Skynet Takes Over: Are Marketers Doomed?

Popular opinion: Skynet has come online and marketers are doomed.

Unpopular opinion: Skynet needs an editor.

ChatGPT and other generative AI is here. It’s spooky, unsettling, and has left marketers and middle-school English teachers everywhere quivering in fear.

But before you start scraping to find the budget to send hunky bodybuilders back in time, let’s get some perspective.

Sure, ChatGPT can pass the Turing test, generate convincing copy and style a sappy sonnet sure to woo your crush, but the reports of marketing’s imminent demise have been greatly exaggerated. (Middle-school English may want to start shopping for some swole gubernatorial androids, though — that’ll keep the kids in line).

Why?

Well, we asked some marketing geniuses and they agree — AI may terminate some unskilled content writing roles, but when it comes to innovation, we’ll need the human touch for years to come.

As Bob Buday puts it: Idea generators will not be replaced.

And our favorite analogy to prove that point comes from Christina Pryka, who points out that Tony Stark didn’t become obsolete once he made Jarvis and Ultron — and only one of those tried to kill him, which is a pretty good batting average. The reason RDJ got another dozen or so movies after the introduction of these AIs, aside from shelling out on some great contract lawyers, is because Tony Stark still had valuable skills no robot — homicidal or otherwise — could replace.

Tony Stark used AI to make his ideas a reality more efficiently. They may have been the writers, but he was the editor.

Our take:

ChatGPT doesn’t mean you need to gun down a teenage John Conner in a 90s arcade; it just means you need to double down on the human elements in your marketing.

Generating powerful ideas, connecting with your specific audience on a human level, and, occasionally, editing Skynet’s output before the nukes get launched is your job.

Skynet isn’t dangerous — it’s a (shiny and often uncanny) tool to get things done efficiently and quickly.

(Looking for deeper conversation around the implications of AI? Check out our recent conversation with Andrew Davies, CMO at Paddle, “We are F***ed”, CLICK HERE)

Your turn:

Is marketing doomed? Will the robots win? What’s the best workout regimen to get a sweet, chiseled time-travel bod?