G'day and welcome to the better communication results podcast. Today's edition, 109.

 

Does AI mean the end of work for creatives? If current trends are to be believed, the answer is no, the creative thinker will still have a job in five years' time.

A recent presentation showed examples of AI thinking and creativity. Tasked with finding suitable names for paint shades, an algorithm came up with such gems as 'sindis poop', 'ronching blue' and 'burble simp'.

Similarly, with lipstick shades, a different algorithm came up with such stunning names as 'sugar beef', 'sex orange' and 'bang berry'.

There's still a bit of work to do before AI algorithms can take a seat at the creative table, but I note that since AI has written some poetry and had it published, perhaps it won't be too long before long-form content creation for marketers arrives. Already, short-form content has been created [https://bettercommunicationresults.com.au/2018/07/alibaba-claims-ai-copywriting-engine-passes-turing-test/]

Source: https://www.businesslive.co.za/redzone/news-insights/2018-07-30-does-ai-mean-the-end-of-creativity/

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Getty Images has launched a new AI feature, 'Panels', to help newsroom editors choose appropriate imagery for their stories.

The process is that you either copy and paste in your story, or point Panels to a story that is already online, and it analyses the words your writer has used to pick the most appropriate imagery. Kind of like image search algorithms already in existence, but working not only on keywords but also on semantics.

"Here's how it works: When someone enters in the URL for a story or copies and pastes in the text, Panels will analyze the words before suggesting people, places and things that appear in the story after weighing different options based on frequency and relevance."—Adweek

I already have that capability with the software I use to create my vidcast videos, and that software doesn't use AI, but what I don't have is the gorgeous quality and quantity of imagery available from Getty.

One day...

Source: https://www.adweek.com/digital/getty-images-is-using-artificial-intelligence-to-help-newsrooms-choose-better-photos

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British retailer Marks and Spencer have announced they are going to train 1,000 staff (including marketers) in AI, in order to remain competitive as an employer and a business.

"This is our biggest digital investment in our people to date and the creation of the M&S Data Academy will upskill colleagues and provide them with an in-depth level of digital literacy as well as a Data Analytics qualification"—M&S boss Steve Rowe

A thousand staff, across most of the business, will undergo training in AI and machine learning. Every employee also has the opportunity to undertake more formal, 18-month long, training in Data Analytics to receive a data analytics qualification accredited by the British Computing Society.

"Transformation of our business is key to survival and a huge part of this lies with our colleagues. We need to change our digital behaviours, mindsets and our culture to make the business fit for the digital age"—Steve Rowe

Source: https://www.marketingweek.com/2018/07/30/marks-spencer-data-academy/?ct_5b5eeeeb6ba70=5b5eeeeb6bb1b

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There was an interesting post from We Are Social's Chief Strategy Officer Mobbie Nazir recently.

In her post, Mobbie argues that women and diverse minorities should be included in the development of artificial intelligence algorithms, including machine learning.

As with many things in this world, women are under-represented in the technology space (I would argue under-represented in any role that is reasonably well paid and certainly at senior manager and above levels).

But the development of superior intelligence needs to have more than male voices, be they Anglo-Saxon, Indian or Chinese. I think the fact that the EU is looking very closely at AI, and wanting to be a major player in its development, augers well for the inclusion of normally-excluded voices.

But with China and the USA being the dominant players in the AI space, activity to include women and diverse voices needs to happen. Melinda Gates' AI4All initiative is a good starting point, as is the renewed focus on STEM subjects in US schools.

This focus on STEM is similar to PwC UKs call for a focus on STEAM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and design, and Mathematics.

Here in Australia, the federal opposition's spokesperson for the digital economy, Ed Husic, has announced that Labor will fund a $3m AI centre of excellence, that will include not just the usual suspects of computer scientists, mathematicians and academics, but also union and community representatives, allowing for a more human-centric vision for AI.

Sources: https://www.afr.com/technology/ed-husics-ai-centre-of-excellence-to-focus-on-ethical-humanist-ai-20180730-h13ay6 https://wearesocial.com/us/blog/2018/03/women-vital-future-ai

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And finally, an old news item, but a handy reminder that no-one is safe from Artificial Intelligence.

A Hong Kong venture capitalist fund credits a single member of its management team with pulling it back from the brink of bankruptcy. But the executive is not a seasoned investment professional, nor even a human being. It is an algorithm.

Dmitry Kaminskiy, managing partner of Deep Knowledge Ventures, believes that the fund would have gone under without the algorithm because it would have invested in "overhyped projects."

Hsuan-Tien Lin, chief data scientist at Appier, a Taiwan-based technology company, said that AI is increasingly being used to support management decisions across many sectors. He said: "Within every area of management there is related data. AI can help make decisions based on that data to help human managers decide what action to take to fulfill their goal."

Kaminskiy does not think AI will fully replace people on boards of directors. Instead, it will probably be limited to augmenting human intelligence, he said, arguing that the corporate winners will be so-called intelligent companies that combine "smart machines with smart people," using the latest AI technology to support management, but not to replace it.

Source: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Artificial-intelligence-gets-a-seat-in-the-boardroom

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And that's it for another podcast.

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Until next time, take some communication risks, because you never know what may pay off big time, and communicate with passion!