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Pros and cons of AI with ad serving

robot ai When you think of artificial intelligence (AI), you tend to think of science fiction movies where computers or robots run amok in an attempt to destroy mankind. It’s all rather scary, but the reality is that AI has been around for a while and is responsible for a lot of very positive things in the world. AI is even now used in the world of ad serving, with a recent campaign with Lexus using IBM Watson to pore over all kinds of data from a 15-year period to create an ad campaign for the masses. While being a little bit of a PR stunt by Lexus, it did shine a light on the fact that AI is now part of the advertising game. Let’s now look at some of the pros and cons of AI with ad serving.

Human limitations

As humans, we have a finite amount of time and brainpower that can be used to process data and use it for good. That is not the case when it comes to AI, though, as machine learning has the ability to process much more data, and more quickly, than you could even with a dedicated team of humans. AI can also handle multiple projects and scour that data at speed that simply would not be possible any other way. Getting to the heart of buying trends and knowing how your audience will behave is huge in advertising with the help of AI.

Help with information overload

In advertising, as in most aspects of business, time is money. A good ad server will provide you with a ton of data than can be analyzed to see how you can tweak your ads to make them more effective. You could certainly do that on your own or with a team, but things can start to get a little confusing when you start to cross-reference all that data. With AI, that process can be done quickly, with the end result being a series of actionable recommendations that are easy to put in place in no time at all.

Fast and efficient data processing

It should already be clear that AI is the ideal tool to use if you are looking to streamline your data processing when it comes to advertising. This is especially true for larger enterprises who might ordinarily need to employ entire teams whose job is to pore over analytics and come up with a new direction for an ad campaign. The amount of money that can be saved by going the AI route means that there is real potential for a greater ROI.

Complex systems

The people who create AI systems will tell you about all the potential benefits that can be delivered. However, they might not be able to predict, explain or even understand every decision made by the AI-powered system. Not all output from the system is going to be correct because machine learning is dynamic and it depends on the input data and many other factors. Therefore, you will find that some results come right out of left field. AI is the way forward but it needs to be constantly monitored and fine-tuned to get the right results.

Lack of creativity

While AI is fast and efficient in creating, testing many ad variants and helping you break down raw data and analytics, it is not yet creative enough to deliver new ads that will touch the emotions of the people that you are trying to sell to. That is a task that still needs to be left in the hands of human marketers for now.
Posted in Ad Strategies by Watson F February 03, 2020 Was this helpful? Yes / No

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