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Almost very industry today heavily relies on artificial intelligence to speed up and automate their processes. But this may come at a cost! Despite it's growing popularity, it still remains a risky venture and can pose several potential threats to your business and marketing endeavours. 

When new technologies arise, there usually is a skepticism around it; therefore it is important for businesses, marketers and creators to mindfully outweigh the pros and cons of using artificial intelligence no matter how popular it is now.

What are some of the dangers that come with implementing artificial intelligence into your marketing? How safe is integrating AI into your strategies? Find all the answers to these pressing questions in this blog! 

The risks of Artificial Intelligence in marketing

There are few vital risks associated with AI, some pragmatic and some ethical. Some of the alarming risks with AI marketing include things like consumer privacy, biassed programming, danger to humans, and unclear legal regulation.

The use of AI poses legal and ethical concerns. 

While AI provides a faster way to produce content or strategise your business marketing, it remains controversial both legally and ethically.

One problem associated with relying on AI is its inability to filter out biases and prejudices in its responses. This continues to appear as a threat in today’s market setting where people care about a brand's social reputation. 

Marketing tools that use AI for gathering personal data are also being closely scrutinised under the legal norms. 

Artificial intelligence isn't programmed to ask for permission before collecting data from customers thus ignoring the privacy policies of most users.

The use of AI affects SEO.

While Google and other search engines have strongly stated they prioritise high-quality content regardless of their source, it's still a vague proposition. Most content writers now resort to AI to help them draft marketing copy for their online sites. And while it may appear as high-quality on paper, the SEO algorithms think otherwise, leading to lower rankings for such content. 

The use of AI still needs human intervention. 

It seems entirely promising at first glance, but it still needs to be crosschecked and filtered by the human eye. Without human intervention, AI cannot fulfil its role. Its inability to self-evolve means an increase in personnel numbers to watch over its overall performance.

And this is one problem commonly faced in AI writing applications. While the intel of ChatGPT can conjure up comprehensive content in an instant, its messaging, branding, and relevance still lacks authenticity.

Another similar problem is AI-powered video and audio editing apps, particularly with AI-generated voice features and avatars for presentations. Audiences can easily distinguish an AI-generated project from a real one, primarily due to the lack of gestures by avatars and speaking intonations from AI audio (diction, accent, pronunciation, etc.).  

It turns out humans can still do it better. 

Most people hate chatting with robots. 

Another example of AI's contextual inability is chatbots not meeting most customers' specific enquiries. 

These chatbots' inability to adjust to users' queries and give out personalised responses are a huge pet peeve for most customers, especially those with client service concerns.

AIs are merely programmed assistants, therefore as the conversation unfolds and dives more into details, more of their limitations show up. 

Its accuracy remains in question. 

Accuracy is paramount when it comes to marketing. Although AI can provide comprehensive answers for marketing strategies, its efficiency remains questionable. 

Ultimately, AI isn’t properly equipped to conduct data analysis and research meaning it needs to be fed updated information by programmers to ensure it keeps up with current trends. For example, ChatGPT programmers needed to update the AI search engine before releasing its succeeding version, ChatGPT 4 as its data coverage ended by 2021. 

Industries might get too reliant on it. 

Even with the drawbacks and risks listed previously, AI is still widely used by businesses and continues to be an exceptional marketing tool. However, its excellence and convenience could lead to over-dependence.

People could lose touch with their creative and strategic approach, a crucial skill in marketing. Ai also tends to curb team interactions as marketers increasingly resort to AI assisted tools thus excluding several values, such as teamwork, competence, and other marketing tactics practised by humans.  

There is no content variation. 

It is fascinating how ChatGPT and other AI tools  can conjure content almost instantly. However, this AI-generated material may get rehashed, eventually failing to achieve humanlike script formations due to a lack of variety. 

 Incorporating Ai-produced content into your business can negatively affect SEO rankings. Additionally, frustrated readers may develop a negative impression of your brand for not providing quality content which can eventually harm your business. 

How to mitigate risks of Artificial Intelligence in marketing 

The risks of using artificial intelligence can be daunting. But there are ways to navigate through these potential harm and use it to your advantage. 

• Start by identifying what specific dangers present themselves. Predict what areas may be problematic at some point. For example, depending on AI-generated content will bring about a stagnation in your published content due to its inability to produce variations in the narrative - That's one problem you identified. 
• Next step is to construct an alternative plan to effectively overcome the problem. For example: Moving forward, you can only use AI tools for inspiration for future content. But the chief content creator would be you thus, allowing you to keep your brand's tone and ideology alive and appealing to the readers. 
• If you’re concerned about customer’s data privacy, duly inform them about AI’s use for the collected data. That way, you ensure transparency while doing business. 

If AI seems to be taking away your brand's creativity, refrain from using these tools and dedicate some time into brainstorming. No AI machine can ever possess the ability to be as creative as the human mind.

Some final thoughts

Being too dependent on artificial intelligence might come with more harm than good, but making use of it is still a vital practice as it keeps our marketing strategies progressing. All we need is a little moderation. A single ChatGPT prompt or any AI tool available won't determine the success of your marketing strategies. Trust your creative mind to do the work for you. 

If having a better digital marketing strategy for your business is on your mind, reach out to us at Elephant in the Boardroom! Helping you navigate this complicated but exciting world of digital marketing is our goal, and success is where we're both headed!