make mistakes, but computers, if programmed properly, will not make those same mistakes.
Since AI decisions come from compiled data with the aid of designed algorithms, errors are reduced, accuracy is increased, and precision is possible.
Ultimately, fewer mistakes equal savings in both time and resources, so AI becomes a win-win for your company.
2. Facilitates Faster Decision-Making
Finding ways to save time by making faster decisions you feel confident in is always valuable. AI can do this for you.
AI works alongside various technologies to aid machines in making those decisions faster than the ability of human workers. In turn, actions are carried out quicker also.
The more decisions AI makes, the more it has to pull from for future decision-making, improving the process.
3. Offers Continual 24/7 Availability
AI never rests or requires sleep, while the human body and mind need rest to continue to function at optimal levels.
This continual availability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no gap in coverage, can make a huge impact on increases in your company’s productivity.
4. Lessens Risk
A huge advantage of AI is it can take on risky tasks which, for humans, would be extremely hazardous.
This minimizes the risks involved in certain endeavors.
For example, AI robots can mine for coal, explore the deepest depths of the sea, defuse a bomb, and even enter a volcano.
5. Automates Repetition
Repetitive work and tasks remain part of many jobs these days, often not utilizing the highest potential of human workers.
AI can automate repetition in a variety of ways, such as for manufacturing tasks and responding to emails.
Essentially, by automating repetitive jobs, you can focus on becoming more productive, freeing you to focus more on creativity or other areas requiring uniquely human skills.
6. Provides Digital Assistants
Today, many organizations use digital assistants for customer interactions.
This one act alone can significantly reduce the need for excessive customer service staff.
For example, the rise in the use of chatbots already proves how useful they can be in directing customers to the information needed. Another is the rising voice bot to help with queries.
AI technology has already gotten to a point where you may not even be able to determine if you are chatting with a chatbot in some circumstances.
7. Identifies Patterns
AI efficiently identifies patterns within your data and, in turn, can make quicker predictions.
These can help you in marketing decisions by allowing you to see the bigger picture faster.
Artificial intelligence already excels above human abilities when it comes to detecting patterns in words, numbers, or images.
Not only will all this positively affect your marketing analytics capabilities, but it will also serve you when devising your next digital marketing plan.
8. Identifies Better Human Workflows
Finding ways to work more efficiently and increase productivity and, in turn, revenue, includes developing better human workflows.
This higher efficiency can be achieved by designing workflows that match the capabilities of the AI.
In other words, it provides a way for AI and humans to work together at maximum capacity and can positively transform how we work in the future.
9. Excels at Working with Large Sets of Data
The more data available, the more AI is needed to make sense of it all in less time.
Artificial intelligence is highly beneficial in making sense of the large sets of data available these days.
It can both acquire and extract data rapidly, but that’s not all. From there, AI takes the data further with interpretation and transformation.
Cons of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is not immune from disadvantages and problematic concerns, including these six:
10. Requires Higher Overall Costs
It’s no secret AI is expensive. The initial set-up alone requires a high investment.
Companies will also need to invest in the framework for AI, including the latest hardware and software with regular updating to meet AI requirements.
Add on specialty training costs for staff, and you can see why AI requires higher overall costs.
11. Reduces Employment
While replacing repetitive jobs and other types of work with AI is beneficial to a company, it will undoubtedly also affect employment.
Traditional job roles will be phased away, leading to unemployment of those who do them.
While this may be seen as a sign of progress, workers will be shut out of many job opportunities that once existed.
12. Lacks Creative Ability
One of the drawbacks of using AI, particularly when playing a role in your content marketing strategy, is its inability to be creative and innovative.
While AI learns over time from inputted data and experience, it still cannot design creative approaches or think outside the box.
According to many, AI is expected to become more intelligent in the years ahead, far surpassing human capabilities.
But intelligence isn’t everything. Wisdom and creative thinking are still needed and highly valued throughout the various industries worldwide.
13. Absence of Emotional Range
While AI-enhanced machines can work faster and continually, they cannot factor emotion into decisions.
AI remains highly rational and practical at all times. And because of this, it cannot develop bonds with humans or make that true human connection.
Emotions play a key role along the buyer’s journey, so you can see why this can be a problem when it comes to incorporating AI in your digital marketing strategy.
14. Inability to Incorporate Ethics
Struggling points for using AI is the inability to incorporate ethics and morality, which are important human features.
AI only has data and algorithms to form decisions and predictions.
In turn, bias may be inherent within the data in some way, conscious or unconscious, and might lead to discriminatory output since it can focus on logical conclusions only,
The inability to incorporate ethics can become a serious concern as AI reaches more advanced stages and will require discussions across the globe.
15. Increases Potential for Human Laziness
Automating tasks and utilizing more and more digital assistants can lead to increased machine dependency and even human laziness.
Relying on AI can cause us to use our brains less to memorize, strategize, and solve issues on our own. The effects this may have on future generations may be vast if left unacknowledged.
Artificial intelligence can be highly beneficial for everyone going forward, as long as a certain amount of attention is directed at not letting it get out too far advanced as to become dangerous.
Wrap Up: Weighting Artificial Intelligence’s Pros and Cons
Good or bad, artificial Intelligence is here to stay.
AI may soon be a part of every sector, including marketing, so knowing the pros and cons now can prepare you for the future.
To gain a better understanding of how AI will affect marketing, listen in on our recorded webinar with Paul Roetzer, founder and CEO of PR 20/20 and the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute.
