How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Business

The past year has witnessed a profound transformation in the global landscape, catalysed by the advent of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. These models not only offer a glimpse into the future possibilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) but also provide substantial capabilities in the present, sparking a revolution in investment and reshaping the strategies of digital-first businesses.

In this following investigation, we explain the top-line impact of AI on C-Suite executives—CEOs, CFOs, and CMOs—as well as its influence on marketing departments and practitioners. This analysis is contextualized within the broader framework of AI's historical evolution and the continual innovation in marketing strategies.

AIs impact on the C-Suite

CEOs face many challenges beyond AI resulting from an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape and growing threats to globalisation. This is leading to social disparity, with a cost of living crisis gripping many nations, combined with high inflation and high-interest rates. The result is increasingly top-heavy societies with the middle class squeezed and those at the bottom struggling to make ends meet.

These societal shifts provide a broader context for the development and adoption of AI. Many believe it will lead to essential productivity gains, while others highlight a need for universal basic income to cover a loss in jobs. This places C-Suite executives in an increasing challenge to understand the needs of customers and consumers as the ‘good times’ of high discretionary spending peter out. Societal beliefs that everyone should be able to own a home and afford foreign holidays are also being rewritten.

The challenge for CEOs lies not only in understanding the needs of customers but also in implementing AI within their organisations. For innovative businesses, the speed at which AI can render a workforce redundant poses a remarkable challenge. Meanwhile, CEOs at legacy businesses that believed their size, scale and heritage were sufficient to ward off the competition from nimble startups are now at an increasing disadvantage. This is epitomised by the legal sector, where some firms are pioneering AI, while others continue exactly as they have done for many years.

CEOs also face increasing challenges in their ability to interface with other members of the C-Suite, such as the CFO and CMO, in particular. For the CFO, the modelling used to evaluate business performance requires greater to accommodate paradigm shifts in productivity.

For CMOs, the ability to measure competitor movements and establish marketing metrics now needs greater precision, which in turn requires the adoption more AI and data tools. This is because humans are irrational, which makes predicting their response to AI developments difficult. This is epitomised by ongoing debates over the future of the AI and how to regulate it. Even experts can’t agree on how the future will look or where the greatest threats in AI will come from.

These concerns are heightened by the current risks posed by adopting AI tools. LLMs are essentially a ‘black box,’ making their decisions difficult to decode and heightening the ability for businesses and brands to implement mistakes unwittingly. LLMs are known to ‘hallucinate,’ which is intensified as no one knows exactly why or when they do so. For a brand that has carefully crafted its relationship with its customers, these mistakes can have major consequences, very quickly.

AIs impact on marketing teams

New technologies are nothing new for marketing teams. The previous decade has seen constant iterations in the way marketing campaigns are developed, how audiences have fragmented, and how social media platforms have been consumed. Digital marketers have become experts in digital marketing platforms, only to realize that new, more streamlined platforms are launched, and new learning is required. Even the most dominant marketing software platforms constantly introduce new features to remain competitive. Furthermore, societal issues such as privacy have come to the fore, further influencing how campaigns are developed.

These changes lead marketers to move towards possessing technical expertise over strategic understanding. Very few now have control over the key aspects of marketing such as defining a brand’s strategy or target audience. Instead, they are selected for key skills in key applications.

Against this backdrop, AI has enhanced potential to transform the marketing industry. And this is exactly what is happening, with creative roles - ideas-focused roles - being eroded for the speed and simplicity of AI tools. Almost every aspect of a marketing campaign can now be generated by AI. Furthermore, the speed at which it operates changes the way agencies operate with much less time required for brainstorms.

Although some marketers believe that ChatGPT is just a co-pilot capable of assisting them with emails, spelling and writing, this belief is missing the potential of prompt engineering. Furthermore, teams and agencies can be restructured around AI tools as opposed to supported by them.

For those entering the marketing industry, AI emphasizes the importance of agility in their eventual career development. Staying on top of developments and selecting career paths that see shifts ahead of time will be as important as any work they will undertake in any specific role.

Time to embrace new thinking

AI's impact extends beyond immediate business strategies. It shapes the way C-Suite executives navigate challenges and transforms the skills landscape for marketing professionals. This rapid evolution requires businesses to stay informed and agile, ensuring they harness AI’s full potential.

We’ve linked to further AI insights above, which are also available for quick reference. If you’d like to discuss anything covered in further detail, then please contact us. We’d love to hear from you.