Retaining Marketing's Humanity in an AI-Powered World: Interview with Ashu Dubey, CEO, Gleen.ai
While artificial intelligence grants marketers superpowers, human originality, creativity, and ethical norms should not give way to the machine.
The following is an interview with Ashu Dubey, CEO of Gleen.ai, a generative AI customer support platform. The interview was conducted in September 2023.
Q: Tell our readers a bit about yourself and Gleen.ai.
A: I'm honored to be one of the co-founders and CEO at Gleen AI. Think of Gleen AI as a co-pilot for customer support teams. It acts as the first line of defense, helping agents to be more responsive, faster, and more efficient. Our aim is to make customer support teams perform better and more efficiently using AI.
Q: Why is it important to consider ethics when implementing AI in marketing strategies?
A: There are both business and ethical reasons to use AI ethically in marketing. If marketers don't use AI wisely, people may become desensitized to AI-created content over time. In the short term, it might work, but in the long run, it won't have the desired business impact. There's also the potential for AI-generated content to cause harm if used unethically. With the power of AI to create content at scale combined with social media for distribution, there is a huge potential impact - both positive and negative.
Q: Who bears greater responsibility for ensuring an ethical approach - AI developers or marketers?
A: Responsibility is shared. AI developers can filter out obviously unethical content related to violence, pornography, etc. However, there are many gray areas where marketing ethics come into play in how AI is applied. Ultimately the government will likely step in with AI regulations, so for now, it is up to the industry to self-regulate and use AI ethically to inform future policy.
Q: What are the potential consequences of biased AI algorithms in marketing?
A: Biased AI can lead to poor business decisions in marketing campaigns. Also, if you allow bias to spread in AI-generated content, soon much of the content on the internet could become biased. This would have massive negative implications. So addressing bias in AI is hugely important.
Q: Do you see government intervention in AI regulation as inevitable or necessary?
A: The industry should initially self-regulate, but inevitably, government intervention will be necessary. This is due to the inability of the industry to enforce standards universally. Regulations should foster innovation, not stifle it.
Q: How can brands make AI-driven marketing decisions more transparent?
A: Full transparency is needed when content is 100% AI-generated without human involvement. But for AI-assisted content, the lines are less clear. As most content creation leverages technology assistance at some stage, plastering disclaimers everywhere risks them losing meaning. Still, informed consent from consumers is crucial whenever personal data is used by AI.
Q: Regarding privacy and consumer data, how should AI handle these aspects?
A: The key is consent and transparent usage. Data should be collected and used ethically, with the user’s informed consent. GDPR is a good example of regulation in this area, ensuring data is used solely for the purposes for which it was collected.
Q: Is AI becoming so embedded in everything that we just don't even pay attention to it anymore?
A: I'm thinking about Google Workspace. You've got AI now being embedded in all of the docs and Gmail. It seems like it's just kind of part and parcel of the way the platform operates.
In a way, AI was already embedded in our workflow for the last 10 to 15 years. We just didn't notice it. For example, Google search was already powered by AI. All your feeds in social media are already powered by AI. But now you see more explicitly in terms of your daily work. Now, because of the LLM and the diffuser models in images, we are starting to notice more and more. I think at some point it will just become part and parcel of how we work.
Q: What does the ethical future of AI in marketing look like?
A: When done right, AI will make marketers look like "superstars" - hyper-personalizing messaging at scale, automating repetitive tasks, and elevating humans to more strategic roles. However, the importance of maintaining creativity and "humanity" will only increase as AI permeates work. The ability to meaningfully differentiate yourself from what a machine can do will set ethical marketers apart for the better.
When done right, AI will make marketers look like "superstars."
Tangible Ways to Retain Marketing Humanity in an AI-driven World
What Dubey said regarding retaining our humanity in an AI-driven world where generative AI rapidly becomes interwoven to the point where it's imperceptible is an important conversation.
With that in mind, here are some tangible ways for marketers to thoughtfully blend AI's benefits with human creativity, ethics, and emotional intelligence. Maintaining that balance will allow for marketing that is effective yet still authentic and grounded in human values.
Leverage AI tools like content generators or data analysis engines within your marketing stack, but always apply human review and creative judgment before deploying any campaigns. Don't just accept AI outputs without critique - apply your distinctly human qualities of nuance and context-based decision-making when evaluating machine recommendations or content before publishing.
Proactively establish company guidelines regarding transparency in AI use cases as well as responsible practices for consumer data privacy and avoiding algorithmic bias. Keep ethical considerations core to your marketing processes when adopting new AI technologies by assessing risks and preventative measures from the start.
Embrace uniquely human skills like emotional intelligence, creativity, and empathy when developing messaging and experiences aimed at connecting with audiences. Keep in mind AI lacks innate human qualities and emotional awareness that are still key for impactful storytelling and personal resonance.
Be your brand's authentic self by instilling the brand mission, personality, voice, and values into data-enhanced but still uniquely human marketing language and content development. Relying solely on generic data-driven language could erode consumer trust and obscure what sets your brand apart to connect with audiences.
Make space for open-ended intuitive exploration and imaginative "what-if" scenario generation while leveraging structured workflows enabled by AI systems. Some innovative sparks simply emerge from unleashed human creativity versus purely formulaic pathways - create opportunities for this within your team.
Develop marketing and engagement strategies centered around consumers' wants, needs, and decision journeys first before layering in supportive AI technologies. Don't simply replace human-centric strategies with data-driven tactics lacking personal resonance or connection to motivations.
The key to retaining to thoughtfully blending AI's benefits of scale and automation with human partnership is to keep cultivating distinctly human skills - it's what will set ethical, memorable marketing pros apart from the rest.
Retaining Humanity in an AI World from Around the Web
Artificial Intelligence in Marketing: Systematic Review and Future (ScienceDirect)
This article discusses the increasing momentum of AI in marketing due to its practical significance in current and future business environments. It emphasizes the importance of a meta-synthesis of existing studies to identify future research directions, considering the wide scope and extensive coverage of research on AI in marketing.
Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in Marketing for Social Good (Springer)
This piece explores how AI is reshaping strategy, activities, interactions, and relationships in business and marketing. It also addresses the ethical challenges and controversies associated with deploying AI in marketing, building upon existing literature on AI ethics.
How Brands Are Humanizing AI (Adweek)
Brands like Coca-Cola are humanizing AI by combining generative AI systems with creativity and human imagination through storytelling. This approach helps brands redefine themselves and connect with their audience on a more personal level.
AI vs. Humans: Who Will Rule Marketing? (Savvy AI)
Marketing is entering a new era with AI-driven campaign creation and deployment. Major companies are integrating generative AI into their marketing platforms, indicating a shift in the industry. But who will rule? Humans or AI?
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