Top 5 AI advancements in 2024 and impact on advertising

Six months into 2024, the AI space already looks immensely different than it did last year. New startups are making waves—both positive and negative—while innovations around video and virtual are poised to alter content generation going forward. The usual players—Meta, Microsoft, Google and OpenAI—continue to propel the space further, but this year the advertising industry has started to put all of its chips in, too. And let’s not forget about Apple, which finally joined the crowd by retrofitting its devices with more AI power. These developments and others mark the first half of 2024. Here’s what you need to know about the state of AI and what it means for marketing moving into the second-half of the year. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs The rise of text-to-video Following text-to-text and text-to-image, text-to-video generative AI was always inevitable, and this year its rise has kicked into a new gear. In February, OpenAI unveiled Sora, a video platform whose content appears largely free of the hyperrealistic style for which AI-generated media has become infamously known. This development has allowed Sora’s outputs, although just a few seconds long, to resemble genuinely real videos. https://t.co/uCuhUPv51N pic.twitter.com/nej4TIwgaP— Sam Altman (@sama) February 15, 2024 Last month, AI video startup Runway released its third generation model, with similarly advanced outputs as Sora’s. The improvements from Gen-2 to Gen-3 are stark, and show how even smaller AI companies are fueling the growth of the text-to-video space. More experimental video platforms have also emerged. Showrunner, which officially launched to testers in May, uses text-to-video AI to create full-length TV shows. Hollywood studios are apparently showing interest, which means recognizable IP could soon be brought into the production process. AI in consumer tech Although millions of people have already used popular AI tools such as ChatGPT, millions more could soon be onboarded thanks to an injection of the technology into consumer electronics. Apple made the biggest splash during last month’s WWDC conference, during which it showcased all the new ways that AI will be available on devices including the iPhone and iPad. Apple Intelligence is making Siri more capable and applications such as Mail and Notes more efficient. An integration of ChatGPT will also bring a knowledgeable search engine directly into the user experience. AI-powered consumer devices are also trying to replace the mobile phone. Ai Pin, developed by startup Humane, is a broach-like wearable powered by ChatGPT, supposedly capable of making calls and sending texts all by voice-activated control. But the device’s release in April was not well received, showing how much further these products still need to improve in order to compete with status quo electronics. Likewise, Rabbit’s R1 device fell flat. The AI-powered handheld is supposed to be a way to physically interact with ChatGPT, but early critiques from tech reviewers indicated more confusion than excitement. The race for consumer AI tech, however, has only just begun. AI startup race shakes up Since the start of the generative AI boom, OpenAI has been top dog, but this year its primacy began to experience its first tremors. The Microsoft-backed startup has been facing a continued surge in copyright infringement accusations, including fresh lawsuits from a group of major newspapers, The Intercept and the Center for Investigative Reporting. A host of executives have also left in recent months as OpenAI deals with ongoing criticism that it is shirking safety for profit. These departures follow a brief but tense ousting of CEO Sam Altman late last year, which ended in Altman’s reinstatement. As OpenAI struggles to maintain its dominance, other startups are gaining traction. Anthropic, which develops the Claude models, received a $4 billion investment from Amazon that was completed earlier this year, and struck partnerships with Accenture and WPP. The startup is largely seen as a more responsible alternative to OpenAI. Drama has also affected smaller AI providers. Perplexity’s search engine platform has allegedly plagiarized material from Wired and Forbes, the latter of which threatened legal action against Perplexity last month. Amazon, whose cloud servers Perplexity uses to power its system, is investigating whether the company violated its rules, per Fortune. Hello, AI avatars AI-powered avatars have started to gain traction as social media becomes a main application for the burgeoning technology. TikTok last month rolled out AI avatars to help creators and brands ramp up their production on its platform. The personas are intended to be less animated characters than cinematic humanoids, resembling real people, mascots or other stock models. Meta, too, is testing AI avatars, according to TechCrunch. These will resemble chatbots, not yet virtual personalities, although they can be user-generated in such a way as to mirror the style of a real person. Their purpose is to simulate a real conversation with a creator for an audience that would otherwise never get the chance to speak with them. But some creators are not happy with the direction in which AI avatars are heading. At Cannes last month, lifestyle and dating influencer Christina Najjar, known as Tinx, rebuffed TikTok’s new feature, telling Ad Age that she is terrified by how the technology is threatening her job. “If I could snap my fingers, I’d shut it all down right now,” she said. Agency giants invest big in AI The growth of AI over the past year cannot be stated without mentioning the role of ad agencies, whose recent investments are bringing generative technology to millions of marketers. Publicis kicked off this activity in January when it announced a three-year, $326 million investment in AI. The company also unveiled a system called Core AI that blends data with AI technology to revamp Publicis’ creative, media, software, operations and insights businesses. Less than a week later, WPP announced it would invest $318 million in AI annually. These efforts have fueled the re-development of its own AI brand hub, Open, which will allow clients to experiment with the latest generative tools. And at Cannes last month, Havas announced a four-year, $428 million investment in AI, as well as an AI-powered operating system called Converged, which will house its tech and data capabilities. The similarities between the three companies’ investments show how an AI foundation has become table stakes for tech and tech-adjacent businesses.

The top 5 AI advancements in 2024 so far—and their impact on advertising

Featured Stories