Tech & humanity: a love story #4

Welcome to “Tech & humanity: a love story”, your go-to source for insights, strategies & stories to understand and master the ever-evolving relationship between technology and humans in the world of business and brands.

Join me as I delve into the power of collaboration in the AI age, how to enhance your personal brand, and lead with purpose. I will also explore the shifting values of the new customer, the future of work, and how sustainability can become a competitive advantage for businesses.

👀INSIGHT: Sustainability and AI: How a new wave of projects are using AI to weed out waste

🌿 🤖 AI poses significant sustainability challenges, but some companies are using it in innovative ways to support the energy transition. In my latest blog, I take a look at some of the most innovative projects at the intersection of sustainability and AI in the food sector.

➡️ Read the full piece here.

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📖 Report: Swiss consumers most sensitive to greenwashing

🇨🇭Swiss consumers are the most skeptical about the environmental claims of businesses, according to a recent Brand Finance survey, with 23% disagreeing that brands are truly committed to sustainability. The numbers also reveal that European consumers are more sensitive to perceived greenwashing than their counterparts in other regions. The results reflect that environmental concerns have been longer on the agenda in Europe and that consumers are comparatively well informed about the issues. Brands making environmental claims in this market will need to walk the walk — by adopting science-based targets and implementing transparent reporting processes to bolster the credibility of their sustainability strategies. 📈

🤡 GenAI in ads: too close for comfort?

How would you feel about being targeted with online ads that mimic your own face? What sounds like a disturbing sci-fi plot was the subject of recent research by University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.🤪

🎯 Targeting has long been a key part of branding, which aims to create an emotional bond between a consumer and a brand. But GenAI now opens up some quite mind-bending and morally questionable frontiers, making it theoretically possible to micro-target ad imagery to the individuals who are consuming it. While this might sound unlikely, remember that companies like Meta are already using personal photos from Facebook and Instagram to train its AI models. Saïd Business School set out to find out how consumers respond to the use of photorealistic, AI-generated images of humans in advertising. The results may surprise you.

Respondents showed no difference in attitudes to ads featuring synthetic humans compared to ads that used real models. The reason seems to be that AI images have become so convincing that people are no longer able to distinguish them. In another test, when participants were informed which ads featured AI depictions of humans, it slightly decreased the likelihood that they would respond favorably. 🤔

Finally, the researchers investigated whether participants respond more favorably to ads featuring synthetic humans that look similar to them. Interestingly, they found that people respond positively to synthetic humans that look moderately similar to them, but negatively when the similarity becomes too close. This suggests that people feel reassured by their digital brother/sister, but are disturbed by their “digital twin”.

This is a fascinating area of research, but also an ethical minefield. Advertisers should bear in mind that the new EU AI Act explicitly states that businesses who deploy models to create or modify images, video or audio will need to disclose that the content is AI-generated.⏰

💰 OpenAI Exodus: CTO leaves amid $6.5 bn. funding round

🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃 The CTO of OpenAI Mira Murati has announced that she is leaving the company. Two other senior figures at the firm, chief research officer Bob McGrew and VP of post training Barret Zopf have also signaled their departures. The leadership shakeup came as the AI giant closed the largest funding round of all time, with $6.6 billion in investment at a valuation of $150 billion.  

💸 💸 A reported precondition of the investment is that OpenAI transitions to become a for-profit entity within two years. The firm will need to switch its governance structure to that of a “for-profit benefit corporation”, similar to its rival Anthropic. The change will mean that the company is no longer governed by its non-profit board. The restructuring will make the company more attractive to investors, but has raised concerns among advocates of AI safety, who fear that profit will be given too large a priority in the new organization.

👋 Inclusive ads boost customer loyalty, while companies face a balancing act on DEI

A new study indicates that advertising that portrays a broad range of people and avoids stereotypes performs better on a series of metrics. The research, conducted by the Unstereotype Alliance, leveraged in-house data from global multinationals like Diageo, Mars, Mondelez and Unilever, finding that inclusive advertising is associated with higher sales, customer preference, loyalty, brand equity and market competitiveness across a range of industries. 📈

The findings are certainly very interesting, but it is important to note that authenticity is a key part of any brand. Companies like Dove have spent years building a brand based on diversity and real beauty and this can not simply be copied and pasted by other challengers to the same effect. Just as with “greenwashing”, consumers are becoming increasingly sensitive to inauthenticity. The backlash against Levis for using AI to increase the diversity of its online offering shows the risks here.

The report comes at a time when diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) measures are being called into question more generally. In my experience, having a diverse range of people and perspectives in the teams I have led has been an asset in terms of producing creative ideas, understanding customers, and avoiding “groupthink”. But I do think that companies, particularly US corporations, face a difficult challenge in the current social and political climate. On the one hand, they want to try to create a safe, inclusive and open environment where their employees can produce their best work. Conversely, however, most will want to maintain a stance of political neutrality and avoid social debates unrelated to their core business or brand.

It is a difficult balancing act, but as a leader, it might be best to start by focusing on your own team. Find out what your people say they need to feel safe, comfortable and productive and avoid being pushed into knee-jerk statements or policies by either side of the wider political debate. 🚀

🖼️ Meta’s shady shades: personal photos used to train AI

In the race for dominance in AI, the most important raw material is training data. When it comes to finding text and information to feed hungry AI models, many companies have taken the classic Silicon Valley approach of asking for forgiveness rather than permission. The Atlantic and AI researchers revealed that major large language models including Meta’s LLaMA and OpenAI have been trained using pirated books. A number of lawsuits by authors and publishers followed, which are mostly still in litigation. To try and clean up their image and gain access to contemporaneous data, AI companies have recently been signing licensing deals with publishers like The Verge, Time, Fortune and even the Atlantic.  

But licensing deals cost money, so now Meta is adopting another classic Web2 approach to the data problem: simply taking it from users. Meta’s Ray Ban glasses have been one of the biggest success stories in the connected wearables space. The discrete device, which could easily be mistaken for regular eyewear, allows users to live stream directly to Facebook and Instagram in real time. They also support multi-modal AI features: If you are looking at a monument in a city, for example, you can ask MetaAI to identify it for you.

It has now emerged that all photos that Meta RayBan glasses wearers use in conjunction with multi-modal AI can be used by Meta to train its AI systems. The only way to avoid your personal photos becoming training data is not to use multi-modal AI, one of the biggest selling points of the device. It should be noted that Meta is already using everything publicly posted by Americans on Instagram and Facebook as training data. In Europe, users can opt out, but only after clicking multiple obscurely labeled links and filling out a form, a UI that seems to have been designed to suppress conversion.

Technology may be changing, but some things stay somehow the same no?

😍 Back to more human interaction

🗓️ Upcoming: World Marketing Summit 2024

💬 Don’t miss my talk at the World Marketing Summit 2024 on November 6 at 17:30 CET, where I’ll discuss the importance of authenticity and personal branding in the age of AI. In the digital age, cultivating a personal brand is pivotal to make connections and boost your career. I’ll explain what personal branding is, why authenticity is key to building your reach, and how to express yourself authentically. Sign up here to tune in live.🎧

🙏 Connections That Matter

I was very pleased to speak at “Connections That Matter” last Thursday at TRUST SQUARE in Zurich, where I discussed the importance of personal branding in building a professional network for career progression. It was a valuable experience to hear the perspectives of the other speakers: Mike Fritz, Sandra Roth, PhD, Vanessa Lépine, and moderator Steph Baranya. It was also stimulating to hear the thoughtful feedback from the attendees. Thanks to everyone who came along and made it what it was.🙏

Don't be shy to give me your take on those topics in the comments and feel free to share — it won’t bite I promise. Gracias y hasta la próxima. 👋