AI in media and marketing, Borges and AI creativity, future of agencies, Platonic ideals, and more

May 24, 2024

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” - Albert Einstein

A core focus of my current work is the impact and potential of GenAI on professional service firms, both in the largest global professional firms and also in marketing agencies, where some of the issues are particularly pointed.

All are creating and/or deploying AI models internally. The broader picture of how this changes roles, workflow, skills, and client relationships is still emerging. An interesting example of this in an agency context below.

Ross

 

📖In this issue

  • Generative AI in the future of agencies

  • Khanmigo AI education tool free for teachers

  • News Corp and OpenAI strike $250m deal

  • Groundbreaking research that uncovers the structures of how LLMs work

  • “Internal representations” of diverse LLMs are converging towards a “Platonic ideal” of reality

  • Tim Burrowes on AI’s impact on media and marketing, evolving business models, and the possibilities for journalism

  • Jorge Luis Borges and the impact of AI on human creativity

 

 

🤸 In Practice

Generative AI in the future of agencies

This article provides some nice examples of how generative AI is reshaping agency work, including personalized customer journeys, innovative rebranding, and engaging conversational solutions, from a foundation of augmenting human expertise to deliver client value. 

👩🤖Humans + AI update

Khanmigo AI education tool free for teachers

Microsoft is donating compute capacity to enable “Khan Academy to offer all K-12 educators in the U.S. free access to the pilot of Khanmigo for Teachers.”

News Corp and OpenAI strike $250m deal

OpenAI will use News Corp journalism and data to train its models, with payment of potentially over $250 million over five years. This money should flow into journalism and offers a business model for news, but this avenue is likely only available to the largest news organizations.

The Scarlett Johansson debacle

In a sequence of reveals, OpenAI said it had dropped its voice model with an uncanny resemblance to Scarlett Johansson’s voice, she declared that OpenAI had asked to use her voice and she declined, leading them to copy hers, and then “news” that OpenAI had not intended this. All of which undermines faith in AI relative to humans and the intentions of today’s AI leaders.

🔥Hot news in AI

  • Anthropic releases groundbreaking research that uncovers the structures of how LLMs work - Wired

  • Microsoft announces Copilot AI agents to act as virtual employees - The Verge

  • French AI stealth startup H has raised a $220m seed round for “frontier action models to boost the productivity of workers” - Techcrunch

  • Research suggests that the “internal representations” of diverse LLMs are converging towards a “Platonic ideal” of reality - arXiv

  • Box founder Aaron Levie is “insanely bullish” on GenAI in how it revolutionizes enterprise information - @Levie

🎙️Last week’s podcast episode

Tim Burrowes on AI’s impact on media and marketing, evolving business models, and the possibilities for journalism

What you will learn

  • Exploring the impact of AI on media and marketing

  • Dhallenges faced by journalists in the age of AI

  • The transformation of creative agencies through AI

  • AI’s role in enhancing investigative journalism

  • Future training and development for young creatives

  • Business model disruptions caused by Generative AI

  • The balance between human creativity and AI automation

 

💡Resources and insights

Jorge Luis Borges and the impact of AI on human creativity

“In all the discussions of generative AI and creativity, I often think of Jorge Luis Borges' extraordinary story 'Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote'.

It has always struck me that what matters most is not the creation itself, but who created it.

Any work of art in any domain is only meaningful in relation to the person who created it. We see a manifestation of the intersection of their unique experience and the universal human condition.”

Thanks for reading!

Ross Dawson and team