AI's Impact on Brands and Marketers

AI has been widely discussed across sectors and industries this year. With its undeniable potential to significantly improve productivity and creativity, AI and innovation have become synonymous. At the latest Media Matters at the FT panel, hosts Meg Wright, Head of audio and innovation at FT Longitude and John Thornhill, Innovation editor at the FT and co-founder at Sifted, shared their insights on the technology’s influence on brands, content creators and marketers.

Key takeaways from Media Matters at the FT | Innovation : A forward-looking view on the changing tech landscape

Generative AI is being used by brands as a productivity tool to create their own internal tools and enhance data security. Savvy companies are adopting open-source models to create more competitive AI applications. Brands that were early adopters of AI are seeing the benefits of the technology's increasing usability and scalability through experimentation and growth.

Agentic AI has increased brands' adoption of AI and their willingness to own and create their own models. Global technology titans are incorporating AI "helpers" into their corporate software offerings, while multimodal models, such as text-to-image models, are becoming more powerful and have a wide range of applications, including social media spaces.

It is essential to strike a balance between human creativity and AI assistance for creating engaging and informative content. While generative AI can be used to help generate ideas for articles or proofreading copy, it is not a reliable source for finding up-to-date quotes or information.

Despite its limitations, many content creators utilise generative AI to help fill in content gaps and create personalised content at scale. According to Hubspot's report 'AI Trends for Marketers,' 35% of marketers use AI and automation in their role, with 83% of marketers using AI to help create significantly more content than they could without the technology.

Brands are using their content to engage in industry conversations and inform policy at both a national and global level. To resonate with diverse audiences and position as thought leaders, brands should explore a broader range of topics in their content, addressing nuanced issues. Content can be about much more than the traditional kind of marketing play and can start to open up a whole range of different possibilities in the tech space.

Watch the full recap of Media Matters at the FT | Innovation : A forward-looking view on the changing tech landscape here.