by  , Columnist
Source: www.mediapost.com, July 2023

An imposing 80% of marketers now use AI in their day-to-day work. And 56% claim to do so because it saves time and money, according to “The Pitfalls and Potential of Building a Partnership with AI,” a study by PAN.

But 60% worry that AI could hurt the integrity of their brand.  And nearly 50% fear that AI undermines human connection.

Customers share those concerns: 66% say stories created by AI are not as valuable as those told by people. Only 28% find AI-generated content to be authentic.

In addition, customers lack a strong sense of when AI should show up in their journey. They choose:

  • When they’re learning about the brand—21%
  • During a transaction—15%
  • When troubleshooting a problem—21%

Marketers may have a better idea:  61% introduce AI at the top of the funnel, and have a chance to measure its impact throughout the customer journey. But many have little idea if that’s true: 48% either have no data to trace the impact of AI, or they collect no data on AI at all.

Here’s another disconnect: only 42% of customers say AI improves the brand experience. For one thing, 35% say AI is efficient but less effective than interacting with a person, and  15% say AI is both inconvenient and ineffective.

Moreover, 44% would consider moving away from a brand that relied on AI instead of people for storytelling.

Not to worry: only 8% of marketers use AI because they think it improves the customer experience.

As it is, 38% of customers interact with AI from a brand at least once a week.

And the future? Roughly 33% worry about AI replacing skilled work in their organization. And 15% are not sure about that threat.

But 76% agree that it supports better innovation and ideation for their teams. Going forward, 53% say they will adjust strategy to incorporate new and emerging AI, and 15% will seek out and prioritize new AI solutions.

As for customers, 70% expect AI expect AI will become a larger part of their interactions with brands over the next five years.

PAN surveyed 100 senior marketers between April 28-May 26, 2023. And working with Dynata, an online research firm, it polled 1,000 consumers between May 11-12, 2023.