7.1 What Is Marketing AI and Smart Marketing?

John McCathy coined the term artificial intelligence (AI) while writing a 1955 summer research proposal.1 Since then, AI has been defined in many ways. A general definition is “the imitation by computers of the intelligence inherent in humans,” which may be hard to grasp if for no other reason than science has yet to fully understand or explain human intelligence (Haroon Sheikh, Corien Prins & Erik Schrijvers, Mission AI, Springer Publishing, 2023, p 15). Another, more accessible, definition of AI is Demis Hassabis’s “the science of making machines smart.”2 If AI is the science of making machines smart, then perhaps Marketing AI, is “the science of making marketing smart.”3

Before tackling smart marketing, let’s start with an example everyone knows something about, smart TVs. What makes a smart TV different than a traditional TV? Smart TVs understand verbal commands and can quickly take us to our favorite TV shows or bring up a list of newly released movies to watch. Smart TVs can suggest programming that we may enjoy based on our past viewing habits. And smart TVs learn. As our pool of watched programming increases, a smart TV’s suggestions improve.

In AI jargon, smart TVs use (1) natural language processingHow computers understand and work with human language, like reading text or listening to speech. (NLP) and natural language generationWhen computers create human-like text, such as writing a paragraph or generating a response in a conversation. (NLG) to understand and respond to human language, (2) machine learningWhen computers learn from data and improve over time without being explicitly programmed, like getting better at recognizing faces in photos. (ML) to learn and make predictions about our viewing habits, and (3) expert systemsA computer program that mimics the decision-making abilities of a human expert, helping solve complex problems by following a predefined set pf rules. and deep learningA type of machine learning where computers use multiple layers of processing to understand and learn from data, similar to how the human brain works. to make real-time viewing suggestions that continually improve and adapt to our changing likes and dislikes. A smart TV can perform these little miracles because it is connected to the internet, has a computer operating system, is equipped with NLP and ML algorithmsA step-by-step set of instructions that a computer follows to solve a problem or complete a task., and can seamlessly stream content directly to us. AI makes smart TVs more capable than traditional TVs and over time their capability continues to improve.

What makes smart marketing different from traditional marketing? Smart marketing uses AI tools to enhance traditional marketing. These tools fall into three general categories: languageLanguage AI: AI that focuses on understanding, processing, and generating human language, like chatbots or translation services., visionAI that deals with understanding and interpreting visual information, such as recognizing objects in images or videos., and predictionAI that uses data to make predictions about future events, like forecasting the weather or predicting customer behavior..4 Each category includes use cases that can help traditional marketers quickly learn what marketing AI brings to the table and how it can be used to improve customer engagement, brand development, and profitability.