‘Get ready or be left behind’ was a common refrain of the day: now is the time to invest in AI infrastructure and development. 20 years from now, when the tech has matured, will be too late.

The argument is one that you’ve likely heard before, AI increases productivity allowing you to do more, better, and faster. AI will be the key competitive edge that keeps you relevant in a tough market.

While there is certainly truth to that, it’s worth remembering that these particular AI proponents have a business model that is funded by onboarding AI for companies. Much was made of the fact that the biggest and most profitable brands make heavy use of AI presented as clear cut proof of it efficacy.

I would argue, however, that these companies have bought into AI because they have been massively successful, AI has not been the driver of their success (at least not to date).

Google in their role as event sponsor led with the changing face of Search; more modes of search are being used including circle to search, dictated, image search and ‘AI mode’ (think ChatGPT-style inquiries). AI will also power more personalisation and automation, essentially scraping user data to give more relevant recommendations or even complete purchases and bookings on your behalf.

The Accelerants (who specialise in practical help onboarding AI products for brands and agencies) came to Digital Day Out championing Agentic AI, AI tools that reason and act independently to achieve set goals. There are a few examples of major brands integrating the tech into their marketing efforts. Walmart’s ‘Sparky’ an AI agent that works as a chatbot while also serving personalised ads and generating new pricing and promotions to increase sales. Unilever and L’Oreal have AI agents used to generate and produce social content, even to the level of being tailored to individual users.

Instead of reaching out to ChatGPT—just hit the link below and ask me.