AI and Content Generation: The Current Scene (Part One)

Content marketing is still a winner in terms of generating leads and positioning yourself as an expert in your market. Tech startups should be no strangers to the world of AI, but is generative AI really a useful marketing tool? The short answer is yes, absolutely.

AI for marketing isn’t new, but it is evolving fast. Chatbots that sound ever more human, highly personalized email campaigns, and brand messaging based on insights from immense datasets are all possible with current AI-powered tools. Advanced content generation is another step towards more efficient business practices and a diversified marketing strategy.

AI Content Generation Milestones

There’s no denying that 2023 has been a big year for generative AI. Hard work behind the scenes in terms of advancing AI training methods, natural language generation (NGL), and natural language processing (NLP) has led to AI-enabled tools that actually produce some reasonable content. Let’s take a brief look at the story so far:

•          The 1800s: Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer, speculates that a computer could potentially generate complex music.

•          1950: Alan Turing develops the Turing Test, considering the possibility of conversing with a machine indistinguishable from human interaction.

•          The 1980s: Early AI-powered spellcheckers for some of the first home computers.

•          1984: The first book written by a computer is published: The Policeman’s Beard is Half Constructed.

•          1997: Deep Blue beats chess champion, Garry Kasparov.

•          2018: Big Data and AI combine to create foundational models for the AI content generators we see today, including GPT-1.

•          2019: OpenAI launches GPT-2, showcasing improvements in text generation.

•          2020: OpenAI launches GPT-3, trained on 175 billion-plus parameters.

•          May 2022: Gato, a neural network capable of playing games and engaging in dialogue, launched by DeepMind.

•          November 2022: ChatGPT launches.

•          January 2023: ChatGPT sets records by having the fastest-growing user base in history for any consumer-facing application. Microsoft invests billions in OpenAI.

•          March 2023: GPT-4 launches, trained on 100 trillion parameters—a huge leap forward. Skeptics call for a pause on AI development in light of how fast it’s advancing. Adobe launches Firefly, an AI-powered image generator marketed at businesses for commercial purposes.

•          June 2023: Major media outlets discuss using AI generative content in journalism. Accenture and Microsoft build collaborative efforts specifically aimed at helping businesses adopt generative AI.

This timeline only shows a few key moments in generative AI’s history, but it’s clear that we’re in a period of hyper-fast advancement.

Generative AI for Business: Does it Work?

Of course, we’re seeing so much interest and growth in generative AI because of the commercial potential. AI-generated images, social media posts, and blogs save companies time and money. But just how well do they work?

AI-generated images can work quite well for logos, but get people in the image, and you’ll start to notice extra fingers, distorted teeth, and other aspects of “the uncanny valley”: something that’s almost human but not quite right.

A similar thing occurs with some AI-generated text. Odd repetition and certain turns of phrase can mark AI-written blogs as a bit “off”. However, this is harder to detect for short-form content such as product descriptions or short social media posts. In fact, the shorter a piece of content is, the more tricky AI detectors find it to parse AI from human-written content.

Businesses can utilize human editors to change AI-generated content just enough to bypass detectors, making it useful for SEO purposes—something we’ll explore in more detail in our next article on AI.

Final Word

Look out for the second part of our overview of generative AI, where we’ll explore exactly how modern businesses leverage AI for growth and brand exposure. The generative AI market is set to grow by 35.6% in the next five years, so getting to grips with this technology now could set you one step ahead of your competitors. If your tech startup needs support with any aspect of marketing or brand messaging, book a free 15-minute call with our team to find out how Arch Collective can help.

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