Kaput and Roetzer review the 2024 State of Marketing AI Report in this week’s episode of The Artificial Intelligence Show. I appreciated that they acknowledged the innate bias of the report, recognizing that the nearly 1800 respondents to the survey were likely fans of the show or those who worked in similar spaces where the adoption of AI would be higher than perhaps elsewhere. They also repeatedly acknowledge how their design to expand to leaders and larger companies has shaped the respondents, including a heavy C-suite turnout and increase in companies making ten million or more.
Comparatively, Influencer Marketing Hub’s survey determined 35% of businesses use AI. However, they also stated 73% of US companies started using AI after ChatGPT was released. When comparing statistics, a larger percentage of marketers use AI at 77%.
82% of respondents were involved in content marketing. 69% responded they worked in social media marketing. This survey covered business-to-business and business-to-customer marketing. More were B2B than B2C. 99% of respondents personally used AI. Across the board, there was a rise in AI usage. The majority of respondents (55%) used ChatGPT. 31% of respondents had a Copilot license, and Gemini from Google came in last. Perplexity AI, which Kaput mentions as a search engine, came in second place when respondents answered which they favored.
Kaput and Roetzer noted that a lack of education and policy likely led to an overall belief that AI will eliminate more jobs than it will create, suggesting this is somewhat self-inflicted despite them seeming to somewhat agree. Similarly, Mileva agrees that a lack of training and education on AI is the main barrier to adoption. In another survey, 77% of people they surveyed expressed concern about job losses in the imminent future with 400 million workers expected to be displaced worldwide.
From the publishing side, many companies that I’ve worked with look at AI as a problem creator more than solver. AI editing often unifies works, removing an author’s voice by trying to flatten to either a neutral or even going in the dangerous direction of editing to sound like popular authors. Most large publishers have negative policies around AI generated works, so while I could see some value in the process, the reshaping of different algorithms (Amazon, Kobo, etc.) gave me no reason to explore the topic further.
Honestly, this was the least engaging of the podcasts so far. Likely, that’s due to the topic. The bulk of the episode focused on a report that mostly tracked how well the podcasters reached their desired audience, and I liked that both hosts acknowledged this repeatedly, but I would’ve liked to see them speak on how they managed to reach those people, hitting their targets, more so than speaking on the results of the survey itself. Based on their expressed opinions, I assume they used AI, and I feel like that would’ve better underlined the power of AIs in marketing than commenting on the responses of people they specifically sought out.
Suggestions
While I’m still against using AIs for writing and only believe it should be used sparingly and with great discernment in editing, those who struggle with marketing their self-published works may find it incredibly useful to help them brainstorm social media marketing ideas.
If you have the temptation to use it for more and aren’t dissuaded by a question of ethics, check out the meme that ChatGPT designed below.
The prompt was: “Can you create a visual image for a meme that has text over two pictures that says ‘when you reach the part where the sarcastic side character dies’ with a picture on the left labeled ‘plotter’ who is cackling and happy and another picture on the right labeled ‘pantser’ who is sad and horrified?”
DespositPhotos AI Image Generator fumbled on an evil smirk. When prompted, the AI came up with generally kind-looking, handsome men with picture-perfect friendly smiles:
If anyone feels they can get a better generated image for this, I’d love to see them in the comments, or you can take me on Twitter (X) or Instagram. Otherwise, be careful and take AI results with a grain of salt.
Hann, K. and Watts, R. (2024, June 15). 24 Top AI Statistics and Trends in 2024. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/ai-statistics/
Mileva, G. (2024, July 18). Top AI Marketing Statistics to Leverage Your Marketing Strategy. Influencer Marketing Hub. https://influencermarketinghub.com/ai-marketing-statistics/
Roetzer, P. and Kaput, M. (2024, August 8). 2024 State of marketing Ai Report Findings & Top AI Questions Answered. The Artificial Intelligence Show. https://open.spotify.com/show/6EVaCucTjIPmJosh3jQui0
Eli Celata 
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