That’s a good question, isn’t it? The world is on a huge AI kick right now. Is this a fad? Or is it the future?
How COULD you trust an AI? They aren’t human. They ARE set up to be autonomous, to operate without human intervention. And of course there are lots of machines one trusts – to a greater or lesser degree. You trust the car to start when you turn the key or press the button – usually. When you call your spouse on your cell phone, you trust you won’t be connected to some stranger in Bulgaria.
AIs aren’t alive, they aren’t as smart as people. They don’t really have judgment and they can get things REALLY wrong. I’m reminded of this every other time I ask Siri a question.
Maybe a better question is, can you trust people? and I think the returns are in on that.
PEOPLE DON’T TRUST STRANGERS. THEY TRUST PEOPLE THEY KNOW.
We are so suspicious of strangers, that it has become a huge barrier to marketing.
If your advertising is going to work at all, it has to get enough trust to at least be LOOKED at. That means the advertising has to come by a means that itself is trusted to a degree. Only in that way do you have a chance to get your message across.
It used to be that Google was that trusted channel, and it still is in many ways. While Google’s market share has slipped, it is still gets nearly 90% of all searches. But trust in Google is being steadily eroded because of bad experiences in purchasing, hiring, and in other areas. The rise in alternative search methods fits right in with that.
Alternatives like ChatGPT and other AIs.
It is being reported that CAC (Client Acquisition Cost) is going up and up. It is taking more and more effort (money) to get new business. That is a direct consequence of the poor economy AND the lack of trust. These things make people careful.
Dishonest people are getting more and more clever in how to fool people online, through phone calls and through texts. And the sheer volume of spam and criminally fraudulent communications is overwhelming.
The first big step of marketing is to get noticed at all. The most common response of marketers to this situation is to increase the volume of their own communications.
No wonder we are faced with a tidal wave of spam as well as legitimate communication. It can be downright paralyzing. People can’t just stop wanting things and buying. So they clutch at something that MIGHT be worthy of trust. And AIs are too new for people to have accumulated an attitude of mistrust based on bad experiences.
So at this time, for the key step of getting enough trust for action to be taken, people now trust Artificial Intelligence.
But I think there is another factor. There’s a mystique connected with AI’s from all those Sci Fi movies where AIs show superior intelligence, judgement, and yes, honesty.
People believe, I feel, that they can tell if an AI is giving them a bad answer, and they aren’t so sure about Google.
Will this situation persist? I don’t think AI’s are going away, quite the contrary. Google themselves have gone all in on AIs and are rolling out AI based tools and services at a mad rate. More than that, they are totally up front that they are AI based. Now for Google searches you can choose “AI mode.” All Google search results usually start with an “AI Overview.”
As time goes on, things are going to settle down. But where?
Stay tuned…