This is not an AI fear mongering article.

Generative AI is a fantastic new resource in the tech world, which has already had an enormous impact on the advertising industry. It will lead to efficiencies (and yes, that means some jobs will be cut), but the purpose of this article is not about that. Instead, view this article as a warning to companies that rely on AI for decision-making: AI is not yet ready for such responsibility. Let's break it down, point by point.

What is Generative AI ?

You would have to be living under a rock, if you have not heard about ChatGPT, this is just one form of Generative AI. Generative AI (“Gen AI”) is a relatively new innovative technology that has stormed into our lives in the last several years. Gen AI is a set of artificial intelligence models designed to create new content by learning patterns and structures from existing data. These models generate human-like text, realistic or creative images, compose music, write code, and even simulate conversation. By analyzing vast amounts of data, generative AI can mimic  the style, tone, and context of the input it receives, making it a powerful tool for various creative and practical applications. However, while it excels at pattern recognition and content generation, it lacks true understanding, creativity, and emotional intelligence that human creators possess.

What are the responsibilities of a UA Manager ?

A user acquisition manager is responsible for operating and often strategizing ways to attract and acquire new users for a product or a service. 
They create and manage advertising campaigns across various channels, and optimize these campaigns to maximize performance. The role typically involves substantial data analysis and critical thinking capabilities, as they analyze data to track performance, measure the effectiveness of different acquisition tactics, and make data-driven adjustments to improve outcomes. Their ultimate goal is to drive sustainable user growth.

How is Gen AI disrupting marketing ?

Ever since OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.0 launched into our lives in November 2022, its popularity has exploded. It quickly raised excitement by advocates as well as panic by paranoids. Pragmatics started learning how they can enhance their capabilities by using it to scale up their operations, leveraging Gen AI to enhance creativity, personalization, efficiency, and data analysis. 
 

Here's how:

• Content Creation: Gen AI can generate content, social media updates, and email messages, quickly and consistently. Feeding a model with past data allows the model to maintain a brands’ tone of voice. This allows marketers to maintain a steady flow of engaging content.
   
• Creative Iterations: AI tools can generate multiple ad variations and learn from the data which creative works best to continue continuously iterating.
   
• Ad Campaign Optimization: Generative AI can design, test, and optimize ad creatives, headlines, and copy. By rapidly iterating on different variations, AI can identify the most effective combinations to maximize engagement and conversions.
   
• Customer Insights: Gen AI can process large datasets to uncover insights into customer preferences and behaviors, guiding more effective marketing strategies.
   
• Measurement and Predictive Analytics: AI models can analyze historical data to predict future trends and customer behaviors, enabling marketers to make proactive decisions. And here comes trouble.
   

Bad data leading to bad predictions

While having a conversation with a conversational AI chat bot such as ChatGPT is quite impressive - One of the biggest shortcomings of Gen AI is that it relies on the input data, and it does not actually think for itself.. And when the input data is wrong, or problematic, or relies on flawed data sets – the answers, or output will be as wrong as the inputs. AI lacks the strategic thinking and adaptability that human marketers bring, particularly when dealing with complex, ambiguous data sets or rapidly changing market dynamics.

Marketers remain in the driving seat, and AI is the copilot  

There’s a saying that goes: “Garbage In – Garbage Out”.
Gen AI has revolutionized the tech world, offering powerful tools for content creation, personalization, and data analysis, significantly impacting the advertising industry. Despite its impressive capabilities, Gen AI still lacks true understanding of business objectives and relies on legacy performance data. 

While AI offers numerous advantages for marketers, there are several tasks and nuances it cannot fully replicate or handle:
 

• Emotional Intelligence and Empathy: AI lacks genuine emotional intelligence and the ability to understand and respond to human emotions with true empathy. It can analyze sentiment but cannot genuinely feel or react emotionally in the way a human can. And when it comes to marketing this is KEY. Good marketing is a science and an art and to be able to connect with real people an understanding of the human condition is key! 
   
• Creative Intuition: While AI can generate creative content, it often lacks the deep cultural and contextual understanding that human creativity entails. Remember the input is still being given by the marketer, who understands the company’s brand and the specific brand elements. 
   
• Strategic Decision-Making: AI can provide data-driven insights and recommendations, but it cannot fully replace the strategic thinking and long-term vision that human marketers bring. Crafting a cohesive marketing strategy involves understanding complex market dynamics, industry trends, and human behavior in ways that AI cannot fully grasp.
   
• Adaptation to Sudden Changes: AI relies on existing data and patterns to make predictions and decisions. Sudden, unprecedented changes (such as a global pandemic) can stagger AI systems, whereas humans can adapt more swiftly and intuitively.
   
• Understanding Context: AI may misinterpret context, especially in nuanced situations involving humor, irony, sarcasm, or complex cultural references. Human marketers can navigate these subtleties more effectively. 
   
• Brand Voice Consistency: Maintaining a consistent brand voice and identity requires a deep understanding of the brand's ethos and personality. While AI can mimic styles, ensuring consistency across all touchpoints often needs human oversight and refinement. 
  
   

User Acquisition Managers, who strategize and optimize advertising campaigns, remain crucial for driving sustainable user growth. Marketers are still in the driving 

seat, using AI to shortcut and optimize campaigns, they are the ones who have a true understanding of the brand identity and creative direction and the skills to analyze complex data, and adapt to market changes is indispensable and ultimately make the ones in control to make strategic decisions.  Especially when AI models fail due to flawed input data. Thus, while Gen AI enhances marketing efforts, human marketers are currently irreplaceable for their strategic thinking and adaptability.