Dentsu strikes AI deal with Microsoft to expand employee access to the tech

Dentsu struck a deal with Microsoft to expand employee access to generative AI tools. The ad agency network can now leverage Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI technologies such as GPT-4—the foundation of ChatGPT. Azure OpenAI is Microsoft’s co-offering with OpenAI, for which the tech giant serves as an exclusive cloud partner. Dentsu has already combined these capabilities with proprietary data to form specialized platforms for client work. Merkle GenCX, for example, is a new generative AI tool that Dentsu employees can use to enhance customer experience management. (Merkle, the performance marketing agency, is owned by Dentsu). Another tool is AI Playground LATAM, a Latin America-focused set of AI-powered solutions aimed at improving client efficiency and speed. An internal Dentsu group called AI Connective is leading the strategy behind these developments. The objective of the group, which is made up of client-facing teams, engineering teams and solutions teams across the company, is to decide how best to deploy AI internally as well as externally via market-ready products, a spokesperson confirmed. The partnership “allows us to rapidly integrate GenAI across our products, driving faster and smarter omnichannel marketing for clients,” said Dominic Shine, Dentsu’s group chief Information Officer, in a press statement. Indeed, Dentsu is just the latest advertising company to dive headfirst into AI. Omnicom, WPP, Huge and MNTN have announced their own efforts in recent months, which mostly hinge on new capabilities offered by generative AI models. Opinion: AI isn’t coming for our jobs There is reason to believe, however, that the speed at which advertisers are racing toward AI is only perpetuating the risks posed by the technology. These concerns, potentiated by the slow crawl of regulation, include copyright infringement and data privacy non-compliance, as well as social problems such as excessive job replacement and the spreading of misinformation. Even the idea that runaway AI could soon endanger humanity itself is gaining momentum. This week, Stanford University’s Existential Risks Initiative published a report warning that runaway AI could be one of this century’s most severe threats to human existence. Dentsu’s deal with Microsoft expands a pre-existing relationship between the two companies, which last year produced a metaverse space for the purpose of Web3 experimentation. Microsoft is also a client of Carat, one of Dentu’s agencies.

Dentsu strikes AI deal with Microsoft to expand employee access to the tech

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