After months of talking with our partners about what’s possible with AI and how they need to manage it, we’re excited to share the broad launch of our newest AI tools.
Rather than rush to build, we kicked off a listening tour earlier this year. We wanted to hear what agencies, publishers, brands and tech platforms really want from AI. And not in the distant future.
What they want now.
Here’s a summary of what we heard, and what drives our development mindset around AI.
AI is critical to driving efficiency and better outcomes. Everyone agrees. Everyone wants an invitation to the party, but no one knows exactly where the party is.
The question with AI isn’t why. It’s how. A level deeper, that means balancing “how to accomplish X” with “how to avoid Y.”Â
Creative AI follows the Goldilocks Principle. The best porridge is not too hot, not too cold. As with AI, the goal is to find the sweet spot.
The word that came up most frequently: “guardrails.” AI makes people and workflow more important than ever. It only works if it offers clarity and transparency. Those can’t be mushy concepts. Guardrails have to be embedded directly into the creative tools.
To address the elephant in the room: everyone is talking about how AI can generate fully realized ads “automagically,” without human approval. Is it possible? Sure! Is it ready to scale? Not at all, too many issues to count .
The tools people really want aren’t pure generative AI, though that’s the term we’ve all gravitated to since ChatGPT first launched. People want (re)generative AI: tools that make it easier than ever to deliver the best ads on every platform, without the guesswork, without the potential for trouble.
Perhaps most importantly, we’ve learned that small steps with AI can lead to huge leaps in outcomes.
Having tested our new tools in the background before launch, we’ve seen this play out again and again. Technology will march forward, the optimizations will get smarter. The gains will become larger. Being smart, with small, clear steps today, puts us on the path to get there.
