Generative AI Transforms Marketing Strategies Amid Rising Ethical and Legal Concerns

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Over the last decade, artificial intelligence has changed how we view the world and interact with one another forever. Among its several applications and usefulness, one of the things that AI does is content generation, mostly known as generative AI. Using generative AI, algorithms can follow and give information by finding patterns and, in return, produce a similar text or visual which is indistinguishable from the original source.

According to research by the World Federation of Advertisers, the influence of generative AI has been so staggering that 63% of global brand owners have adopted this high-tech method in optimizing their strategies for marketing. However, with every great opportunity comes a risk. For the use of generative AI, the biggest fear is the technology falling into the hands of agency partners and being used by them against brand welfare and growth.

To further expand on this fear, 80% of the multinational companies surveyed in the research expressed severe concerns about their media and creative agencies using generative AI on their account. The biggest concerns that the companies had were related to legal risk (66%), potential reputation damage (49%), and ethical concerns (51%). Additionally, the research also found that many participants pointed to the fact that there is a lack of maturity in the organizational use regarding AI use.

The market users of generative AI openly confessed in the research that they are inadequate in their knowledge about AI, with a strong 55% of survey respondents showing limited expertise in properly and accurately using generative AI. Despite lacking knowledge and training on AI, businesses are eagerly using and embracing this advanced technology for their benefit. 63% of the companies have shifted to generative AI to grow their business compared to 45% in last year’s report by WFA.

A major threat that arises due to lack of background knowledge in AI is relevant to legal concerns, and to address this issue, WFA recently released guidelines that would allow 55% of the companies to evaluate their contracts with creative and media agencies over legal AI use and protection.

Furthermore, the study pointed out that the most significant uses of generative AI are for creating content, automating tasks, and ideating content. As many old school marketing strategist are skeptical of AI utilization in optimizing market effectiveness, many people believe that using AI-based technology can save time and cost with upgraded quality, hence improving efficiency and performance.

Currently, 40% have already been using AI to create content for marketing, such as music, text, and images, and 37% have shown a keen interest in using AI to their advantage. Regarding the legal and ethical concerns, only 35% have taken practical steps to follow the ethical guidelines. In contrast, less than 44% have policies for the safe use of generative AI.