How are you using AI in your content?

I say seemingly simple, because to Manu, CEO of a Geolocation technology company, it was obvious that AI would play an ever more increasing role in the content we produce at Square in the Air - but not everybody sees it that way. To him it was a question, from others it might be an accusation.

To an old-school marketer there is something antithetical about AI and creativity. Marketers love the process. Ideation, pitching, execution, distribution. All that stuff. To them, perhaps the answer is a simple, “we don’t.”

And of course for some, they view AI as an existential threat, destined to put them out work if given the chance. If ChatGPT can do ____, what will they need me for?

There also remains a stigma that in some way AI-generated content isn’t content; that it requires no creativity or skill to create it. Or as an agency and service provider, it’s somehow outsourcing your responsibility to present your clients with content you haven’t generated yourself.

In fact, MIT seem to have found evidence to support this perception in a recent experiment (which is yet to be fully peer reviewed), that found that people using Large Language Models (LLMs) were engaging far less of their brain when completing an assignment compared to those doing so with just their own brain or those using a search engine. Are we simply outsourcing thought?

And yet the world moves forward. YouTube recently announced that Veo 3 will soon be integrated into Shorts, meaning with a few concise prompts you can generate your own Shorts in minutes, with no scripts, and next to no costs.

Having taken up Manu’s recommendation to try out Veo 3 for myself, it’s clearly game-changing technology in a way that’s hard to emphasise enough; something that will shape the future of our industry. You can’t though (at this stage) say it doesn’t require skill or creativity to end up with a final output that’s up to the standards your brand requires.

So as an agency, where do we draw the line? Is it acceptable to create the video for your social media post with AI but not the copy? Should we use AI to help generate ideas or to help bring our ideas to life?

The answer of course is that we have to take it client-by-client and help shape their brand vision in a way that best represents them. Whether that includes AI-generated content or not.

Perhaps we’re already into two camps when it comes to AI in content – the Taboo and the To Do. Which camp are you in?