Meta Announces New Generative AI Tools for Facebook and Instagram

Meta Announces New Generative AI Tools for Facebook and Instagram

by Mark Smith Facebook Instagram Meta Social media

The popularity of generative AI is rapidly changing how businesses and their agency partners create and develop content ranging from videos to images for paid and organic media. Big Tech firms are accelerating the uptake of gen AI as they use their considerable resources to develop tools that they want businesses to rely on. A case in point: Meta recently unveiled two generative AI tools designed for video asset creation and image editing.

Introducing Emu Video and Emu Edit

The first new product, Emu Video is a text-to-video generation tool that can create short, four-second videos from a caption, photo, or image, along with a description. Emu Edit, on the other hand, is a video editing tool that allows users to easily modify or edit videos using text prompts.

Derived from the technology of the company’s Emu AI research project, Emu Video is intended to help creators generate short video clips based on text prompts. Emu Video can generate high-quality video content from basic text (e.g., “a dog running in a field”) or a photo paired with a description. Additionally, it can animate user-provided images based on a text prompt, surpassing previous achievements and establishing a new state-of-the-art standard.

On the other hand, Emu Edit is a new picture editing tool offering flexibility through detailed instructions. It handles various tasks, including local and global edits, background removal and addition, color and geometry transformations, detection, segmentation, and more. Emu Edit precisely follows instructions, ensuring that pixels unrelated to the specified tasks in the input image remain unchanged.

Both tools are powered by Meta’s generative AI technology and are designed to make it easier for creators to produce high-quality video content. Meta claims that Emu Video is particularly well-suited for creating social media videos and short-form content, while Emu Edit is ideal for editing longer-form videos and making more complex edits.

Meta has emphasized that while these technologies are not intended to replace professional artists and animators, tools like Emu Video and Emu Edit can empower individuals to express themselves in new ways. Whether it’s an art director conceptualizing a new idea, a creator enhancing their latest reel, or a friend sharing a unique birthday greeting, these technologies offer new avenues for self-expression and creativity.

These projects are slated for future integration into Facebook and Instagram, providing agencies and advertisers with the capability to quickly generate videos and edit in-stream images using text prompts. Meta believes that Emu Video and Emu Edit will significantly reduce the turnaround time between creative and media teams. This will allow for more efficient resource allocation towards strategic tasks like audience analysis, targeting, and campaign optimization.

With the introduction of Emu Video and Emu Edit, Meta seeks to solidifying its position as a leader in AI-powered video creation by making it easier for creators with all levels of experience to make videos.

Reactions to Emu Video and Emu Edit

Both Emu Video and Emu Edit have attracted considerable interest because they simplify tasks that have to date been complicated and time consuming.

As Search Engine Land noted, “Instantly generating various video assets and image edits reduces the back-and-forth time between creative and media teams, freeing up resources for strategic tasks like audience analysis. Quick access to diverse creatives can also serve as inspiration for marketers.”

Venture Beat noted that Emu Video and Emu Edit may “revolutionize text-to-video generation and image editing.”

Tech Crunch indicated that the tools bring us “a step closer to AI generated movies.” However, Tech Crunch also flagged some of the weaknesses of the tools. For instance, Emu Video doesn’t appear to have a strong grasp of action verbs, and the tool is capable of committing inexplicable visual errors, such as toes that curl behind feet and legs that blend into each other. Tech Crunch also warned that Emu Video and Edit are a threat to visual content creators, despite Meta’s claims to the contrary.

What Businesses Should Do

At True Interactive, we believe that businesses should embrace generative AI tools but with eyes wide open. Here are some tips:

  • Understand the capabilities and limitations. Familiarize yourself with what these tools can and cannot do (as noted in the Tech Crunch article cited above). Be mindful of their mistakes and their strengths. This knowledge will help you set realistic expectations and plan projects accordingly.
  • Prioritize ethical usage. Ensure the content generated adheres to ethical standards. This includes avoiding misinformation, respecting privacy rights, and ensuring the content is not offensive or harmful.
  • Maintain brand consistency. Avoid the temptation of creating visual images “just because you can.” AI tools should be used to enhance your brand message, not detract from it. Make sure the content aligns with your brand’s voice, style, and ethos.
  • Emphasize creativity and originality. Use these tools to create unique, engaging content. Avoid overly generic or repetitive outputs that don’t add value to your audience.
  • Be mindful of legal considerations. Be aware of copyright and intellectual property laws. Ensure that any generated content doesn’t infringe on others’ rights. Tech Crunch questioned whether Meta has honored copyright in sourcing images for Emu Video and Edit, and Meta responded by saying the company uses only licensed content. Meta should make these important points clearer. If you are unsure, do press Meta for clarity.
  • Keep people involved. This is the most important tip. All of the above tips cannot be managed effectively without humans being in the loop. Always have a human manage the entire content creation and editing process to ensure quality and appropriateness. In addition, people are needed to monitor performance of all content (whether AI-generated or not) and use feedback to refine strategies and improve future content. People also needed for broader, more strategic needs such as creating policies and governance models for using AI, an example being how transparent your company will be about the use of AI in your work.

True Interactive can help you with all your social advertising needs. Contact us to learn more about our social media advertising experience

All images sourced from Meta

Google Accelerates AI-Driven Search

Google Accelerates AI-Driven Search

by Mark Smith Google

The New York Times reported recently that Google is accelerating its efforts to rethink search with AI. For example, Google is using AI to better understand user intent, refine search queries, and deliver highly relevant results. And as we have blogged, Google continues to incorporate conversational AI into search via the Bard tool. This heightened level of personalization in search results and the incorporation of conversational AI will challenge businesses to, in turn, create more conversational and personal content – both paid and organic.

According to the New York Times, the new search experience “would learn what users want to know based on what they’re searching when they begin using it. And it would offer lists of preselected options for objects to buy, information to research, and more. It would also be more conversational — a bit like chatting with a helpful person.”

In addition, reinventing search “would keep ads in the mix of search results. Search queries that could lead to a financial transaction, such as buying shoes or booking a flight, for example, would still feature ads on their results pages.”

This is significant. Some technology/business watchers have speculated that conversational AI is a threat to Google Search. That’s because conversational AI responds to queries with a single answer that synthesizes information, which could upend how Google Search provides answers with links to information.

Currently Bard does not feature ads in its user interface, and ads generated $225 billion for Google in 2022. But Bard could incorporate ads – for instance, by providing links for more information along with ads; sponsored chatbot replies; and other ad interfaces that I am sure Google is dreaming up.

Simply put, Google is not going to toss out $225 billion in revenue.

Moreover, the AI-driven search engine prioritizes quality over quantity, encouraging businesses to invest in better content and optimize their websites for user experience. This shift will lead to a more competitive market where only the most relevant and high-quality content will thrive, pushing businesses to continuously innovate and adapt their online presence.

Google is trying to protect its core advertising business by making search more conversational and personal with AI. Businesses need to be ready. To be visible in Google’s world, enterprises will need to take content personalization to another level. For example, websites and Google Business Profiles will need AI to change their content rapidly and continuously based on dynamic search behavior just to keep up with AI-powered search. And say goodbye to boring chat interfaces. Chat is entering a new realm of personal, human-sounding user interfaces as AI takes hold.

Google has been changing search with AI for some time, but the rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT conversational AI tool has accelerated those efforts. According to the New York Times, the AI push kicked into high gear when Samsung said it was considering replacing Google with Microsoft’s Bing as the default search engine on its devices. Switching to Bing could cost Google an estimated $3 billion in annual revenue if Samsung were to switch.

Alongside an overhaul, Google is also working on a number of fascinating side projects. As reported,

Other product ideas are in various stages of development. A tool called GIFI would use A.I. to generate images in Google Image results. Another tool, Tivoli Tutor, would teach users a new language through open-ended A.I. text conversations.

Yet another product, Searchalong, would let users ask a chatbot questions while surfing the web through Google’s Chrome browser. People might ask the chatbot for activities near an Airbnb rental, for example, and the A.I. would scan the page and the rest of the internet for a response.

At True Interactive, we advocate for our clients as we navigate the rapidly evolving world of advertising and content creation online. Follow our blog for more insight!

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The TikTok Controversy: Advertiser Q&A

The TikTok Controversy: Advertiser Q&A

by Kurt Anagnostopoulos Uncategorized

By Kurt Anagnostopoulos and Mark Smith

Will TikTok get banned in the United States? And why is TikTok even running afoul of the U.S. government? Those questions and many others continue to arise as TikTok faces closer scrutiny by U.S. lawmakers – mostly recently when the company’s CEO recently faced a tough grilling by members of Congress. Following are answers to some questions you might have.

What is going on with TikTok and the United States government?

TikTok has faced several controversies and concerns regarding its ownership, data privacy, and potential national security threats in the United States.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company, which has raised concerns about Chinese government access to user data and censorship. There have been concerns that TikTok is collecting user data and sharing it with the Chinese government. TikTok has denied these allegations and has stated that its data is stored outside of China.

In 2020, former U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would have banned TikTok from the United States over national security concerns. The order cited TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance and its potential to collect data on U.S. citizens and share it with the Chinese government. In June 2021, new president Joe Biden signed an executive order revoking the Trump administration ban on TikTok, and instead ordered the Secretary of Commerce to investigate the app to determine if it poses a threat to U.S. national security.

In 2022 and 2023, the issue of national security arose once again. In June 2022, reports emerged that ByteDance employees in China could access U.S. data and repeatedly accessed the private information of TikTok users. Following the reports, TikTok announced that 100% of its U.S. user traffic is now being routed to Oracle Cloud, along with their intention to delete all U.S. user data from their own data centers. This deal stems from the talks with Oracle instigated in September 2020 in the midst of Trump’s threat to ban TikTok in the United States.

In June 2022, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called for Google and Apple to remove TikTok from their app stores, citing national security concerns, saying TikTok “harvests swaths of sensitive data that new reports show are being accessed in Beijing.” In November 2022, Christopher A. Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told U.S. lawmakers that “the Chinese government could use [TikTok] to control data collection on millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations.”

As of February 2023, at least 32 states have announced or enacted bans on state government agencies, employees, and contractors using TikTok on government-issued devices. State bans only affect government employees and do not prohibit civilians from having or using the app on their personal devices.

In March 2023, TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, appeared before Congress to address the concerns surrounding the app. He stated that TikTok’s data collection practices did not differ from those of U.S. social media platforms.

Is True Interactive concerned that TikTok poses a national security threat?

There has been no “smoking gun” evidence that TikTok poses a national security threat. There is no public evidence the Chinese government has actually spied on people through TikTok.

TikTok doesn’t operate in China. But since the Chinese government enjoys significant leverage over businesses under its jurisdiction, the theory goes that ByteDance, and thus indirectly, TikTok, could be forced to cooperate with a broad range of security activities, including possibly the transfer of TikTok data.

“It’s not that we know TikTok has done something, it’s that distrust of China and awareness of Chinese espionage has increased,” according to James Lewis, an information security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The context for TikTok is much worse as trust in China vanishes.”

TikTok has been erecting technical and organizational barriers that it says will keep U.S. user data safe from unauthorized access. Under the plan, known as Project Texas, the U.S. government and third-party companies such as Oracle would also have some degree of oversight of TikTok’s data practices. TikTok is working on a similar plan for the European Union known as Project Clover.

In 2022, a report found TikTok was spying on journalists, snooping on their user data and IP addresses to find out when or if certain reporters were sharing the same location as company employees. TikTok later confirmed the incident and ByteDance fired several employees who had improperly accessed the TikTok data of two journalists.

The circumstances surrounding the incident suggest it was not the type of wide-scale, government-directed intelligence effort that US national security officials primarily fear. Instead, it appeared to be part of a specific internal effort by some ByteDance employees to hunt down leaks to the press – which may be deplorable but hardly uncommon for an organization under public scrutiny.

Do you believe TikTok will get banned?

Only the U.S. government can answer that question with certainty. But TikTok says 150 million Americans use the app, it is increasingly popular with advertisers, and many smaller businesses say it is essential to their livelihood. It’s more likely that TikTok will face closer regulation and possibly be sold.

Should I be concerned about advertising on TikTok?

TikTok poses no more of a risk than any other social app. Every major app, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and YouTube – has faced public scrutiny and controversy over issues ranging from privacy breaches to content moderation lapses. As we’ve blogged, social media is a messy place for any brand to be. But social media also holds many advantages, as our work with advertisers has demonstrated.

How can TikTok help my brand?

We recommend that brands Consider TikTok for brand awareness, but the jury is still out when it comes to conversions. Our campaigns have performed especially well when our objectives have been to achieve reach and brand lift. In our experience, TikTok CPMs are typically less expensive than CPMs for Facebook, Snap, or Pinterest. Read our blog post about TikTok’s performance for more insight.

Contact True Interactive

At True Interactive, we work with our clients to maximize the value of all their online advertising, including social media spend. We strongly advocate for our clients as we work with apps such as TikTok. Contact us to learn how we can help you.

True Interactive Named a 2023 Google Premier Partner

True Interactive Named a 2023 Google Premier Partner

by Mark Smith Google

One of the ways True Interactive advocates for our clients is by forming strong relationships with the leading ad tech companies in the world. And Google is certainly one of them. Google commands the largest share of the online advertising market. The company generated an astounding $282 billion in advertising in 2022. We maximize the value of our clients’ ad spend on Google, and doing that gives us deep knowledge of Google. So, we are pleased that True Interactive has been recognized as a Google 2023 Premier Partner.

“Partner” is more than a general description of a company that works with Google. To Google, the word has a specific meaning. Becoming a Google Partner means that your company is recognized for maximizing campaign success for your clients, driving client growth by maintaining clients’ campaigns, and demonstrating Google Ads skills and expertise with certifications.

Google says we are in the top three percent of its partners. The top three percent is evaluated on an annual basis and is determined by a number of factors, including but not limited to: client growth, client retention, product diversification, and annual spend. This means we enjoy a number of benefits that make us a more knowledgeable ad agency, such as:

  • Product betas: access to the most current product betas through ongoing, summarized reports.
  • Insights briefings: the latest insights from Google to stay ahead of changing consumer behaviors and industry trends.
  • Promotional offers: Google Ads credits, which we apply to the benefit of our clients.
  • Invite-only industry events, such as roundtable discussions with Google leaders, sessions with other Premier Partners, and opportunities to hear from industry thought leaders.

We are honored to be Premier Partner. Thank you to Google, our clients, and to the incredibly talented team at True Interactive that turns insights from Google into a better experience for our clients.

Contact True Interactive

We help our clients succeed with online advertising. Learn more about our services here and our work here. And contact us to learn how we can help you.

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Is Search Ready for Conversational AI?

Is Search Ready for Conversational AI?

by Mark Smith Uncategorized

The brave new world of AI-powered search has hit a speed bump.

During the week of February 6, both Google and Microsoft announced they were developing new search capabilities that incorporate conversational AI, or chatbots that answer searchers’ queries with detailed, informative answers. This interface would provide an alternative to the search engines interface we are familiar with today, in which users need to click on to web links and read short snippets of content to find answers to their queries.

Microsoft said that its Bing search engine was using the same AI technology that powers the wildly popular ChatGPT chatbot created by OpenAI. (Microsoft has a multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI.) Google said it was about to unveil Bard, a chatbot with similar AI-fueled capabilities. Bard was based on AI developed by Google for quite some time.

Both these Big Tech companies were responding to OpenAI releasing ChatGPT for public use on November 30, 2022. Since that date, ChatGPT had become the fastest-growing app in history.

Google didn’t outright release Bard – the company demo’d the product that week and said an independent party of reviewers was vetting the product before its ultimate public release. Microsoft started to make Bing’s chat interface available in limited preview mode.

At first, both companies received generally favorable attention for showing how rapidly two Big Tech companies could bring to market a new way to search. But then the problems began:

Definitely not a good look for conversational AI!

By February 16, things had gotten so bad that The Atlantic magazine was declaring “AI search is a disaster.”

In response, Microsoft said that these types of incidents are to be expected. Microsoft said, “The only way to improve a product like this, where the user experience is so much different than anything anyone has seen before, is to have people like you using the product and doing exactly what you all are doing. Your feedback about what you’re finding valuable and what you aren’t, and what your preferences are for how the product should behave, are so critical at this nascent stage of development.”

Microsoft also announced that it will begin limiting the number of conversations allowed per user with Bing’s new chatbot feature.

Meanwhile, Google has asked employees to improve Bard by rewriting answers for topics that employees know well – a human-in-the-loop approach in which people stay involved as supervisors of the development of AI products as well as the editing of AI-generated content.

So, what now?

Well, nothing really changes for businesses at the moment. Google has not rolled out Bard. Bing is still in preview mode. Clearly, there is work to be done. The bad press suffered by Google and Microsoft simply underscores how rapidly these companies are moving. From the standpoint of building public trust, it sure looks like they would have been better off taking more time before starting to take these products closer to market.

Conversational AI is coming to search. These products did not drop out of the sky. Sooner or later, this interface was coming. It happened too soon for Google and Microsoft to escape some reputational damage. But the big picture is that the industry is more aware now of how the search experience is evolving, warts and all.

As we’ve recommended in previous posts, we suggest that businesses watch the developments closely and experiment with conversational AI (as everyone is doing with ChatGPT right now). It is important to become familiar with the ways these tools function, including the way ChatGPT can generate content (known as generative AI). This is no time to ignore the phenomenon.

At True Interactive, we are staying in close contact with Google and Microsoft and will report developments as we learn about them.

Contact True Interactive

To succeed with online advertising, contact True Interactive. Read about some of our client work here.

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Google and Microsoft Go All-In with AI-Powered Search

Google and Microsoft Go All-In with AI-Powered Search

by Mark Smith Bing Google Microsoft

On our blog, we speculated that Google would launch its own conversational AI assistant for search as a response to the popularity of ChatGPT. Well, within hours, we had our answer, and then some: not only did Google launch a new conversational AI tool for search — so did Microsoft.

What Google Announced

On February 6, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet, announced the launch of Bard, which he characterized as an experimental conversational AI service. Importantly, though, Pichai was careful to qualify how Google is moving forward. Instead of dropping the tool publicly as OpenAI did, Google is making Bard available to a team of “trusted testers” before making the tool publicly available “in coming weeks.”

This is a big difference in approach from OpenAI. Essentially Pichai was signaling, “We’re Google. We’re not going to risk our brand’s reputation by rushing something to the market until it’s ready.” By contrast, OpenAI made it clear that the company was going to crowdsource feedback from the public and make ChatGPT better – the “get to the market fast with an imperfect solution and make it better” approach that typifies Silicon Valley start-ups.

Google left start-up mode a long, long time ago.

According to Search Engine Land, the “trusted testers” vetting Bard are a demographically and geographically diverse group of people external to Google — an important consideration clearly designed to mitigate against bias – and bias is a problem that has vexed ChatGPT.

Bard is going to function as ChatGPT does now: synthesizing information to provide more complete, contextual responses to queries the way voice search has always promised to do. In Pichai’s words:

Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity, helping you to explain new discoveries from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old, or learn more about the best strikers in football right now, and then get drills to build your skills . . . When people think of Google, they often think of turning to us for quick factual answers, like “how many keys does a piano have?” But increasingly, people are turning to Google for deeper insights and understanding — like, “is the piano or guitar easier to learn, and how much practice does each need?” Learning about a topic like this can take a lot of effort to figure out what you really need to know, and people often want to explore a diverse range of opinions or perspective.

And, he added that Bard will be incorporated into Google Search soon. Here’s a screen shot of how the interface might look, courtesy of Google:

This is quite an announcement, to be sure. As we blogged, it was known that Google had been developing conversational AI technology for quite some time – but the company was not ready to take it public. However, as a result, OpenAI was enjoying all the glory and credit for ChatGPT’s remarkable conversational abilities. On top of that, Microsoft invested billions of dollars into OpenAI and was reportedly incorporating ChatGPT into Bing Search.

Microsoft Drops an AI Bomb

And, speaking of Microsoft: on February 7, the company confirmed that indeed conversational AI was coming to Bing Search — not based on ChatGPT exactly, but a more powerful form of the tool. Microsoft shared a new version Bing, powered by an upgraded version of the same AI technology that underpins chatbot ChatGPT. The company is launching the product alongside an upgraded version of its Edge browser. This means that that the two will provide a new experience for browsing the web and finding information online.

The “new Bing” (in Microsoft’s words) offers a chat function, where users can ask questions and receive answers from the latest version AI language model built by OpenAI. Users can also create itineraries for trips. So, for example, you can ask it to “Plan a five-day trip to Mexico.” It’s available in preview mode at Bing.com.

Following the announcement, Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft Corporate Vice President & Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, shared more detail on the Microsoft blog. Among other things, he elaborated on how Bing’s chat functionality can help with ideation, whether writing content or planning something:

There are times when you need more than an answer – you need inspiration. The new Bing can generate the content to help you. It can help you write an email, create a 5-day itinerary for a dream vacation to Hawaii, with links to book your travel and accommodations, prep for a job interview or create a quiz for trivia night. The new Bing also cites all its sources, so you’re able to see links to the web content it references.

Here is a depiction of the experience from the post:

He also elaborated on how the Edge browser is being improved with AI, via chat and compose. With the Edge Sidebar, you can ask for a summary of a lengthy financial report to get the key takeaways – and then use the chat function to ask for a comparison to a competing company’s financials and automatically put it in a table. You can also ask Edge to help you compose content, such as a LinkedIn post, by giving it a few prompts to get you started. After that, you can ask it to help you update the tone, format and length of the post. Edge can understand the web page you’re on and adapts accordingly.

As we learn more about Microsoft’s announcement, we’ll share more.

Many questions remain, such as:

  • Whether a conversational AI will actually improve the search experience given nagging problems with providing wrong answers and biased information. As The Verge noted, “AI language systems like ChatGPT have a well-documented propensity for presenting false information as fact.”
  • How Google and Microsoft will incorporate conversational AI into Search without harming their core advertising business. As noted, conversational AI tools flourish by giving searchers concise responses instead of links to other sites. Google’s ad model depends on people staying engaged on Google Search clicking on links. Microsoft’s ad business, though nowhere near the size of Google’s, also depends on clicks and engagement.

For now, we suggest that businesses watch the developments closely and experiment with conversational AI. No doubt Google and Microsoft will provide more context on how the interplay with their ads will work. At True Interactive, we are staying in close contact with Google and Microsoft and will report developments as we learn about them.

Don’t change your ad strategy. We’re in early days.

Contact True Interactive

To succeed with online advertising, contact True Interactive. Read about some of our client work here.

Is a ChatGPT Killer Coming from Google?

Is a ChatGPT Killer Coming from Google?

by Mark Smith Artificial Intelligence Google

It looks like the AI arms race is heating up.

Google is expected to announce soon the launch of a competitor to ChatGPT, the generative AI tool that has shaken the technology and business world.

ChatGPT is the product of OpenAI, the company that produced Dall-E, which uses AI to create images. ChatGPT is one of many chatbots designed to respond to queries from people by providing richer, more detailed, and more human-sounding answers than their predecessors. The incredibly slick bot uses AI to do everything from write copy to answer search queries to write code.

Some technology/business watchers have speculated that ChatGPT is a threat to Google Search. That’s because ChatCPGT responds to queries with a single answer that synthesizes information, which could upend how Google Search provides answers with links to information. Moreover, OpenAI is receiving deep funding from Google competitor Microsoft, which is incorporating the tool in its products, including, reportedly, Bing Search.

Well, Google has not taken the rise of ChatGPT lightly. Google’s parent Alphabet announced its quarterly earnings recently, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said that Google is working on its own form of smart search. He said that “very soon people will be able to interact directly with our newest, most powerful language models as a companion to Search in experimental and innovative ways.”

Apparently “very soon” is almost here. On February 8, Google is hosting an event on YouTube, which will revolve around “using the power of AI to reimagine how people search for, explore and interact with information, making it more natural and intuitive than ever before to find what you need.”

Releasing an answer to ChatGPT is not far-fetched. Google has contended that it has been developing AI-powered search technology for quite some time but is not ready to share it publicly. Examples of Google’s AI-driven products include a chatbot language model called LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications), an image-generation AI called Imagen, and MusicLM, which translates text to music.

But when OpenAI seized the narrative about generative AI by releasing ChatGPT in November 2022, reportedly Google went into “Code Red” mode and began fast tracking the development of various AI products.

Google has reportedly asked employees to test potential ChatGPT competitors, including “Apprentice Bard,” which makes it possible ask questions and receive detailed answers similar to ChatGPT. Details about Apprentice Bard’s functionality were leaked to CNBC, which reported:

Apprentice Bard looks similar to ChatGPT: Employees can enter a question in a dialog box and get a text answer, then give feedback on the response. Based on several responses viewed by CNBC, Apprentice Bard’s answers can include recent events, a feature ChatGPT doesn’t have yet.

Meanwhile, recently it was reported that Google has invested $300 million in AI startup Anthropic, which is testing a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Anthropic’s language model assistant, Claude, hasn’t yet been released to the public, but the startup told Bloomberg it planned to expand access to the chatbot “in the coming months.”

One way or another, Google is gearing up to respond – although the impact of a chat-powered AI tool on Google’s paid search business remains unclear.

At True Interactive, we are following these developments closely. We already use Google’s AI-powered ad products. Based on our experiences with AI, we strongly advise that businesses experiment with these tools carefully.

We also recommend that businesses keep people involved in managing AI (or any technology). People are needed more than ever to ensure that AI does its job well. For instance, our experience has consistently shown that automated ads powered by AI underperform without people involved to monitor and modulate them when necessary. The same is true of generative AI. These tools sure sound confident when they present information, but they make mistakes, and they are notoriously biased. They are nowhere near the point of being self-sufficient.

We’ll follow the developments from Google and report back on our blog.

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