WPP chief says use of AI in advertising is an ‘opportunity’ not a threat
Contrary to some commentators’ fears, chief of WPP Mark Read has called artificial intelligence a “massive opportunity to optimise creative” work rather than representing a threat.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Read revealed the advertising giant has already been using artificial intelligence and automation to “amplify” its creative work for some years.
He added that the most successful creative teams are also following this approach of embracing artificial intelligence as a tool to use in their campaigns.
WPP said artificial intelligence would be “fundamental” to its business.
This comes after 1800 artificial intelligence experts and industry executives, including Elon Musk, signed a letter advising a pause in the development of the technology as it ‘pose[s] a risk to humanity’. The same month a Goldman Sachs report warned artificial intelligence could replace the equivalent of 300m full-time jobs., in March 2023.
The advertising firm’s first quarter results reveal a 4.9 per cent rise in revenue to £3.5bn. Read deemed this a “positive start to the year”.
On Wednesday Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said artificial intelligence was helping the company boost traffic to Facebook and Instagram – and to earn more in ad sales.
“At this point, we are no longer behind in building out our artificial intelligence infrastructure,” Zuckerberg said on a conference call. “And to the contrary, we now have the capacity to do leading work in this space at scale.”
Meta reported that artificial intelligence recommendations increased time spent on Instagram by 24 per cent in the January to March quarter.
Meta and Google are both planning to launch generative artificial intelligence tools to allow advertisers to produce creative campaigns whereby advertisers would be able to “remix” information into ad campaigns.