AI & B2B Marketing (Edition 3)

I'm experimenting with a (roughly) weekly LinkedIn Newsletter on the news at the intersection of AI and B2B Marketing. Please comment on this post if you have ideas, links, or thought leaders to follow in this space.

Thanks to Avi Romascanu and ChatGPT for helping with this week's edition.

• Open AI Introduces function calling - Developers can now describe functions to gpt4/3.5, and have the model intelligently choose to output a JSON object containing arguments to call those functions. This is a new way to more reliably connect GPT's capabilities with external tools and APIs. Analysis of the implications - The new API will change the way we interact with OpenAI LLMs beyond the obvious use-case of plugins (and the difference from prompt engineering).
• OpenAI Costs are Coming Down - The most popular embedding model is now $0.0001 per 1k tokens, which is a cost reduction of 75%. Similarly, the most popular chat model (gpt-3.5-turbo) sees a cost reduction of 25%. This means developers can now use the model for $0.0015 per 1k input tokens and $0.002 per 1k output tokens.
• Xavier (Xavi) Amatriain discusses a conversation with Mark Zuckerberg (https://lnkd.in/ecj6nMtH), most of which is focused on AI and LLMs. “Open-source AI is a key strategic bet from Meta… As rumored, there will be a Llama 2.0 release…Mark does not think there will be an “AI to rule them all”. In fact, there will be many different specialized Ais that users will use for different purposes. I agree. Mark goes as far as saying that just as every company has a website today, they will have an AI very soon…He makes an interesting distinction between intelligence and autonomy and says that autonomy is what we need to think about limiting and regulating, and not so much intelligence in itself, since the latter will be mostly positive and not dangerous.”
• Google Infuses More AI Features Into Search, Shopping, Maps And YouTube | AdExchanger “On Wednesday, Google made six AI-related announcements in one day, including the ability to use images in Bard prompts, additions to its Search Generative Experience (SGE), a virtual clothing try-on feature and two new AI-powered video campaigns for YouTube…For example, Google is rolling out a new virtual try-on feature that uses generative AI to show how clothing looks on models that have different hair types, body types, skin types, ethnicities and sizes.”
• The AI feedback loop: Researchers warn of 'model collapse' as AI trains on AI-generated content | VentureBeat Now, as more people use AI to produce and publish content, an obvious question arises: What happens as AI-generated content proliferates around the internet, and AI models begin to train on it, instead of on primarily human-generated content?
• UN chief backs idea of global AI watchdog like nuclear agency | Reuters: He has announced plans to start work by the end of the year on a high-level AI advisory body to regularly review AI governance arrangements and offer recommendations on how they can align with human rights, the rule of law and common good…But on Monday he added: "I would be favorable to the idea that we could have an artificial intelligence agency ... inspired by what the international agency of atomic energy is today."
• Mckinsey: “We estimate that generative AI could increase the productivity of the marketing function with a value between 5 and 15 percent of total marketing spending.”
• Ready for Launch: How Gen AI Is Already Transforming Marketing | Bain & Company “The CMO is perfectly placed to be an AI change agent. CMOs will need to exercise their brand guardian responsibilities carefully, managing risks and setting up guardrails (in partnership with the legal team) in areas such as intellectual property and data protection, while creating systems to respond effectively if AI–customer interactions go awry. But they must also ensure that this brand guardianship doesn’t end up stifling innovation. Marketing can be one of the earliest showcases for generative AI’s ability to reinvent work. Conversely, generative AI’s rollout can be a showcase for marketing teams eager to demonstrate their ability to contribute to adjacent functions such as product management and customer experience. “
• AI firm Synthesia hits $1 billion valuation in Nvidia-backed Series C “...Synthesia develops software that allows people to make their own digital avatars to deliver corporate presentations, training videos — or even compliments to colleagues in more than 120 different languages.”