AI marketers
and did a “mailbag” episode on their No Brainer podcast this week, during which they fielded listener questions, including mine about, guess what, #al #ethics.
I was a guest on their show two weeks ago, and Geoff said they had a 25% drop in listeners during that episode. Other than feeling just a little offended, it revealed a salient fact: In large part, marketers don’t care about AI ethics.
Here’s a question for you: Isn’t AI ethics the canary in the coal mine? If so, should we not care? I’ll answer that. Of course, we should. (I can see heads nodding in agreement.) However, to Greg’s point, it’s philosophical, and we have other things to do that occupy our time and mindshare.
But I really (and I mean really) like Greg’s comments about why we should care:
“I fundamentally believe that [AI ethics] is the essential topic about artificial intelligence right now, not only because I saw and lived through the effects of digitalization, social media, and all the negative effects — and it’s important for us to recognize our culpability in the problems that eek into society because of the choices we make — but also because we have the opportunity to put our powers to work for good. There’s nobody better placed in this world to create a positive narrative and make the right choices than marketers. If we can sell bottles of water to thirsty people, we can certainly sell the upside of AI — but we have to do the right thing with AI.”
So, what can we do to bring the AI marketing ethics issue to light in a way that makes marketers care? Seriously, what can we do?
It’s apparent that AI can cause much harm, but it has the capacity to do great good. The direction it takes isn’t in the hands of the AI tools we use; it’s in ours. To quote Greg again, “AI ethics isn’t about technology; it’s about humanity.”
It’s up to us whether to act ethically as part of our disposition and core values or take low-road tactics to achieve short-term aims and risk long-term customer trust.
Our intentions are good, but our actions reveal our true nature and character.
Or am I just short-sighted, stating a problem that, in reality, does not exist?