How to Get AI Working for You Right Now

WHERE WE’RE AT WITH AI

We are squarely in the middle of the biggest hype cycle since the cultural phenomenon that was Wordle, so if it’s been tough to keep up with the world of AI, you’re not alone.

This week we’re bringing you a rundown of what’s happening, and specifically, how those happenings might be useful in your work right now.

First, the news that everyone in AI-ville has been talking about is the introduction of web browsing to ChatGPT. Remember, this tool from OpenAI is just one of the many AI-based tools that’s exploded into the mainstream in the past few months, but it’s the one that has gotten the most attention and usage, by far.

If you’ve used the tool, you’ve likely received some variation of a message to let you know that it could only source from data up to the year 2021. The dataset used to train the tool had ended there, so anything more recent didn’t make it into ChatGPT. This week, the team announced that the tool “knows when and how to browse the internet to answer questions about recent topics and events.”

That is a fundamental game-changer, especially when we start thinking about how it could be used to make updates and changes in realtime. A simple example would be creating news articles about current events. Basically, almost any task that would require a human to mindlessly transfer information can now be done via AI.

The other major topic of conversation has been something called “Prompt Engineering.” We’ve learned that AI tools are only as effective as the prompts that we write for them, which has inspired a whole field of curiosity where people are testing, sharing, and refining the best ways to phrase prompts.

Not only is it a fantastic story of open collaboration across the internet, but it’s just one small example of how previously unimagined careers are going to pop up — and yes, companies are already hiring for it. A casual search of Indeed for “AI Prompt Engineer” shows well over 100 jobs with salaries ranging from $80K to well over $200K.

We’ve collected some of the best resources to help you to get ahead of this shift:

1. A Guide to Prompt Engineering for Marketers by Foundation, a Content Marketing agency
2. An Infographic that Turns AI Prompts into a Flowchart by Tailwing, a marketing SaaS company
3. A First Person Narrative of How to Write Better Prompts by author and Wharton professor, Ethan Mollick

Once you’re up to speed on what’s happening at OpenAI, and how to use AI tools, the next question is inevitably: What else is out there? We’ve got you:

• Remember Watson, the chess playing, AI-powered robot? Its creator, IBM, is introducing new tools that will help businesses to write code, automate workflows, and even track their carbon emissions.
• Meta has released a new media-buying system called “Lattice”, and it uses AI to buy more effective ads.
• And, just because the AI-world seems to revolve around them right now, the team at OpenAI has released 86 ChatGPT Plugins to the public. Similar to the way that you can use Chrome plugins to make your browser do different things for you, or you can add Plugins to your Wordpress website, these ChatGPT Plugins make it possible to harness AI for things like travel planning, stock market tracking, and nutrition analysis.

IT’S TIKTOK’S WORLD

WE’RE ALL JUST PLAYING IN IT

TikTok is coming for you, digital advertisers, and they’ve clearly been paying attention. This week they dropped something called TikTok World, and it’s an interactive set of tools, videos, and other resources that make it easy (and actually kind of fun) to learn about the best ways to use TikTok ads.

What TikTok is producing these days is just so much more user friendly and engaging than anything that Meta, Google, Pinterest, or any of the other incumbents have produced that it’s no wonder they’re consistently snatching up more digital advertising market share.

PS: there are new ad units available, and they’re really good, too.

Check out TikTok World 2023 here

HOW WILL TIKTOK BANS IMPACT TRAVEL?

THE A/B TEST THAT NOBODY ASKED FOR

Speaking of TikTok, one of the worst recent pieces of news may just become one of their most powerful proof points. Over the past few weeks several states, including Montana, Virginia, Georgia, and North Dakota have passed bans that prohibit government workers from using the app on their phones. And yes, that includes the tourism boards’ social media managers.

Will the lack of content coming directly from Visit Montana crush the local economy? Probably not; however, the same governments are currently talking about banning the apps statewide, which would mean no more content of any kind coming from those destinations.

If passed, the bans will create a pretty clear A|B test of TikTok’s impact on the tourism industry, and at least one recent study by public-relations firm MGH suggests that it could be significant:

“Forty-five percent of millennial TikTok users have visited a place or attraction after seeing it there, and 60% of all users say they first became interested in a destination thanks to videos on the app”

Read about the bans, and their potential impact, in the Wall Street Journal

THE BEST PODCAST ADS ARE MONOGOMOUS

ONE SHOW, ONE ADVERTISER

According to a recent IAB report, podcasting ad revenues are up 26% year-over-year, and they’re on pace to double by 2025. So, the big question is: What’s working?

In a study funded by podcast company, Vox (consider the source), the data showed that listeners prefer when podcasts have a single advertiser for an episode.

For those of us considering podcasts as an ad format, that means we’re likely to get the best results from focusing our budget on one, or a few, shows rather than spraying-and-praying our messaging across the podcasting universe.

Other benefits of single-advertiser formats:

• More creative control
• Better tracking and reporting
• Opportunities for social media content & collaborations
• Higher level of brand safety

Read more about the study here

A FEW FOR THE ROAD

MORE NEWS TO KEEP YOU ON THE CUTTING EDGE

• Pinterest just made it easy to create all different formats, and all can now contain links
• Archive is a service that makes it easy for brands to sort through and use UGC – watch UGC about the tool here
• Visualization of the most popular topics on Product Hunt this year - any guesses what’s #1?

Written by Conner Galway, Junction Consulting