LinkedIn Chief Economist: Is the AI Boom Real?

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Is the so-called “AI boom” for real? Sounds like it, according to LinkedIn’s chief economist. Will Google put its AI search service behind a paywall? Not clear yet. Plus, some great tips for putting advanced tech to work in marketing ops, and a hot new AI startup gets funded…

TODAY’S AI-POWERED MARKETING UPDATE:

• Top Story: LinkedIn Chief Economist: Is the AI Boom Real?

• Future Shift: Google Considers Putting AI Search Behind Paywall

• Best Practices: Chatbots That Drive Good Conversations

• Professional Edge: Top 10 AI Skills for Marketers

• Startup Innovation: AI-Powered Software Startup Proxima Raises $12M of VC

• Today’s Master Marketing Tip: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

TOP STORY

LinkedIn Chief Economist: Is the AI Boom Real?

In a new podcast interview with the Wall Street Journal, LinkedIn's chief economist, Karin Kimbrough, shared her opinion about the growing importance of AI for U.S. employers and job seekers.

“There's been a 21 times increase in job postings on our platform looking for AI talent,” Kimbrough said.

“If you look in the Jobs Report data, if you're seeing an improvement in tech hiring, which is what we see in our data. A lot of that has to do with the hunt for talent that we consider AI expertise.”

In the same WSJ podcast segment, Gabriela Santos, managing director and chief market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, said, “I think what you’ll see this year is actually more companies monetize artificial intelligence.”

“Companies that are at the forefront and are actually monetizing AI,” Santos said. “So selling ads at a higher price because AI helps you to target those ads more, for example.”

FUTURE SHIFT

Google Considers Putting AI Search Behind Paywall

According to a report this week by the Financial Times , Google is considering making its AI-enhanced search services available only to paying “premium” subscribers.

Citing three engineers at Google who have been working on new AI search tools, the FT article reports that the company’ executives have yet to decide whether to launch new features on a subscription-only basis.

“The proposed revamp to its cash cow search engine would mark the first time the company has put any of its core product behind a paywall, and shows it is still grappling with a technology that threatens its advertising business, almost a year and a half after the debut of ChatGPT,” according to FT.

BEST PRACTICES

Chatbots That Drive Good Conversations

With worldwide retail spending on AI-powered chatbots set to soar from $12 billion in 2023 to $72 billion by 2028, according to June 2023 data from Juniper Research, the best applications are those that “drive a good conversational experience with human-like responses,” writes Henry Powderly, head of media content and strategy at EMARKETER.

The former VP of Content at Third Door Media offers the following top ways that marketers currently are effectively employing chatbots:

• Using them instead of online forms to capture more customer data for lead generation

• Generating text and other content creation to engage customers with loyalty programs

• Offering customers easy access to price quotes and seamlessly transitioning to the order or reservation process

On a cautionary note, Powderly advises there are specific risks to consider with AI chatbots, including brand safety that can result from biased responses, as well as delivering inaccurate information or “hallucinations” that are patently false.

PROFESSIONAL EDGE

Top 10 AI Skills for Marketers

As many applications for AI in marketing continue to gain traction, the question arises as to which specific skills are the most important for professionals in the field to understand and master.

Pierre DeBois, a business intelligence writer, as well as founder and CEO of the marketing analytics firm Zimana, offers a list of the Top 10 AI skills for those who want to stay ahead of the curve in what he calls “the poker game of digital technology.”

Below are the Top 3 in DeBois’ list for would-be AI marketing ninjas:

1. Domain Skills -- honing critical thinking skills in relation to the specific domain topic for which an LLM is being utilized

2. Data Curation -- understanding the potential of information curation through AI to identify the best workflows for using AI models

3. Understanding LLM Fundamentals -- discerning what information was used in the datasets for a model, helping to craft useful prompts much faster in the first iterations.

“Syntax is often viewed as the trump card by many experts,” says DeBois. “Yet, just as in the case of a skilled card player, a variety of abilities together create a victorious ensemble.”

For the complete list of DeBois’ Top10 AI skills for marketers you can read the article here.

STARTUP INNOVATION

AI-Powered Software Startup Proxima Raises $12M of VC

Proxima, a provider of data on over 65 million unique, anonymized shopper profiles blended with advanced AI models, has raised $12 million of venture capital in a deal led by Mucker Capital.

Launched in May 2022, Proxima has achieved over 400% revenue growth and increased its proprietary network of B2C connections to over 12,000, the company says.

Its suite of offerings are designed to enable businesses to scale paid media efficiently across advertising platforms including Meta and TikTok, and improve retention and customer lifetime value with predictive intelligence.

“Our team saw firsthand the sense of apprehension and skepticism among brands spending on paid channels following the iOS privacy changes in 2021,” said Alex Song, founder and CEO of Proxima, in an announcement.

“But since our launch, we’ve seen the widespread embrace of data insights and enhanced targeting as our clients have become more successful with AI-powered experimentation, leading to our 4x growth,” Song said.

TODAY’S MARKETING MASTER TIP:

GET YOUR BRAND REFERRED TO ACTIVE, ENGAGED, TARGETED READERS:

Want to learn how to get your brand referred at scale to your target customer? Check out Presspool.ai to learn more.

Let’s win together!

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY, FOLKS!