Will AI take over marketing?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is all over the news and LinkedIn these days. AI pioneers are sounding the horn that their life’s work is going to change the job market significantly in the next 2-5 years. People are worried, rightly so, that their job will either not longer exist or will be impacted in some way by AI very soon, unless one is in a trade such as electrician, plumber, construction, or HVAC.
As a marketer I think daily about how AI may or may not affect my career. Marketing tools and metrics already change on a seemingly weekly basis. We are constantly chasing the latest information on where best to post links within our social posts, what the correct layout specs are, and the ever-changing marketing jargon and acronyms. Marketers are used to change, and are well equipped to move with the rising tide of AI.
In this post I saw on LinkedIn, Greg Isenberg makes a humorous case for Google being antiquated tech. Just as no-one after Gen-X knows what microfiche is, future generations will find the idea of “Googling” absurd.
X/Twitter post by @gregisenberg sharing how kids will think we were crazy for using Google for years
When email became available my last year in college, in 1997, I trekked to the computing center, logged in, waited for ages to access the email portal, and then sent an email. I had no way of knowing when the recipient received the email or would respond, thus I’d have to trek over to the computing center later that day or the next day to check.
This is absurd, I thought. Who would spend this much time sending an email when you can just call someone? Can you imagine a Gen-Zer saying that today?
Eventually, as we all know, email became an integral part of our work and personal lives. But this technology, new in the 90s, was labeled as the end of secretaries. Today we need Administrative Assistants more than ever.
Most technology doesn’t reduce our jobs; it changes how we operate. And often, technology creates MORE work, not less. As a marketer, thanks to technology, I am now a content writer, video editor, voiceover artist, website editor, public relations expert, strategist, graphic designer….the list goes on.
AI won’t take over marketing, but it will change it. The most important step is to learn how to use AI in your role so that you remain the expert.