Powered by AI: Communications and Marketing in the Algorithm Age

POWERED
BY AI
Communications and Marketing
in the Algorithm Age

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The Leadership Opportunity
for Communicators to
Champion AI
Those who lead the communications
function inside companies -- in PR,
advertising and marketing -- are
embracing Artificial Intelligence with a
surprising level of confidence and
optimism. According to our new global
research study of more than 1800
communication leaders at leading
companies and brands around the
world, the persistent AI discussion
over the last year or so has hooked
communications leaders. Many have
pro-actively built their knowledge of
the technology without the benefit of
formal training provided by their
companies -- much of it is likely self-
taught. As a result, the communicators
are becoming stewards and
evangelists for the new technology in
their companies. They expect their
companies to invest in AI in order to
better develop insights, strategy,
marketing and creativity. The majority
also believe AI will have positive
effects on the company workforce,
driving an increase in jobs, though this
varies across the world.
The research suggests to me the
important role that communicators
can play in adoption of this new
technology in business.
Many are what psychologists refer to
as “right-brain” creative types. They
can be visionaries, see the big picture
and imagine the many applications of
AI to business. This makes them an
ideal partner to the IT department led
by the Chief Information Officer that
manages company plans around the
AI technology and develops the
applications. The logical and
methodical left-brain IT leaders need
the right-brain communicators as well.
The result can be the ideal marriage of
imaginative ideas to technical know-
how, setting up a sweet spot for
success in AI adoption.
It’s a true leadership opportunity.
Communicators can start by
constructing these new and rather
unexpected partnerships with those in
IT that can return potential dividends
back to the business.
In this scenario, AI presents a real
opportunity for communications
professionals to not only manage
change, but also in some cases,
introduce it to their firms.
Guillaume Herbette
Global CEO, MSL
Our guide, Powered by AI:
Communications and Marketing in the
Algorithm Age, provides interesting
insights on AI adoption drawn from
the original research, as well as
qualitative learning from company
experts that have implemented AI
strategies inside their firms. We are
proud to have partnered with our
colleagues at sister agency
Publicis.Sapient who are experts in
counseling companies and brands on
the AI revolution.
By continuing to move with high
interest into the world of AI,
communicators can play an important
role in AI adoption, putting mastery of
the Algorithm Age in their own hands.
Guillaume Herbette
Global CEO, MSL

Executive Summary of
our Insights and Research
Findings.
MSL and Publicis.Sapient conducted a major study of client-side communicators
around the world to understand the mindset, opportunities and needs of
communicators around the future impact of AI on their work and their
companies. Based on this research, we believe:
• A gap will grow rapidly between leaders, communicators and businesses that
embrace AI and others that ignore the opportunity or are slow to adapt. We
expect the businesses and professional statures of those who fail to engage
will suffer the consequences.
• Communicators at all companies need to understand and prepare for the
coming AI revolution, its impact on their businesses and how the
communications function they oversee will need to change.
Key findings of the research:
THERE IS OPTIMISM:
Client-side communicators around the world share overall optimism on the
impact that AI will have on the future of the communications field mixed with
some apprehensions.
• 55% feel positive
• 38% have mixed feelings
• Respondents from China (78%), India (73%), Brazil (66%), the USA (65%),
Italy (51%) and France (48%), and feel largely positive about an AI-driven
future in communications, while a majority of those from Poland (57%),
Germany (52%) and UK (47%) think the implications will be both
positive and negative.

COMMUNICATORS ARE AI EVANGELISTS:
Many communications leaders are serving as evangelists inside their
companies about the opportunity to use AI. They have stepped ahead of
others in their company in terms of teaching themselves about the capability.
• An overwhelming number of respondents (83%) we surveyed said they place
a significant priority on acquainting themselves with AI, and more than 2 out
of 3 already somewhat consider themselves experts on the subject.
• This suggests an active hunger for learning and innovation among
communications leaders, and most are taking the effort to stay abreast of
the latest AI developments.
• While they have equipped themselves with AI knowledge, communicators
believe AI training for the workforce is necessary -- a staggering 84% also
think AI training and education is crucial for market leaders. However, only
29% of those we surveyed said their companies are currently investing in
training and educating the workforce in AI.
AI WILL HAVE STRATEGIC AS WELL AS TACTICAL IMPACT ON
COMMUNICATIONS:
Communication leaders expect their companies to use AI capabilities to
support a variety of communications and HR functions, including marketing,
insights and strategy, creativity as well as employee training.
AI-RELATED JOB THREAT NOT A MAJOR WORRY:
Armageddon-type worries about AI-enabled robots displacing humans in the
workplace have been around for a while, but not many believe their jobs are in
danger from the machines.
• Less than 20% of communication leaders cited job loss as the AI-related
issue that concerns them most.
• 34% believe AI adoption will increase jobs in the next five years.
DATA SECURITY CONCERNS RUN HIGH:
Communication leader see data security and consumer privacy as their
biggest concern in the next five years involving AI adoption.
• 50% are concerned about data security and consumer privacy and another
19% cited criminal use of technologies.
• 20% are concerned about job losses and 12% are concerned about machine-
led errors in decision making.

Table of Contents
07
14
Augmented Influence: How AI Will
Enhance Communications and
Marketing Value
AI, Smart Machines, and the
Communications Discipline
Global Lead for AI and Group Vice President, Publicis.Sapient
Rashed Haq
18 AI: How Prepared are Communicators?
Global research data analysis from Brazil,
China, France, Germany, India, Italy,
United Kingdom and the United States
30
40
51
AI Conversations: Brands that are Doing It
AI initiatives and plans from Coty and BMW
AI Conversations: Experts Weigh In
Insights from AI influencers on the millennial
perspective and the ethics around AI
Powered by AI: Our Predictions
A look at what an AI-driven future will look like
for the communications industry

More than half of the marketeres today
use AI and another 27 percent plan to
start in 2019, according to a recent
MSL's own research confirms
that communications leaders around
the world welcome the opportunity to
use AI to make their functions smarter,
more efficient and more productive.
We believe that AI will enable
communications and marketing to
move closer to the ideal of two-way
communication -- the only kind that is
‘really sticky.’
In the purest form of traditional
storytelling, a storyteller makes
adjustment in tone and plot based on
listener reaction. With the rise of mass
media, two-way communication
became more difficult because
the storyteller could not see the
audience responding to the story and
make adjustments.
Now through AI, entertainment
companies like
into how audiences interact with a
story at a very granular level -- pauses,
stops, not returning vs. returning, etc.
This helps improve the next story and
makes it stickier. Years back, they
could only tell if a DVD was renting
out frequently.
Of course, public relations practitioners
have always understood their work as
managing a two-way dialogue, and AI
will help them significantly achieve
that goal. In MSL's recent publication,
PR 2020, we referred to the trend of
survey.
Netflix gain new insight
1. Public Relations
PR Writing and Content
Creation
The Associated Press, the BBC,
Forbes, The New York Times and many
other media outlets enlist robot writers
to generate data-grounded stories like
earnings reports and sports, saving
valuable resources and time.
Automated writing technologies like
, , and The
Washington Post's Heliograf are
among the intelligent tools powering
robots. Data visualization tools such as
create infographics and
interactive visuals to make complex
information more interesting and
easier to understand.
While robot writers and data
visualization have grown significantly,
PR practitioners need to keep their
laptops plugged in. Clients need their
Quill Articoolo Wordsmith
Flourish
help with content expressing their
unique points of view and telling their
company and brand stories, which
robots can't do. PR pros also can take
advantage of AI tools to easily scale
production of standard press releases,
news announcements and website
content. This all results in the release
of a critical industry resource: time. PR
practitions can take advantage of all
their freed up time to think more
strategically about their work and
become stronger counselors. In this
sense, AI presents the opportunity
to upgrade the quality of the
profession by shifting time to more
strategic functions.
Augmented Influence:
How AI Will Enhance
Communications and
Marketing Value.
technology-enhanced communication
as “Augmented Influence.”
We predict the pace of AI adoption
will follow Kurzweil's
increasing
exponentially until today's disruptions
become the new normal.
We've mapped out some of the AI
communication applications we see in
play now, those coming in the near-
term and how they affect PR and
marketing practitioners.
Law of
Accelerating Returns,
| Powered by AI | 07

‘While robot writers and
data visualization have
grown significantly, PR
practitioners shouldn't
close their laptops just
yet. Clients need
content expressing their
unique points of view
and telling their
company and brand
stories, which robots
can't do.’
‘Being aware of
trends isn't enough.
PR practitioners
must step in at the
right moment and
determine the best
way to respond.’
Monitoring and Analytics
Monitoring is a PR fundamental once
limited to reading daily papers and
watching news videos. Now, real-time
dashboards and alerts from services
like Google Alerts, and
do much of the work. These
services are quickly becoming more
sophisticated and using AI to
understand communicators' and
clients' specific needs. There will soon
be no excuse for not staying on top of
relevant conversations and trends.
Being aware of trends, of course, isn't
enough. PR practitioners must step in
at the right moment and determine
the best way to respond. As Mark
McClennan, Senior Vice President,
MSL, explains, “To be most effective,
we need to go beyond surface
analysis, to delve deeper and identify
the passion and core triggers that can
create meaningful change. We need to
break down silos and integrate the
voice of the customer, social, location-
based insights, earned
media/influence, call center feedback
and third-party market insights. The
best AI solutions rely on us pointing
them in the right direction and
avoiding false flag traps.”
Talkwalker
TrendKite

Message Targeting and
Audience Optimization
Message targeting is certainly not new,
but AI elevates it to an entirely new
level. Communicators can create
materials and messaging directed to
the narrowest audience slivers, quickly
and cost effectively.
AI helps PR planners organize vast
amounts of data, enabling them
effectively to target the right message
and content to the right individuals.
Advanced tools, especially those that
identify high-potential influencers will
continue to evolve, offering tighter
alignment with the target audience.
Communications
Decision-Making
Companies across industries are
adopting AI-powered business
decision management (BDM) to give
leaders the information needed to
consider potential risks and make
decisions more quickly. BDM is also
being used to manage
communications with key stakeholders
including customers, suppliers
and employees.
In the near future, PR pros may be
able to use similar systems to check
decision-making in certain high-stakes
situations based on historical
outcomes. With human oversight,
these tools may become useful aid
during crises or issues.
‘Advanced tools,
especially those that
identify high-
potential influencers
will continue to
evolve, offering
tighter alignment
with the target
audience.’

Digital and Programmatic
Advertising
AI has become the core of digital
advertising. Platforms such as Google
Ads and Facebook use AI to capture
and analyze user interests and
demographics for advertisers and help
them improve targeting over time. This
drives higher conversion rates at the
lowest possible cost.
AI also drives programmatic
advertising, which uses software for
buying and selling ad inventory
through exchanges connecting
advertisers to publishers. AI algorithms
constantly analyze consumer behavior
patterns, enabling improved targeting
and real-time campaign optimization.
Marketers are on board, with
showing almost 84 percent
of U.S. digital display ad spending will
be automated by 2019. There are
concerns, including lack of consistent
measurement and agency
transparency, but positive results and
reduced costs are fueling momentum.
As valuable as it is to marketers, this
kind of ad buying, also has raised
concerns about consumer privacy and
brand safety. In a
‘advertisers said they were adjusting
their buying strategies to account for
better brand safety. Half of the
survey's respondents said they were
applying pressure on their partners to
ensure that brand safety concerns
would be met, and 45 percent said
they were moving their ad spend
to premium publishers with
good reputations.’
projections
recent survey
2. Advertising and Marketing
Email Marketing
With AI, marketers can personalize
emails based on target audience
behaviors and preferences to improve
campaign performance. Through
machine learning, they can tell when
it's best to contact each consumer,
how often and which subject
lines to use.
Marketers can access this intelligence
through tools like which can
generate human-sounding, brand-
compliant subject lines in minutes.
helps marketers
understand individual consumers and
act on that knowledge automatically
and in real time. generates
personalized emotional language to
drive sales and relationships.
Phrasee,
Zeta Global
Persado
‘Almost 84 percent of
U.S. digital display ad
spending will be
automated by 2019.’

| Powered by AI | 01| Powered by AI | 11
Voice Search
AI reinvented online search and search
engine optimization (SEO) by
enabling voice search on platforms
such as Apple's Siri, Amazon Echo,
Google Home and Microsoft's Cortana.
Google quickly learned, however, that
people use different language when
talking to a device than when typing
on a keyboard. Their RankBrain
algorithm uses AI to interpret
conversational searches and deliver
more relevant results.
Marketers, too, must translate content
into how people talk. Simple,
conversational keywords are in; long,
sophisticated words and phrases
found only in writing are out.
Chatbots
Chatbots are becoming common
substitutes for live representatives to
answer consumers' questions and fulfill
requests. Whether voice or text, most
chatbots rely on machine learning to
understand consumer inquiries and
come up with appropriate answers
with no wait times. Brands and
companies use chatbots on their
websites and in messenger apps like
Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
The good news for marketers is that
chatbots are always available, always
on-brand and on-message and keep
their cool when customers are upset.
The downsides are consumer
frustration with imperfect responses,
language misunderstandings and lack
of contact with a human being. Still,
solutions are improving rapidly, earning
chatbots a key role in many marketing
and communication programs.
Recommendation Engines
Amazon, Spotify, Netflix and web
search engines use machine learning
to offer customized recommendations
based on what people read, buy, listen
to and watch. They've expanded from
human-curated lists and ratings by
fellow customers to smart systems
that draw conclusions from consumers'
behaviors. For example, Netflix
changes the image you see for a
movie in your feed based on what
you've watched in the past to make it
more appealing.
Companies with vast inventories are
the heaviest users of recommendation
engines, helping consumers quickly
sort through the options and choose.
Integrating these systems into
marketing programs or developing
them for clients are opportunities for
marketers and communicators.
‘Marketers must
translate content into
how people talk.’
‘Chatbots are always
available, always on-
brand and keep their
cool when customers
are upset.’

3. Overall Support
Knowledge Management
Internal platforms to curate company
knowledge emerged in the mid-1990s
as intranets. Today, many are highly
sophisticated, collaborative resources
accessible on computers, smart
phones and mobile devices.
AI can enhance knowledge
management platforms in many ways.
As examples, users can search with
simple voice commands; get search
suggestions based on their location,
title or role; and receive content
ranked and sorted by relevance.
Advanced systems will deliver
background information, provide
additional content created in other
global network offices or external
resources, and notify users when new
related content is added. Eventually,
these platforms will be able to tease
out insights and learnings from
multiple pieces of information.
Knowledge management platforms
help users make smart decisions more
quickly than ever before. Marketers
should take advantage of their
powerful capabilities to make
communications decisions, develop
strategies, plan campaigns and craft
creative content.
‘Eventually,
knowledge
management
platforms will be able
to tease out insights
and learnings from
multiple pieces of
i”nformation.’
Creativity
AI could spark a resurgence of
communications creativity. First, AI-
driven knowledge management and
monitoring systems can produce
examples of inspiring creative instantly,
putting ideation materials at
communications leaders' fingertips.
Second, systems can draw inspiration
from around the world, ensuring
multiple perspectives and fresher
ideas. Third, using AI applications for
routine work gives communicators
more time to do what they do best,
which is plan campaigns and develop
brilliant creative.
‘Using AI
applications for
routine work gives
communicators more
time to do what they
do best.’

Predictive Analysis
Predicting what is to come, such as
the results of a campaign or the
impact on sales, is the next
communications frontier. AI-driven
analytics based on historical
performance and other data can
sharpen all forms of communication
before they're put into play.
The data are there. It's up to
communicators to find it, analyze it,
draw conclusions and make
decisions that transform them from
reactive situation managers to
proactive futurists ready to capitalize
on opportunities.
Talent Fit
Advanced AI systems can help
agencies and communications
departments find the right talent in
several ways. Programmatic
advertising allows recruiters to place
highly targeted ads where desirable
candidates will see them, profile
augmentation will eventually infer
candidates' interests and skills, and
automated resume screening provides
benchmarking to help find candidates
best suited for the job.
Content Management/User
Experience
A significant aspect of the user
experience (UX) is personalization.
A 2018 showed more
than 90 percent of marketers use
personalization in some way, with
more than three-quarters employing
it in emails and more than half on
websites. AI algorithms make it
possible to analyze one person's
demographics, devices, location and
other data and show content tailored
to him or her.
To keep website visitors engaged and
more likely to convert, PR and
marketing practitioners should
continually manage and customize
content. One simple example is to
show blog posts based on blogs and
topics the visitor previously viewed.
Evergage survey
‘More than 90
percent of marketers
use personalization
in some way.’
9 Applications Of Artificial Intelligence In Digital Marketing That Will Revolutionize Your Business
https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2017/03/20/how-advancements-in-artificial-intelligence-will-impact-public-
relations/#7a4589dc41de
https://bigfishpr.com/how-artificial-intelligence-will-change-public-relations/
https://www.computerworlduk.com/galleries/it-business/uses-of-ai-machine-learning-in-business-3639749/
http://www.shiftcomm.com/blog/predict-predictive-analytics-future-pr-part-1/
How AI and Public Relations Go Together Like PB&J Spin Sucks
The journalists who never sleep | Technology | The Guardian
Artificial Intelligence in Marketing and Advertising - 5 Examples of Real Traction applications of AI in advertising - Google Search
How Advancements In Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Public Relations
https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/how-new-netflix-recommendation-algorithm-works
AI-Powered Competitive Intelligence | Crimson Hexagon Blog
These are the bots powering Jeff Bezos Washington Post efforts to build a modern digital newspaper » Nieman Journalism Lab
https://www.space150.com/recommendation-engines-are-critical-to-the-future-of-content-discovery-2/
Sources:
‘Advanced AI
systems can help
agencies and
communications
departments find the
right talent in several
ways.’

AI, Smart Machines and
the Communications
Discipline
Deploying AI technology alongside
communications professionals can help you
amplify, rather than replace, the empathy that
makes successful communications work.
Over the last 20 years, Rashed has
helped companies transform and
create sustained competitive
advantage, through innovative
applications of AI, dynamic
optimization, advanced analytics and
data engineering.
Prior to joining Sapient, Rashed did
research in theoretical physics at the
Los Alamos National Lab and the
Institute for Theoretical Science. His
seminal paper on electromagnetically
induced transparency led to the
emerging cloaking technologies.
When external industry or geopolitical
events impact the organization in
dramatic ways, communications
executives are expected to respond
with lightning speed. But fast
turnaround, with stories that are clear,
informative and trusted, grows
increasingly challenging as the public
becomes more demanding. And no
executive wants to be the center of an
embarrassing Tweet-storm from a
story that leaves a seemingly
innocuous, but critical stone, unturned.
It’s a daunting task and one where
technology can help. By mining
mountains of raw data (in near to
real time), smart machines are
pinpointing that single piece of insight
needed to create an informed story
(whether it’s a mundane earnings
release or important response to a
game-changing event). While AI in
communications is relatively new,
early-adopters are proving its ability
to help resource-constrained
organizations appear as if they have an
army of researchers at their disposal.
Rashed Haq
GLOBAL LEAD FOR AI AND GROUP
VICE PRESIDENT, PUBLICIS.SAPIENT
‘By mining mountains
of raw data, smart
machines are
pinpointing that
single piece of
insight needed to
create an informed
story.’

If you feel bombarded by information, content, and endless
decision-making challenges, AI is something to consider.
But new skills will need to be acquired (see below).
‘While marketing and
communications teams
still have lessons to
learn, many AI proofs-
of-concepts are moving
into deployment.’
How Can You Cut Through
the AI Hype?
Garnering new skills around an
emerging technology that is
generating a lot of noise makes it
difficult to know where to begin. But,
as AI and smart machine technologies
mature and ‘lessons learned’ are
applied to early missteps and failures,
its capabilities will soon become
mainstream. While marketing and
communications teams still have
lessons to learn, many AI proofs-of-
concepts are moving into deployment.
Bloomberg, for example, uses smart
machines to automatically generate
data-driven stories about where a
sector is headed (by deriving insights
from an industry's collective earnings
releases and product announcements).
Many PR departments are using
Google's Radar to automate press
release writing. Marketing's use of
listening devices (to monitor trends
and social sentiment) have been in
place for years.
Communications professionals
will need to equip themselves
with more skills
41% AI will increase jobs for
communications
professionals
34% AI will decrease jobs
for communications
professionals
13%
AI won’t have too much
impact on communications
professionals
6% Don’t know
7%
How do you think AI will impact the communications and marketing
workforce in the next 5 years?
Reference: Toluna Analytics and MSL global survey of marketing and communications professionals

Perhaps the best way to begin is to
differentiate what Forrester calls
“pure AI” (where machines mimic
human thinking and reasoning) from
“pragmatic AI” which helps you
achieve specific tasks, much the way
Siri and Alexa help consumers.
How Should You Launch
Your AI Journey?
Pure AI examples include smart
advisors, which promise to help
executives see information beyond
their natural limitations and their
inherent blind spots. Smart advisors
will help executives mine data to
consider alternative decision paths --
and to provide greater insight into the
implications of those decisions. Today,
these types of capabilities are not
available off-the-shelf, rather they need
to be built by data scientists and
technologists that keenly understand
your industry and situation.
Pragmatic AI examples are more task-
oriented (and more available from
commercial vendors). For example in
regulatory compliance, AI-enabled
virtual assistants ingest manuals,
textbooks, or case law in a particular
domain -- to quickly educate
executives about a sector's regulatory
state. This same tool might audit a
sales proposal against your client's
purchasing policies and external
constraints to help avoid any
surprises later on that could delay
an important sale.

Your organization's most senior
technology executive has crafted a
vision (or even detailed plans) about
AI's current and future enterprise role.
Develop some use cases around pure
and pragmatic AI that align with your
own communications strategy and
priorities. Share them with your CIO to
get some definition around your own
proofs-of-concept, then develop a
communications plan about how
emerging technologies build business
advantage, not just for marketing and
communications, but for the whole
organization. AI is not another just
another emerging trend, rather a
general purpose technology that will
transform every business, including
your fiercest competitors.
Study the emerging vendors in your
space to get ideas. For example, AI-
enabled solutions from help
executives conduct large-scale
qualitative research faster, cheaper and
with greater statistical accuracy than
traditional approaches. Conversational
language providers such as
use data science and analytics
to draft fact-based stories about a
company or industry.
combines AI, analytics and natural-
language processing to quickly reveal
which sales techniques are proving to
be the most effective. Use your IT
organization to help you sort out and
evaluate the many AI vendors that are
emerging in the marketing, sales and
communications disciplines.
Remesh
Narrative
Science
Chorus.ai
What to do Next?
When it comes to AI, the biggest challenge marketing teams face will be calming
fears about job replacement from more automation. When constructing your
internal communications plan, it's important to show how the deployment of
smart machines alongside your marketing team will help you amplify, not replace,
the human touch that make great communications work. For example:
Make Your CIO an Ally1
Research the vendors2 Maintain Perspective3American artist and philosopher Elbert
Hubbard once said, “While one
machine can do the work of fifty
ordinary men, no machine can do the
work of one extraordinary man.” As
extraordinary as smart machines are,
like any technology, they offer
business leaders an extra set of
capabilities and tools to make more
informed decisions. But, machines
didn't come up with Choice Hotel's
successful ''
campaign, nor did they come up with
the , one of the
most successful viral moments in
marketing history.
Bada Book. Bada Boom.
Ice Bucket Challenge
Data science, AI, and smart machines can play a leading roles in developing
strategy and bringing precision to execution, but they are still limited when it
comes to crafting the creative risks many marketers are willing to take, that later
create business history.

AI: How Prepared
are Communicators?
In an effort to understand how
communications leaders view AI, the
potential it brings and the impact it may
have on their roles, we conducted an
online survey of primary marketing,
advertising and communication decision-
makers across nine global markets.

Our primary goal with this 5-minute global survey
has been to gauge:
how AI-ready brands and companies are
how prepared communicators are
attitudes and expectations about AI
communicators' needs and concerns about AI
what companies' plans are for adapting to and introducing new AI
technologies in their workplace and businesses
Research Notes
In order to get the most relevant insights for our report, we have surveyed those
leaders who have a direct and/or significant influence on the advertising,
marketing and PR/communications decisions made in their companies. For IT
products, 54% of our respondents say they are the primary and final decision-
makers in their companies, and when it comes to advertising/marketing/PR
decisions, 48% say there are the ones who make the final call.
Among others, our respondents are primarily from
the following sectors:
Financial & Professional Services
Technology
Manufacturing, Industrial & Defence
Consumer Goods
Health
Food, Beverage & Agriculture
Energy
Automotive
Communications Agency
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-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Research Methodology
MSL partnered with research firm to survey
1,846 marketing and communications leaders from
Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Poland,
United Kingdom and the United States.
Toluna

There is optimism
about a future
with AI, mixed
with some
apprehensions.
A majority of communicators feel the
impact AI will have on the future of
brand communications will be positive;
some are also concerned there could
be negative aspects to consider along
with the positive.
While there is general optimism about
what AI can do, 20% of those we
surveyed feel their companies worry
about AI and are not particularly keen
to experiment with it.
Respondents who feel largely
positive about an AI-driven future
in communications
Respondents who think the
implications will be both positive
and negative
Brazil
66%
China
78%
India
73%
Italy
51%
USA
65%
UK
47%
Our AI survey of marketing and communications leaders
across 9 countries unearthed some interesting insights -- some
expected and others new -- that are indicators of where the
global communications industry is, and where it is heading to,
when it comes to integrating AI in the communications mix.
Outlined below are some of our key takeaways
from this research:
1
38%
Both positive
and negative
55%
Positive
7%
Negative
What our respondents think the impact of AI on the future of brand
communications will be.
Germany
52%
Poland
57%
France
48%

This suggests an active hunger for learning and innovation among communications leaders, and most are taking the effort
to stay abreast of the latest AI developments.
An overwhelming number of respondents (83%) we surveyed said they place a
significant priority on acquainting themselves with AI, and more than 2 out of 3
already somewhat consider themselves experts on the subject.
"With respect to understanding AI,
especially how it can be applied to
business,
I would consider myself an expert."
How much of a priority do you place
on learning about AI to prepare
yourself for the future of the
workplace?
Not a
priority
at all
5%
Very high
priority
39%
Low
priority
12%
Fairly high
priority
44%
Strongly
Disagree
10%Strongly
Agree
28% Somewhat
Disagree
20%
Somewhat
Agree
43%
For communications leaders, AI is
more than a passing interest: many
have stepped ahead of others in their
company in terms of teaching
themselves about the capability.
2

Many of our respondents have
equipped themselves with AI
knowledge, and a staggering 84% also
think AI training and education is
crucial for market leaders.
AI training for the
workforce is a must...
...but most companies have
yet to implement training
While communications leaders globally
agree on the importance of AI training,
only 29% of those we surveyed said
their companies are currently investing
in training and educating the
workforce in AI.
This is an important insight for
companies -- communications
employees already consider AI
familiarization an important aspect of
their personal growth and
development, and are more than eager
to learn. They are waiting for the
company's direction in order to tap
into exponential creativity and deliver
unmatched results.
84%of those surveyed think AI
training & education is
crucial for market leaders.
3

Additionally, 63% think their organizations are trying to redefine their branding and positioning
to account for the changes AI is brings to the workplace.
Communication leaders expect their companies to use AI capabilities to support
numerous communications and HR functions, including marketing, insights and
strategy, creativity as well as employee training.
Companies will use AI to
support Marketing, Employee
Training, and Insights &
Strategy functions in the future
In which of these communications functions do you think
your company plans to include more AI-driven efforts?
Employee training 42%
Crisis management 26%
Marketing 47%
Insights & strategy 41%
Measurements 25%
Creativity 42%
Agency relations 25%
4

Companies are including
AI in their strategies to
compete and stay relevant.
AI is changing the communications landscape, and communicators worry that other companies that leverage AI at the
right time, in the right manner, will have an undeniable advantage over those who don't. Leaders are cognizant of this,
and recognize the need to fine-tune their AI capabilities if they are to stay in the game.
think that AI-driven customer
experiences are changing how
their organization goes to
market or interacts with
potential buyers.
66%
61%
feel their organization is
concerned that AI-driven
e-commerce is giving an
advantage to competitors.
5

Communications leaders at
companies think agencies
are doing a good job
leveraging AI...
Clearly, marketing and communications leaders on the brand and company side expect agencies to be early adapters and
change-makers when it comes to AI, especially since they themselves have built such a high interest. For agencies, it
underscores the opportunity to bring AI-change to clients, especially with client advertising, marketing and PR contacts in
the company being such an eager audience, looking for the innovative applications and ways of making communications
more efficient and more productive.
YES
70%
NO
30%
Do you think communications agencies (advertising, PR,
digital and media) leverage AI as much as they could for
their client work?
6
...but there is also the
opportunity for agencies to
do more.
While the majority of our global
respondents think that
communications agencies --
advertising, marketing, PR, digital -- do
a good job of making the most of AI
for their clients, some feel:
some agencies understand AI's
implications on business, but don't
offer strategic thinking about it.
other agencies are capable of
offering strategic thinking about
how AI can be utilized, but can
strengthen how they implement
programs.

Consumers are ready to
embrace AI – almost.
think consumers are ready to engage with their
brands via AI.
57%Most of our respondents felt that consumers were
ready for AI-driven engagements, and the actions
taken by their companies reflect this response.
However, 22% of respondents think it could be a few more years before consumers are ready, and 21% feel that
consumers are somewhat ready, just not completely there yet. What is most telling is that only 20% think
incorporating AI has made customer experiences better. Improving the AI customer experience is a key challenge for
client and agency collaboration.
42%
My firm uses AI to deliver
new, personalized and
value-added services to
customers.
7
23%
AI is already being
used in my firm's
customer
communications.
Incorporating AI has
created better
customer experiences
at my firm.
20%

AI won't take away
communications jobs, but only
as long as communicators
keep upskilling.
Armageddon-type worries about AI-enabled robots displacing humans in the
workplace have been around for a while, but not many believe their jobs are in
danger from the machines.
Only 13% of communications leaders said they fear AI technologies will result in
a decrease in jobs. In fact, nearly three times as many communications
professionals - 34% - believe that AI will increase jobs rather than reduce them.
8
While communications leaders are confident in their jobs despite the doomsday
warnings that come with AI, they also believe it is necessary for those in the
industry to upgrade their skill sets to complement AI.
AI won’t have too much impact on
communications professionals. 6%
Don’t know. 7%
13%
AI will decrease jobs for
communications professionals.
Communications professionals will need
to equip themselves with more skills. 41%
34%
AI will increase jobs for
communications professionals.
How our respondents think AI will
impact jobs in the next five years
34%Job increase
%
13Job decrease
Respondents who
that communications professionals
will need to equip themselves with
more skills
feel strongly
Respondents who are more positive
that AI will increase jobs for
communications professionals
Brazil
55%
China
47%
India
45%
Italy
45%
USA
51%
France
35%
Germany
32%
Poland
46%
UK
33%

Communicators see the
risks associated with AI.
Criminal
use of AI
technologies
19%
Machine-
led error
in decision
making
12%
Data security
& consumer
privacy
50%
Job losses
20%
Looking ahead to the next five years,
nearly 70% of communicators surveyed
are most concerned about data security
and consumer privacy issues or criminal
use of AI technologies.
Looking at the next five years, which AI-related
issues most concern you?
9

Key Learning
Our global research showed us that
communication leaders at companies
and brands share an optimism about
AI. Because of their strong skills in
analytical communication, creativity
and imagination, it is likely they are
better at envisioning an AI future
than others in their company,
explaining why many have taken the
initiative to teach themselves about
AI and have become early adapters
and evangelists inside their firms.
While we didn't ask communicators
about their relationships with IT and
the CIO who often set AI strategy at
the company level, the overall
relationship between IT and
communicators inside organizations
is known to be .
Certainly, in the Algorithm Age, there
is new reason to change that.
Communicators can have greater
input into the AI future of their firms
if they take the initiative to engage
with IT and the CIO. Likewise, it
certainly makes sense for companies
to engage their communications
leads in their AI projects as well.
Communicators, no matter if they
work in advertising, marketing or PR,
are more empathetic than others
around how customers and other key
stakeholders are experiencing the AI-
driven communication and weighing
the risks and concerns.
Communicators are the first line of
defense in preventing companies
from letting wayward bots own
communications.
weak
In many ways, AI presents a unique
challenge not only to
communicators, but to the firms they
work at. While it has many uses in
manufacturing and production, AI
also can play a critical role in how
companies communicate with
customers and other stakeholders,
instantly customizing messages
based on machine learning, all the
while predicting outcomes.
Communicators are right to show
early interest. AI has the potential to
transform their roles completely.

AI Conversations:
Brands that are Doing It
We spoke with two of our large clients
to understand their take on how AI
impacts their businesses today and
how they envision AI-led growth for
their businesses in the near future.

Coty: AI is Opening the
Door to Personalization
at Scale.
When we talk about AI's impact and
role at Coty, the place to start is the
end result for the consumer and, in
turn, for the organization. There's a
lot of emphasis now on brands
becoming more like service providers
and not just product companies. This
is true for us as a beauty company
and for the consumer packaged
goods (CPG) category as a whole.
We can no longer just put items on
the shelf; today's consumers want
value and services heavily rooted in
one-to-one personalization.
‘We can no longer
just put items on the
shelf; today's
consumers want
value and services
heavily rooted in
one-to-one
personalization.’
Fred Gerantabee is global vice
president of Digital Innovation for Coty,
one of the world's largest beauty
companies. Coty's iconic portfolio of
brands includes COVERGIRL and
Rimmel in the consumer beauty
category, Calvin Klein and Hugo Boss
in prestige fragrances and skincare,
and Wella Professionals and OPI for
salon owners and professionals.
With experience developing both
technology applications and products
for agencies and corporations, Fred
has unique perspectives on AI's current
and future roles at Coty and in
business in general.
Fred Gerantabee
GLOBAL VICE PRESIDENT
OF DIGITAL INNOVATION, COTY

Like many organizations, we've
collected a ton of data over the last
decade-plus, but we don't always use
it, at least not as fast as we should. AI
gives us more sophisticated ways to
extract, classify and interpret not just
hard test data, but visual data as well.
As an example, we use computer
vision, an AI field aimed at giving
computers a visual understanding of
the world, to analyze trends from the
social media space. For a beauty
company, extracting what's happening
visually in fashion and culture is far
more important and powerful than just
pulling metadata or reading captions,
where much of the context is lost.
Using AI for insights and trend mining
not only helps us be a more dynamic
marketing organization, it guides our
product research and development
(R&D). As we try to shorten the
product development cycle, we see AI
as critical to determining what we
should take to market.
It's not enough anymore to assume
that because Julia is 25 and lives in
Chicago, Illinois, she likes the same
things as 1000 other people with
similar demographics. With AI, we can
go further and aggregate first-,
second- and third-party data to create
highly dimensionalized profiles unique
to each consumer. We can then have
what feel like personalized
conversations with each of them and
use human-in-the-loop (HITL) machine
learning to optimize and evolve those
conversations over time to be even
more relevant to each person.
While bringing one-to-one personalization in communication aimed at
consumers has historically been difficult to do at scale, we believe AI can help us
achieve it in two meaningful ways:
Using data to drive product
development cycle1
Going beyond segmentation
to create better consumer
experiences2
1) the creative and media we serve,
2) the conversations we have with consumers and
3) the data security we implement to protect our consumers and business.
The increased demand for value and service impacts everything we
do at Coty, including
In turn, we see AI affecting the way we approach each of these areas.

Rethinking creative
approaches and brand
management
The “big idea” has always been core to
the creative process for companies
and agencies. While still important,
what matters today is where the big
idea comes from. It can't be rooted
solely in one person's opinion or
someone saying, “Hey, I've got a good
idea;” it needs to solve a real problem
or need. At Coty, for example, we're
not just convincing consumers we
have the right lipstick; we're answering
a higher order mandate to make
people feel good, confident and able
to express themselves.
With AI giving us a more
dimensionalized view of the
consumers we talk to, we think very
differently about our creative
approach. Instead of testing two or
three concepts where we're either this
or that, we marry the big idea with
data to ensure it's meaningful to
consumers. Functioning this way
is actually much more effective for big
ideas. Some of the best campaigns
I've seen were based on insights from
real data -- sometimes data sitting in
plain sight.
This level of insights and intelligence
leads us back to AI and the people
involved in the chain. It used to be the
creatives sat in one part of the
building and data scientists sat in the
other. That's a fail. They should sit in
the same space and talk to each other
every day. Data scientists derive
insights for our creatives to build upon.
We need to integrate these capabilities
to get the most value from them.
We must also think differently about
doing things in line with the brand. We
once saw brand identity as very
superficial. We made sure our
photography, fonts and creative were
right and our message was consistent
across media. It's much more visceral
now. Our services, alliances,
partnerships, consumer tools and
platforms must all take into account
what the brand stands for.
‘Data scientists
derive insights for
our creatives to build
upon. We integrate
these capabilities to
get the most value
from them.’
From a technology standpoint
especially, everything must roll up to
the brand. When my group thinks
about a new piece of technology or a
platform, we really have to root it to
that identity. If a platform plays in a
space that isn't true to the brand, or if
we partner with a company that
doesn’t support diversity the way we
do as a company, it is not authentic to
who we are and for our consumer.
People know when brands don't
deliver what they promise, whether it's
a product attribute, personal service or
a higher order mission.
‘What matters today
is where the big idea
comes from.’

Evolving smarter
conversations with
consumers
Meaningful conversations with
consumers are incredible sources of
knowledge and insights. AI gives us
the ability to optimize these
conversations. At Coty, we've used a
few straightforward, decision tree-
based messaging tools, but now we're
using natural language processing
(NLP) for speech-to-text translation
and context. It's a great data mining
tool because it helps us understand
how people talk about our services
and products and evolve the way we
talk about them ourselves for a more
personalized consumer experience.
Additionally, the launch of our Digital
Accelerator has been another step
towards transforming our digital
capabilities across the organization.
In 2018, we took this initiative a step
further by bringing in external start-
ups to the mix, and making AI the
priority area. We now look forward to
working closely with the winners of
the program -- ,
and , as well as other
participant companies that joined us
to build AI tools that will help
drive more seamless consumer
shopper experiences.
Nudest Skingenie
Glamtech
Putting data security in
proper balance
Data security is second nature at Coty.
We think constantly about where data
is stored, how data is transported and
breach contingencies. But keeping
up with evolving vulnerabilities,
including those made possible by AI,
is a challenge.
The types of data we capture, for
example, are changing. The definition
of personally identifiable information
(PII) used to be straightforward, as in
name, email address and Social
Security number. Now, social identities
and universally unique identifiers
(UUID) are in the mix too. New devices
and non-owned platforms also create
ambiguity. Voice-powered devices
introduce variables that test the limits
of privacy. Many new data points,
especially in chat platforms like
Messenger, are being scanned. Who's
the responsible party or owner of
that data: the brand, the agency,
whoever built the tool or a platform
like Facebook?
Years ago, people were apprehensive
about allowing devices or software in
their lives. Today, despite all the
security concerns, we are consciously
or unconsciously willing to trade
privacy for personalization,
convenience and utility. Devices such
as Amazon's Alexa and Google's
virtual assistant can potentially listen
to everything we say and know exactly
when we order batteries and diapers.
The question is how we balance the
tradeoffs and mitigate as much risk as
much as possible. AI can certainly
help by accelerating threat detection
and response.

We use AI to better understand what
individual consumers care about and
then tailor our services and
experiences accordingly. We want to
have conversations with consumers,
wherever they take place that resonate
and evolve over time based on their
interests and needs.
Historically, R&D has driven many
organizations but lacked access to
critical data insights. We think the
insights derived from AI are as
pertinent to R&D as they are to the
people creating advertising and
marketing. We make it a priority to
share this knowledge with our teams
across the board.
The Future of AI at Coty
While AI's enormous potential is impossible to quantify, it will no doubt play an
increasingly significant role at Coty. We've identified three areas of our business
where we believe the technology's impact will be most profound:
Personalized and assisted
commerce tools and services1
Insights mining for
communication and product
development2
Understanding and
qualifying consumers3With AI, we can do a better job engaging
the right consumers with products that
fit their aesthetics, lifestyles, ethical
viewpoints, color choices and more. This
is the first step to creating truly
personalized experiences.
With all the upside AI offers, organizations must be cognizant of the challenges
it can create internally and externally. If we create great consumer-facing tools
but fail to optimize supply and demand, delivery or availability, our efforts will
fall flat. From an enterprise standpoint, AI can help streamline these
increasingly intertwined functions to ensure we meet each consumer's
expectations and our organizational goals.

BMW: AI is more than
Autonomous Driving
During his 22 years with the company,
he has worked on three continents,
held positions in total vehicle quality
and research and development, and
was Vice President of Aftersales.
Prior to his current role as Regional
Vice President, Craig was Vice
President of Customer Experience and
Chief Customer Officer, where he was
responsible for BMW's dealer network
development and training, the in-
dealership customer experience and
the customer experience with BMW
service departments. He sees
intriguing opportunities to use AI to
better understand, educate and
engage his three ‘audiences’, car
buyers, dealers and employees.
Craig Westbrook
VICE PRESIDENT,
BMW NORTH AMERICA,
U.S IMPORTER OF BMW LUXURY/
PERFORMANCE VEHICLES
When I think about AI, I immediately
go to autonomous driving and other
automotive applications. After all,
I'm a car guy. But I also realize the
implications are much broader and
touch every part of our business, from
manufacturing to communications to
brand positioning.
AI illustrates perfectly why we must
change our thought processes and
acceptance levels at lightning speed.
Here's a parallel: Not that long ago, I
warned my daughters about this thing
called the Internet. I said don't go on
it, but if you do, don't tell anybody
who you are. If you do that, don't ever
ask them to meet you somewhere.
And if you do that, do not -- under
any circumstances -- get in their car.
Guess what? Now we all do these
things every day and call it Uber.
This just shows how quickly the
consumer journey is evolving, both in
terms of the experience and how
people perceive brands. At BMW, we
know AI can open exciting new
avenues in the way we approach our
end user customers, our dealers, our
employees and our products. We also
know to expect everything from
excitement to unfamiliarity to fear
as we incorporate AI into our
everyday work.
‘AI illustrates
perfectly why we
must change our
thought processes
and acceptance
levels at lightning
speed.’

Building the consumer
purchase experience
Convenience and trust are key to
consumers. As an example, in the UK,
we sell cars online and provide
support via chat lines. It's very
successful, in part because we have
real people conversing with
consumers. Potential buyers feel
they're talking to someone who cares
about their wants and needs and they
can end the conversation whenever
they want. They don't feel stuck on the
line with someone who just wants to
sell them a car.
There are pros and cautions to moving
a process like this to AI. It can certainly
give us more intelligence and allow us
to quasi-interact online with
consumers who want to be
anonymous and don't want a super-
personal experience. Our functionality,
for instance, can prequalify buyers and
recommend cars based on their
answers to lifestyle questions. AI can
make these interactions more
interesting and go further even than
the telephone in some cases. But
authentic, interpersonal
communication via AI is still a future
move for BMW. Until the technology
reaches a very high level of
sophistication, we are placing more
value on functional applications.
‘We see AI enabling
us to leverage
existing data to add
more value to the
consumer journey.’
Adding new value to the
broad consumer journey
A few years ago, I would never have
imagined I would have an app to show
me where my electric car is, where I
can charge it and where I can park it.
Now it's an integral part of what we
offer, which dovetails with automotive
engineering design: what cars look
like, what they do by themselves, how
fast they do it, etc.
There's no question we've thought
about how the product will fare, but
what about the consumer using that
product? Who are they? What do they
expect from their cars and from us?
That's where I see AI making a big
impact, enabling us to leverage
existing data to add more value to the
consumer journey.
‘We know to expect
everything from
excitement to
unfamiliarity to fear as
we incorporate AI into
our everyday work.’

How AI affects dealers and
employees
I mentioned fear as one of the
reactions companies might expect
from their constituents when they
introduce AI into their processes.
People across industries, not just
automotive, have embedded attitudes
and resist change, especially if it
threatens the way they've always
done things. As leaders, we can
diffuse these fears by educating our
teams about AI, what it does and why
it's good. I don't need our dealers to
know how AI technology is built, they
just need to understand how we apply
it to benefit our customers. I see this
as a missing piece that good
communication can help solve.
I also think AI can help us close a
workforce gap. In the automotive
industry, we have a one-size-fits-all
approach to training. That needs to
change. I'd like to see AI help us
understand, based on events and
data, what employees' strengths and
weaknesses are. That way, if one guy
wants to be a master technician and
another wants to change tires, we're
not judging them on the same criteria,
but on each person's specific goals
and contributions.
These applications, of course, could
help us retain good people, which is
where many employers need to focus.
Industry -- wide, turnover among
automotive sales people in the U.S. is
around 50%! And we know it's also
high for technicians, who represent
our greatest training investment. AI
could help us identify trends so we
know what to leverage to get
employees to stay.
Handling privacy issues
properly
BMW, like all companies, is amassing a
tremendous amount of data on
consumers. The challenge lies in how
to leverage data with AI tools to
create better consumer experiences
without compromising privacy.
We believe there will be a gradual
reach into the consumer zone for
intelligence and insights. Each time,
we'll go a bit deeper until we find the
point where data collection should
stop and consumer privacy start. We
must also ask, when consumers
“surrender” their data, do they really
know what they willingly give up?
Educating consumers on what
happens to their data makes it easier
for us to collect what we need without
crossing the line, an important aspect
of brand credibility and trust.
At BMW, we believe there are certain
places where people and machines
don't go together -- when it comes to
making an actual sale, for example, we
find that in-person interactions with
consumers are what work best. But
once we tailor the AI experience to
willing consumers, we can build
mutually beneficial relationships that
consumers genuinely value.
‘W
ta, do
they really know
wh
hen consumers
“surrender” da
at they willingly
give up?’
‘AI could help us
identify trends so we
know what to
leverage to get
employees to stay.’

What's next for AI at BMW
Obviously, we're full speed ahead with AI in product innovation. In other parts of
our business, we're at varying points along the spectrum, exploring possibilities
that make sense for us and our consumers. From a communications standpoint,
I see our biggest near-term opportunities in these areas:
Consumers today expect more from brands and don't necessarily care how you
develop or deliver it. At BMW, we don't want to be known as a car maker or as
AI experts. We want consumers to trust us as a premium provider of mobility
services. AI is part of the recipe that can help us get there and delight every
single consumer throughout the BMW journey.
AI is broadly democratic in its
first application, but by the
time it gets down to the
individual consumer level,
things get interesting. We think
AI can help us dig deeper into
existing data on existing
platforms to tailor our
engagement with consumers in
creative, compelling ways.
1
Consumer
experience
improvements
It's mind-boggling to think how
many ways we can use AI to
make our products and
services better for customers.
The trick is to do it not just for
technology's sake, but in
response to what consumers
tell us they need and want.
2
Connecting
products to
consumer expectations
At BMW, we think privacy is
more than securing data. It's
also ensuring consumers know
what data they're giving us,
why and what the possible
implications are. Clear
communication and education
ensure we never cross the line
and jeopardize consumer trust.
3Privacy
protection
The automotive industry is
more than 100 years old and
some traditions die hard. Our
dealers must adapt to new AI-
driven marketing, advertising,
sales channels, offer
customization and other
processes. Everyone's at a
different place in understanding
AI, so it's up to us to educate
them and show them real-
world successes.
4Dealer
education
My training director has
reminded me that investment
in our workforce must yield
higher retention. We think AI
applications can help us get in
front of this issue to optimize
our training dollars and reduce
employee turnover.
5Employee
training

AI Conversations:
Experts Weigh In.
We also asked other AI experts from across the
spectrum about their thoughts on AI and how it
will impact business and society. They shared
their insights on where AI stands now, the
challenges and opportunities it brings and what
the future looks like.

MSL: First of all, how well
do you think Millennials
understand AI and how
receptive are they to AI-
driven technologies and
services?
Christopher: I think all of us, not just
Millennials, often misinterpret what AI
is and is not. AI has become a bit of a
buzzword slapped on products. Does
it refer to an artificial entity that can
think, grow and is self-aware, or is it a
machine that can actually mimic
natural cognitive functions such as
learning and solving problems?
Because AI is still largely undefined
and lacks scope, it's tricky to truly
understand. I believe personal AI
assistants like Cortana from Microsoft,
Siri from Apple, Alexa from Amazon,
the Google Assistant and other such
services will do the pioneering work
for AI-driven technologies. These
essential user experiences, which
Millennials are highly receptive to, will
shape future interactions with all types
of AI for the better.
‘Essential user
experiences, which
millennials are highly
receptive to, will
shape future
interactions with all
types of AI for the
better.’
Christopher Isak is the founder and
managing editor of , an
online magazine focused on
technology-related topics and news for
consumers and businesses. He is also
an information technology (IT) and
business analyst for
, where he supports
global enterprises and helps enable
collaboration on an international scale.
Christopher provides his perspectives
on how Millennials perceive and will
interact with AI and how it will shape
the future world.
TechAcute
Global Media
Services (GMS)
Christopher Isak
FOUNDER AND MANAGING
EDITOR OF TECHACUTE
The Tech Natives and AI:
Christopher Isak looks
through a Millennial lens.

‘Millennials will be
the most active users
of AI technologies
and the most critical
in questioning the
systems.’
Christopher: Collectively, Millennials
differ from other demographic groups
in many ways, but I hesitate to put
them into a drawer with respect to AI.
As individuals, they have a wide range
of feelings and opinions about
products and technologies. I will say,
however, that Millennials are more
likely to interact with AI if they grew
up in a household that embraced
digital devices and the internet quite
early in comparison to others.
If Millennials like and trust AI as
consumers, they will very likely
demand the same ease of solving
problems in their work environments.
From my point of view, Millennials will
be the most active users of AI
technologies and the most critical in
questioning the systems.
MSL: How do you think
Millennials will engage with
AI products and
technologies differently
from other demographic
groups as consumers and in
the workplace?

‘Companies leverage
AI with contextual
user data to improve
the experience in
ways we couldn't
imagine a couple of
years ago.’
Christopher:
between those who support AI and
those who don't, but it is not a matter
of demographics. As an example, the
line will be drawn between people
who use self-driving vehicles and
those who will not, under any
circumstances, let AI control them,
their location or anything about them.
Let's play out a possible scenario.
Once governments start using self-
driving vehicles, the divide will
become more apparent. Insurance
companies could make it so expensive
to drive vehicles yourself that it's
economically unviable for everyday
citizens to stay on the steering wheel.
A governmental ban on human driving
could follow. This is likely the nearest
possible moment where people will
either support or oppose AI.
There is already a divide
MSL: If Millennials are more
comfortable with AI than
other generations, will it
create a generational divide
and where will that divide
be drawn?
Christopher:
discussion about privacy protection
and data usage, I find it interesting
how some companies leverage AI with
contextual user data to improve the
experience in ways we couldn't
imagine a couple of years ago. My
smartphone can suggest apps I'm
likely to need based on my usage
pattern, time of day, geographical
location and other metadata the
phone manufacturer or owner of the
AI assistant knows about me.
When I wake up, I get the news I want.
When I leave the house, I get an app
to buy a commute ticket. When I have
a meeting coming up, my phone tells
me about it, the participants and the
route I have to take to get there.
While there is a lot of
MSL: As a Millennial
yourself, what do you like
most about how AI is
influencing society?
Christopher:
advance the human race and protect
our world is desirable, we must make
sure the technology is equipped with
rules. Humankind is controversial, to
say the least. A newly "born" entity
that knows nothing but logic could
consider humans not only irrelevant,
but even see us as threats to the
existence of the planet and therefore a
threat to the existence of AI.
Before we research and develop things
too fast, now is the time to define laws
that are priorities to all AI in use and
do it so they cannot be bypassed.
Technological advancement must not
become our downfall.
While leveraging AI to
MSL: What are your biggest
concerns about AI and how
it will be used?
These functions are really what an AI
assistant is about. It assists you, helps
you, makes your day simpler. These
features and functions are just the
beginning and I am very interested to
see more soon. It's only now, after a
decade, that smartphones are truly
smart, even though they might not yet
be truly intelligent.

Christopher:
science, research and development has
massive potential, but as with every
technological milestone, we need to
make sure it cannot be turned to harm
humans. AI can be used not only for
consumer entertainment and
commercial uses, but also to discover
cures for terrible illnesses.
We cannot rush into this space blindly.
We should rapidly think about how to
regulate and govern progress not to
slow our options down, but to
preserve our environment and life as
we know it. AI must always recognize
humans and the living environment as
priorities and necessities for its own
existence. For Millennials and every
generation before and after us, this is
most important.
I believe this field of
MSL: Any last thoughts
on AI?
‘AI must always
recognize humans
and the living
environment as
priorities and
necessities for its
own existence.’
Christopher:
Amazon played a crucial role in
generating demand for product
quality, customer service and delivery
speed. All of that combined to create
a high comfort level users were not
familiar with. Beyond tackling retail,
Amazon put a lot of effort into raising
the bar even further with things like
Amazon Dash buttons or asking your
Alexa AI assistant to order more
cookies for you. These developments
changed the way we consume.
AI has even more potential for
disruption in business and industry. If a
company uses AI to make decisions,
why would they keep analysts and
other knowledge workers around?
If AI can optimize team performance
to a record high, why do they need
managers? If robots already do a great
job on all fronts, why keep workers?
And most intriguingly, if AI always
makes the right decisions and never
sleeps, why do we need CEOs? We
could take this further and further until
we're talking about a dystopian future,
but I really don't feel that negative
about it or think we should be too
critical. When leveraging AI, one of the
most important aspects is to not stop
thinking on our own, but to stay
relevant and keep improving.
To name one example,
MSL: What are your top
predictions of AI's impact
on business and industry?
‘When leveraging AI,
one of the most
important aspects is
to not stop thinking
on our own, but to
stay relevant and
keep improving.’

The Humanity of AI:
John Havens and Jeff Catlin
Spotlight the Ethical Questions.
Jeff: It is similar to the human role in
computer-human interactions. When
using AI, we must ask the right
questions, provide data and act on
recommendations and predictions. If
we point AI the wrong way, we're
going to make bad decisions.
A human should have their finger on
the trigger for any decision that could
impact someone's life. AI should
make recommendations that
humans can act on.
MSL: What is the human
role in AI interactions?
MSL engaged two ethical
experts around the
humanity of AI, a rich topic.
Jeff Catlin is co-founder and CEO of
the leader in ‘worlds-first’
machine learning and AI that translates
text into profitable decisions for social
media monitoring, reputation
management and voice of the
customer programs. With more than
20 years of experience in the fields of
search, classification and text analytics
products and services, he offers a
unique perspective on how ethics play
into AI interactions. Jeff is a frequent
contributor to Forbes and VentureBeat
where he shares his unique perspective
on technology-related issues.
Lexalytics,
Jeff Catlin
CO-FOUNDER AND
CEO OF LEXALYTICS
John C. Havens
IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of
Autonomous and Intelligent Systems
The Council on Extended
Intelligence
Heartificial
Intelligence: Embracing Our Humanity
To Maximize Machines,” and “Hacking
Happiness: Why Your Personal Data
Counts and How Tracking It Can
Change the World.”
is executive director of
the
and
. He is the former executive
vice president of Social Media at
Porter Novelli, where he worked with
clients including P&G, Gillette, HP and
Merck. John is a contributor to
Mashable and The Guardian on
technology and wellbeing issues and
the author of the books, “
He shares his
interesting insights on how to preserve
humanity as AI technologies advance.
John C. Havens
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE
IEEE GLOBAL INITIATIVE ON ETHICS
OF AUTONOMOUS AND INTELLIGENT
SYSTEMS

John: The primary loss of humanity
comes from people's inability to
access and control their data. While
government protections like the
European Union's General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) are
essential, corporations and brands
must support sovereign identity
structures allowing individuals to have
their own digital/algorithmic 'terms
and conditions.' Organizations like
and are paving the
way for blockchain-like, peer-to-peer
(P2P) methodologies where individuals
can provide incredibly specific and
useful information to brands, but only
when companies commit to using that
data the way customers stipulate.
Meeco.me MyData
MSL: As AI starts leading so
many customer interactions,
what is the danger of losing
the humanity in customer/
brand relationships?
‘The primary loss of
humanity comes from
people's inability to
access and control
their data.’

‘The most powerful
enemy of ethical
decision-making
is bias.’
Jeff: The most powerful enemy of
ethical decision-making is bias.
Biases can be implicit or explicit,
known and unknown. All AI has
biases; it is not the pointy-eared
Vulcan myth of Spock, which is all
logic. AI bias depends on the data
we feed it and how we structure
the ‘learning’.
AI’s major advantage is that its
biases are potentially quantifiable
and always consistent, so we can
account for them. This reduces
biases’ impact and leads to
inherently more ethical decisions.
MSL: How do you think AI
can contribute to better
ethical decision-making?
‘Organizations that
don't allow users to
have their own terms
and conditions for
exchanging personal
data will seem not
only behind the
times but of
questionable ethical
standing.’
John: In terms of data, companies
should create P2P, blockchain-enabled
channels for their customers right away.
The first brands to do this will
experience a massive burst of trust
from customers and a clear market
edge. Soon, organizations that don't
allow users to have their own terms
and conditions for exchanging
personal data will seem not only
behind the times but of questionable
ethical standing.
Disclosure is essential to using AI to
interact with customers. People don't
like to feel tricked, even when an AI
chatbot or algorithm is technologically
exciting. Disclosure doesn't have to be
dry and overly legal; it's communication
about your AI system that will teach
customers how and why you're
reaching out to them. This has to do
with agency. When people feel they're
part of a magic show, for instance,
they're open to being surprised and
amazed. In the theatre world, this is
called, "the willful suspension of
disbelief." But when a device is in your
home and you don't know why it did
something, you will not trust the
manufacturer no matter what their
intentions are. Disclosure is the key.
MSL: How do brands and
companies deal with this
challenge and maintain
humanity in customer
relationships?

Jeff: Biases can be minimized in AI,
but not removed entirely. Society is
biased, therefore the data we generate
is as well. Keep in mind, bias is simply
a slant. It doesn't have to be good or
bad, but it should be quantified.
There's a lot of interesting research
going on right now on detecting
problematic bias; for example, the sort
that would lead a deserving person (in
the U.S.) to be disqualified for a loan
based on their ethnicity. There are no
great answers, but best practices are
to have very broad data gathering
processes and aggressive test cases.
A broad testing set allows institutions
to understand biases and account
for them with training data or in
direct tuning.
MSL: Can we remove biases
from the data we feed into
AI? What do humans need
to understand about this
and how do we
compensate?
John: This is what we've tried to do
with IEEE, which now has fourteen
approved standardization projects (the
IEEE P7000™ series) focused on
ethical Autonomous and Intelligent
Systems (A/IS). Standards form a type
of soft governance and work because
they're created by consensus over two
to three years with a lot of people
from multiple industries asking
questions like, "How do we eradicate
negative algorithmic bias?" It is in
these in-depth, global conversations
that innovation happens. People truly
empathize with colleagues in various
disciplines and fully understand
cultural specifics that affect AI design.
MSL: John, you've written it
is time for the AI industry to
create ethical standards and
leverage innovation
stemming from transparent
stakeholder dialogue. Can
you explain?
‘Bias is simply a
slant. It doesn't have
to be good or bad,
but it should be
quantified.’

John: I don't see motivation for
businesses to avoid automation to
ensure humans will have jobs in the
current status quo. Unless society
changes the focus on gross domestic
product (GDP)-driven exponential
growth, which automation serves, the
bottom line will always win. This isn't
any company's fault -- where
shareholder value is in place as the
ultimate goal it's a legal mandate.
Unless we go triple bottom line in our
priorities as a society, where new legal
models like the provide
ways for organizations to get from
point A to point B, there will be no
labor equality. Everything that can be
automated will be. It's not a question
of if, but when. You will never read a
headline saying, "The X industry has
decided to stop creating AI because
they're worried about human workers."
B-Corporation
MSL: With AI, some
companies may choose to
reduce reliance on the
human workforce. What is
your take on the ethics of
an automation-led society?
Jeff: There is an unfortunate tendency
to believe AI is some sort of panacea
for all human problems. Humans are
seen as being slow and expensive.
That may be true in some cases, but
we're also really good at certain
decisions. If we take humans
completely out of the loop on life-
changing decisions and leave
everything to AI, there is the potential
to make lots of really bad decisions
really quickly.
Some major AI ethical issues will look
familiar, such as the pathological thirst
for data that leads to risky and
unethical decision-making. Some
issues will be new, for instance,
blaming a medical device company's
machine or AI for products shipped
out with bad parts. A discussion of
is a good
overview of the possibilities.
autonomous car liability
MSL: What are the ethical
risks of AI? What kinds of
corporate crises could AI
ethical lapses spark?
‘If we take humans
completely out of
the loop on life-
changing decisions
and leave everything
to AI, there is the
potential to make
lots of really bad
decisions really
quickly.’

‘Now more than ever,
influencers and
decision-makers must
understand AI's
positive and negative
implications and
leverage it to
maximize the positive
impact on business
and society.’
John: If companies truly want to
ensure humanity in customer
interactions, they must keep humans
involved in all AI processes. Beyond
‘human in the loop’ protections to
make AI transparent and
accountable, this means actually
prioritizing areas where AI will never
be allowed to take over a human's
role, at least not completely.
The other thing to do is train humans
in emotional intelligence, empathy
and compassion. While AI can
replicate aspects of human emotions,
it is not human or emotive, but a
mirror of our innate abilities. This
doesn't mean AI-oriented emotion is
not fantastic and hugely useful. There
are times when humans prefer AI
emotion over human scrutiny; a great
example is soldiers with post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
talking to AI therapists.
MSL: How should companies
develop and design AI
products and services to
ensure they maintain
humanity?
Jeff: When we talk about getting
‘smarter’ with AI, semantics are
important. AI alone will not make
anyone smarter. More knowledgeable,
yes; able to process more data, yes.
But not smarter, and therein lies the
rub, just like when using a computer.
People can drive AI to make poor
recommendations, then use it to justify
unethical behavior. Now more than
ever, influencers and decision-makers
must understand AI's positive and
negative implications and leverage it
to maximize the positive impact on
business and society.
MSL: How will AI make
business leaders smarter?
The final thing is to prioritize applied
ethical methodologies in design. This is
often called
based on Batya Friedman's work, and
functions as a sort of ‘agile for ethics.’
These methodologies don't use
utilitarianism or virtue ethics to make
final decisions, but they help design
teams ask questions based on these
traditions that they may not have
asked in the past. AI directly affects
human agency, emotion and identity,
so methodologies providing new levels
of due diligence are extremely
important to employ.
value sensitive design,

Powered by AI:
Our Predictions
Communicators and marketers have
come a long way in a short time from
struggling with the ambiguity of AI to
experimenting and applying it to
business initiatives. While it may seem
like AI will be taking over every aspect
of business, MSL and Publicis.Sapient
experts believe we are still in the
experimentation phase, just beginning
to scratch the surface of what it can
do for communications.
Here's how we believe AI will impact
the role of communicators over the
course of the next few years:
AI will be a key priority for
communications
professionals.
AI's role in human interactions is
expanding. This will create a societal
shift in how people consume
information, which communications
must reflect. Communications
professionals already see the need for
AI expertise and will prioritize it even
more in the near future.

AI will transform
relationships between
communicators and
technology experts.
Communications and IT, two groups
that historically functioned
separately, will come together to
imagine, develop and navigate AI
applications. Communicators will
take the lead in establishing these
relationships and the two groups will
become unlikely collaborators in
technology-based communications
solutions.
AI will help communicators
do better work.
With AI helping communicators
delve deeper and more precisely into
consumer and market insights, they
will be equipped to develop more
meaningful messages for brands and
stakeholders. In an era of fragmented
attention, leveraging AI will help
astute communicators stay ahead of
the competition.
AI will make measurement
more actionable.
AI-driven capabilities will enable
marketers to glean accurate insights
into campaign effectiveness. This will
happen in two ways -- ‘listening’ will
engage a broader set of data sources
and more data, and AI will be able to
look for not just the general
sentiment but also the outliers that
would otherwise go unnoticed. As
listening tools allow for a more
precise understanding of what is
happening in the marketplace,
marketers will be better able to
quickly and appropriately adjust
messages. They'll identify well-
performing platforms and content
assets and redirect investments to
leverage those that deliver.
AI will shift
communicators' tasks from
the mundane to the more
interesting.
AI will change the way
communications professionals
function day-to-day and lessen the
time spent on rudimentary tasks like
monitoring, reporting, news scanning
and sentiment analysis. With these
out of the way, communicators will
focus on actionable insights, creative
breakthroughs and sharper
communications strategies.
AI will force brands to be
more accurate and
transparent.
As technology makes brand and
consumer interactions more
apparent, brands will pay careful
attention to how they position
themselves. They will build their
identities to match a tech-savvy
market, stakeholders and
competitors who can easily point out
discrepancies. It will be harder to
stray from stories borne out by data.
AI will alter brand-
consumer engagement.
Sophisticated machine learning will
compel more brands to use AI
applications like chatbots and digital
assistants to engage with consumers.
By facilitating reliable, quick, around-
the-clock support, AI will take
customer service to a new level. It
will be incumbent on brands to find
ways to quickly take complicated
and nuanced issues out of
the AI loop.

AI will continue to enable
hyper-personalization.
Tailoring communication by sub-
population (potentially a sub-
population of a single individual) will
start to become possible across the
platforms where their consumers
spend time. Features like
individualized push notifications
will make the consumer journey
more appealing, seamless and
relevant. Marketers will eventually
have the ability to manage an
individualized Q&A with consumers
or other stakeholders.
AI will change how we
view ethics.
Our growing dependence on AI
technology will force ethical
concerns like data privacy, consumer
security and yet-to-emerge issues
into the spotlight. We expect
communicators to quickly shape
new ethics codes with guidelines
for the algorithm era.
AI will transform the
agency and corporate
communications structure.
AI will replace some jobs, enhance
others and revolutionize how agency
teams work and interact. Work
processes and team relationships will
adjust as innovation becomes a key
ingredient of success.
AI will not replace humans;
it will augment human
roles and make them
smarter and more agile.
There are more positives than
negatives to having AI in the
workplace. AI-driven insights will
help communicators understand
more about their stakeholders,
markets and work, saving them
time and increasing efficiency
and productivity.
AI is here to stay and its role in the
communications field is growing
quickly. Openness to AI innovation
will separate practitioners and
companies from their less curious
counterparts. The gap between
those who build on AI advances and
those who ignore them will grow
quickly and their businesses and
professional statures will suffer the
consequences. As AI opens more
doors, it is up to communicators to
leverage it for profitable results for
their companies and the industry.

The Future of Food Communications:
Winning Share of Mouth in the
Conversation Age
PR2020: The Dawn of the
Augmented Inﬂuence
Our last two reports:
PR 2020
The Dawn of the
Augmented Inﬂuence
Melanie Joe
Senior Manager and Consultant,
Research & Insights, MSL
Michael Echter
Director of Corporate Communications and
Marketing, MSL
(michael.echter@mslgroup.com)
(melanie.joe@mslgroup.com)

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