Abstract
- Challenge to AI. AI in digital marketing faces trust issues due to its vastness.
- The content conundrum. AI in content marketing is both accepted and distrusted.
- Trust in duality. AI in marketing can either enhance or undermine brand trust.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is winning and losing the battle for public trust at the same time. We happily buy products, watch movies, and binge on AI-recommended social media. But research shows we don't trust it.
No wonder. We believe that AI is dangerous, unregulated, infringes on copyright, destroys academic integrity, perpetuates bias, lies to users, and, of course, threatens human existence. is warned almost every day.
As marketers, we typically deal with benign technologies, not ones that are compared to nuclear power or dystopian science fiction. So how can you maintain trust in your brand while using this useful but controversial technology?
Let's take a look at the current state of AI in digital marketing and content marketing.
AI in Digital Marketing: Vast Technology and Trust
AI is a vast category of technology, not a technology. Talking about “AI” is as specific as talking about “clothing” or “footwear.” That is critical to the trust issue.
The AI that generates “deepfake” videos is not the AI computer vision that operates self-driving cars, or the AI that generates easy-to-understand text, or the AI that makes e-commerce recommendations. It's not an AI that identifies underground mineral deposits, it's not an AI that detects wildfires and saves lives, it's not an AI fraud detector that stops cybercriminals from using your credit card.
In certain situations, AI has clear utility and engenders trust. But taken out of context, AI is questionable. This partially explains our contradictory attitude towards it.
Related article: AI in Marketing: More personalization in the next decade
The paradox of trust in AI in marketing
Survey data suggests that people trust or distrust AI for the wrong reasons. This is an important realization to use AI in a way that protects and enhances brand trust.
A July poll by the Artificial Intelligence Policy Institute found that while 62% of Americans are concerned about AI, only 21% are hopeful. It's biased, right? Meanwhile, a survey commissioned by database provider DataStax found that 72% of consumers said they “trust businesses more when they receive relevant recommendations.” Almost two-thirds of respondents were not aware that AI in content marketing is powering recommendations from online retailers and streaming services.
Generative AI is even more opaque. An astonishing 73% of consumers trust AI in content marketing created by generative AI, according to a multi-country study by Capgemini Research Institute. But ChatGPT itself warns that it “may generate inaccurate information about people, places, and facts.” In fact, the anti-misinformation organization NewsGuard provided ChatGPT with 100 false stories and asked it to write content that supports and expands on them. ChatGPT was compliant 80% of the time.
However, flaws in generative AI do not absolve us of our responsibility as marketers. When using AI in digital marketing, brands own the results.
Related article: Machine Learning and Generative AI in Marketing: Key Differences
Four rules of AI trust
What do the nuances of AI and research data tell us? Many people believe in the value they derive from AI, but there is a growing need for unregulated technologies that mimic human models, communicators, and decision makers. They are distrustful of abstract qualities. People like AI the most when they don't know it's AI. So what should and should not be disclosed about the use of AI?
Brand trust is usually straightforward. Be transparent, stay true to your values, keep your word, be respectful, and make things right when you mess up.
AI is known to be untrustworthy at times, but it often takes actions that increase trust, like recommending a life-changing book or stopping your car before it crashes, thwarting this formula. To do. How do you manage this duality while maintaining trust in your brand?
Rule No. 1: Be transparent about your authorship.
If authorship is important, marketers should disclose the use of generative AI to their audiences. If you want to use AI to generate cartoon beach images for your swimwear website, don't worry. The reader's interpretation of that image does not depend on who produced or drew it. It's like mood lighting for an event. No one expects the identity of the designer of a lamp or light bulb to be made public.
Blog posts are another story. Our trust in written content is primarily due to the author's qualifications, experience, and reputation. So slapping someone’s name onto an AI-generated article is a violation of trust. We recently saw Amazon requiring authors on its Kindle book platform to disclose when their content was created by AI. But so far, Amazon has not communicated that information to consumers, raising important questions about the responsibility brands (in this case, both the book's author and Amazon) have to consumers.
Don't hide it. “This article was written with the help of generative AI. The author takes full responsibility for the views expressed and evidence presented.”
Rule 2: No false inclusions
Brands will want to use AI-generated models to represent diverse people and cultures (and some brands already do). The problem is that AI-created inclusivity is worse than exclusivity. It means that the brand has chosen to disguise its identity, perhaps to save costs, instead of hiring a model to live out that identity.
That said, AI can help brands increase their participation in marketing. For example, many marketers use AI to generate metadata tags for the photos, videos, and graphics they store in their digital asset management (DAM) systems. By automatically tagging keywords related to skin color, height, body type, gender, location, and culture, brands can help consumers present content that reflects themselves (for a detailed example, see my (See his previous CMSWire article).
Rule 3: Use AI to improve accessibility
Accessibility, the concept of making products and services work for everyone, is often categorized as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I). However, marketing images of people with disabilities does not make services more accessible to people with disabilities. It's a somewhat empty gesture.
However, AI can improve accessibility. For example, Apple includes an AI-optimized screen reader (a tool that reads text and UI elements aloud) on all devices and operating systems. Last year, Apple even introduced an AI iPhone tool that recognizes doors and reads the text written on them. Doing so allows visually impaired users to navigate the world more autonomously.
I’m not saying all brands will invent AI-powered accessibility technology. Rather, all brands should integrate and promote AI accessibility technologies into their products and experiences. From a brand trust perspective, the best AI is one that makes a functional difference to our lives (not one that saves marketers time).
Rule 4: Don't glorify AI over humans.
These days, brands are leveraging AI in digital marketing and press due to its buzz. But eventually you start bragging that this and the AI are going to fail. As AI matures, brands need to know when to use it, when to use it, and when to promote it.
Here's a practical example: Should your brand highlight the fact that it uses AI chatbots for customer service? A study by e-commerce platform Digital River found that 69% of respondents prefer chatbots when shopping online. They answered that they would like to receive support from others. AI chatbots are not perceived as an improvement over traditional services (not yet, anyway). Promoting the use of real human representatives will bring more trust than promoting chatbots.
Human contact may become a luxury at restaurants, bars, taxis, stores, gyms, banks, and doctor's offices. Yes, it's good to use AI for customer service to reduce service costs, but don't act like it's “better” than talking to an empathetic human. For many people in many situations, that is not the case.
Related article: What will happen in the next decade of AI in marketing?
Balancing trust and innovation: The role of AI in digital marketing
When discussing brand trust, we need to distinguish between the scary pop culture “AI” and the actual “AI” we interact with on a daily basis. Any digital tool can be used to build or destroy trust. Over time, we will focus more on the value and usefulness that technology provides, rather than the mundane fact that it is powered by AI.
In the meantime, be sensitive to public sentiment, even if it contradicts. Trust your artistic instincts and taste over AI. If it was helpful, please give it credit. Don’t save money by using AI as a stand-in for true diversity. Instead, use it to tag, organize, and distribute truly inclusive content. Remember that AI is not just a novelty, but a functional tool that protects and enriches lives at its best.
Finally, don't think that AI is better just because financial markets currently believe so. Give people the option to receive AI services and connect with real people.
I am cautiously optimistic that AI in digital marketing will strengthen brand trust. But it's not up to the AI developer. It's up to us.
Find out how to join our contributor community.
