Artificial intelligence is becoming like electricity for society, today and especially in the near future.
I look at AI from different perspectives. First, I use machine-learning algorithms to study consumer insights expressed in comments on social media platforms. Users talk extensively about brands; they talk about advertisements. I rely on different machine-learning algorithms to extract useful consumer insights from the conversations, which are guided by existing marketing and advertising theories. I mostly focus on YouTube and Instagram because these are the major social media platforms for marketers.
Second, I examine the role of algorithms in shaping consumer responses to social-issue campaigns. Comments on those sites are not ranked organically. Algorithms rank them based on how popular they are and how many likes they have gained. So popular comments are pushed to the top. And, in that way, algorithms can shape popular opinions by elevating dominant opinions and further influence subsequent viewers’ reactions and their interpretations of those social issue campaigns. And, it can sometimes silence minority opinions.
My recent research is exploring how marketers are using generative AI to create advertising. I want to understand consumer reaction to “synthetic advertising,” whether they view these ads as creative or if they feel the quality of AI-generated advertising is less compelling.
I would also like to explore what kind of disclosure language marketers will use to further inform consumers, without impacting trust in the product. Some people don't trust AI and AI-generated content. So, marketers want to strike a balance between creating better content with AI and the proper disclosure to avoid alienating some part of their client base.
Continued research will be essential to help marketers create transparent and trustworthy messages about the use of AI.
