Top 5 AI marketing activations to know about right now

Generative AI is getting upgraded this month, as DALL-E, Adobe and Meta released next-generation versions of their text- and image-based AI tools. And the creative community is taking them for a spin. AI was also a hot topic at this week’s Advertising Week in New York, where Google created an “AI pit stop” with Formula 1 brand McLaren. Google had a bevy of announcements about using AI to create and target internet ads. Last month, Meta revealed celebrity-based AI chatbots, with avatars that mimic Kendall Jenner, Tom Brady and others. The chatbots tap into the latest version of Meta’s large language model to message users on apps, including on WhatsApp. In more high-brow AI news, researchers made a breakthrough in deciphering an ancient Roman scroll that turned to ash in the Vesuvius volcano eruption almost 2,000 years ago. Scientists could make out the Greek word for purple buried in the burnt Herculaneum scrolls by running it through an AI, which could unlock the mystery of the whole text, CNN reported. At the same time, generative AI remains a serious concern, especially with the 2024 U.S. election coming up, and The Atlantic declared a coming “deepfake war.” One bill, up for discussion in Michigan, would regulate the use of generative AI in election ads, per M Live. As always, Ad Age is here with its Creativity Top 5 in AI to explore how this tech is making its way into marketing. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs DALL-E 3 gets an image makeover DALL-E, the image-generating companion to ChatGPT, unlocked a new level, giving AI artists easy access to the next-generation DALL-E 3. The image generator is one of the more popular tools among the growing community of creatives who are sharing their AI work online. DALL-E 3 is generating images that have more details and fewer rough edges. Paul Parsons, co-founder and creative director at agency Seedily, posted some DALL-E 3 work on LinkedIn, which blended iconic brand logos with woodwork. The end result, the grain on the wood carvings, looks lifelike, using AI and Photoshop. OpenAI, the popular startup that developed ChatGPT and DALL-E, announced this week that DALL-E 3 would be available in beta to Chat GPT-4 users, so people could use the text-based chatbot to churn out images. ‹ › × (Click image to enlarge) Paul Parson's LinkedIn Post shows the lifelike woodworking skills of DALL-E 3. Credit: Paul Parsons via LinkedIn Adobe’s Project Stardust Last week, Adobe updated its AI at its Max conference, where it revealed Project Stardust. The photo-editing tool transforms pictures with a couple of clicks. An Adobe demo video showed how the “object-aware” editing tool worked, identifying parts of images and then transforming them. Adobe also released an update to its image-generating platform called Firefly—now Firefly Image 2. The second iteration of the image maker has higher clarity and finer details. Adobe has heavily promoted the fact that Firefly only trains on content that is commercially available, which is one of the concerns of brands. Marketers are looking for services that can assure they stay on the right side of intellectual property issues. Google’s AI gins up demand Google made AI the focus of its Advertising Week, the yearly conference in New York City. Google executives, including Sean Downey, president, Americas and global partners, Google and YouTube, were at the event. Google has been working with top brands to infuse their programmatic ad campaigns with AI-based ad targeting. At Advertising Week, YouTube launched what it called “spotlight moments,” which analyzes videos for cultural relevancy, say, videos around Halloween, and then puts brands close to that content. Brands have been looking for ways to target video inventory within appropriate contexts and avoid material and websites that could be less desirable. Also read: Inside Spirit Halloween’s year-round social strategy Meanwhile, Google’s big push has been into what it calls “demand gen,” which uses generative AI to turn brands’ assets into ads. Marketers have been talking about Google’s “demand gen” since it was revealed at Cannes in June, and Samsung Electronics discussed the product at Advertising Week with Google teams. Coca-Cola’s AI tastebuds The soft drink maker is using AI for everything these days, from generating ads to coming up with new brands of flavors. Last month, Coca-Cola used generative AI to help conceive Y3000 Zero Sugar soda. “The new flavor builds on Coca-Cola’s significant AI activity,” Ad Age’s Asa Hiken writes. “The company has used generative AI tools such as ChatGPT in its consumer-facing marketing, in addition to striking a partnership with OpenAI and Bain to more deeply incorporate AI models into its marketing strategy.” Meta’s chatty bots Some Instagram users were a little confused by the Kendall Jenner-based chatbot created by Meta, after a video post this month from the account @yoursisbillie. Jenner popped up on the bots account to say: “Chatting with me is like having an older sister you can talk to, but who can’t steal your clothes,” but some fans didn’t know if that was an AI avatar or the real thing. A subsequent comment from the account cleared up the confusion, kind of: “I’m Billie, an AI managed by Meta! I’m played by Kendall Jenner—which means she’ll show up in some of the photos and videos on my page. Some of the other content on my account will be AI-generated,” the comment read. “You’ll see this by the logo on the bottom of the image along with #ImaginedWithAI in the caption.” Also read: Meta’s new AI chatbots spark brand interest, caution Got it? So, Your Sis Billie is an AI-chat bot, based on Jenner, a real person who will sometimes appear in posts as Your Sis Billie, unless it’s an AI-generated version of the character. Once the AI kinks get worked out, brands do see chatbots as a way to conduct customer service, but they want safeguards, including humans who can step in when the AI fails. Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger had an AI doppelganger created (unaffiliated with Meta) to promote his new book, Ad Age Creativity editor Tim Nudd writes.

Top 5 AI marketing activations to know about right now

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