Artificial intelligence is sneaking into your everyday life. Its presence is more subtle than what you’ve seen in science-fiction movies. Instead of powerful robots taking over the world, what you see now are predictive text programs that learn to anticipate what you will write in your messages, and email programs that learn your typical replies.
What, exactly, is artificial intelligence? The term (often abbreviated as “AI”) refers to machines that are able to continuously learn. So when Gmail suggests you answer an email invitation with the phrase “Sure thing!” it is not just pulling an answer from a list of stock replies. It is also learning your favorite phrases. It may even be learning which kinds of invitations you are likely to accept and which to decline. The more often you use this feature, the more the artificial intelligence learns about your preferences, and the better Google gets at predicting your replies.
Artificial Intelligence and Digital Marketing Today
Some digital marketers are already starting to use AI in various industries, including in law, finance, and real estate.
- Intelligent chatbots learn how to give better answers to questions from customers and prospects, while providing a richer, more human-like communication experience than their non-intelligent brethren.
- If you have a lot of content on your website, artificial intelligence can provide a quicker, less confusing experience for your readers by guiding them to the exact content that best meets their needs. This is also a good way to ensure that your old content can still be found by people who can use it.
- AI can better target your advertising, letting you zero in on the best prospects.
The Singularity is Coming
Smithsonian Magazine has a fascinating look at the future of artificial intelligence. Scientists expect that some day artificial intelligence will catch up to human intelligence, and then — whoosh! — run right past it. When will this exciting (or scary, depending on your perspective) day arrive? Maybe sooner than you think. That day — what AI watchers are calling the “singularity” — could come as soon as 30 years from now, though it might take a few centuries. Whatever the exact time frame, scientists have little doubt that the singularity will arrive.
What will life be like in a post-singularity world? The Smithsonian suggests several scenarios. Perhaps AI devices will be helpful, finding you a great romantic partner, or monitoring your health and extending your lifespan by hundreds of years. Maybe they will be assertive, demanding the same legal rights as humans. Or they could become threatening, doing the bidding of power-mad dictators or becoming our evil overlords themselves.
But (whew), that’s still in the far-off future, or at least a few decades away. What might AI be able to do for us in the next few years?
Digital Marketing and Artificial Intelligence in the Near Future
Long before our devices are finding dates for the lovelorn on Friday nights or staging coups to take over our governments, they will be making smaller, but useful, changes to the way we live and work. Digital marketers will use AI to become more efficient, create more powerful messages, and reach the right people. Take a look into the WriterAccess crystal ball to see what the near future will bring —
- More effective email marketing campaigns: AI will analyze data about your prospects and figure out what days of the week and what times would be best to contact them and how frequently you should send them mail. AI will also do sophisticated analysis of your traffic stats to see which topics and subject lines work best for which people.
- Personalized websites: AI will personalize every aspect of your users’ engagement with your site. With its voracious appetite for data, AI will digest a huge volume of information about each of your site visitors and provide them with personalized content and offers.
- Free up humans for higher-order tasks: At this early stage of its development, AI will be content to take on repetitive tasks. That will enable digital marketers to focus on the creative end of their jobs.
Until the robots take over the world, digital marketers will still need human writers. You can find the best human writers right here at WriterAccess. Contact us today to find out how our human brains can help you increase your traffic and sales.
Marjorie R has written articles online for more than 15 years and has also written humor for American Greetings and crossword puzzles for the New York Times. She wrote an entertainment blog that was consistently in the top 5 in the Google search results, and at its peak was #1 out of a total of 66,499,997 results. She has a B.A. in Psychology from UC Berkeley, an M.A. in Creative Writing/English from SF State, and a J.D. from UC Hastings.
