AI for content production may have taken a dire hit since our last round-up. But, as a whole, artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly influential in the digital marketing arena.

In this article, we discuss the latest updates in the field of AI, how they relate to digital marketing, and which AI tools may prove useful in the wake of Google’s March 2024 core algorithm update.

Featured AI

• OpenAI Search
• Google SGE
• GPT-4o
• Gemini 1.5 Pro
• Originality AI
• Writer

AI that will impact digital marketing

OpenAI Search

OpenAI altered the shape of countless professions - and in some cases, entire industries - with ChatGPT. But recent news suggests the AI pioneers aren’t quite finished disrupting established norms — perhaps even those as long-standing as Google’s search market dominance.

Their latest project is an AI-powered search tool in the vein of Microsoft’s Copilot and Google’s soon-to-be-released AI Overviews designed to enhance user experiences by delivering more relevant and less cluttered responses than Google.

Regarding the divergence between this new search platform and Google Search, CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, had this to say:

“... the thing that’s exciting to me is not that we can go build a better copy of Google Search, but maybe there’s just a much better way to help people find, act on, and synthesise information.”

This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen a direct Google challenger throw down the gauntlet — RIP Jeeves. However, considering the popularity of ChatGPT and OpenAI’s ties to Microsoft, it seems as though this could be a serious contender — definitely one to watch!

How will OpenAI Search affect digital marketing?

AI search promises more curated responses that aim to better satisfy user search intent. This means fewer people will be clicking through to websites, as they’ll be presented with everything they need right there on the search platform.

With visibility in traditional SERPs results steadily losing value, especially as voice search continues to gain momentum, SEO priorities will shift, with the primary goal being optimising for visibility in highly selective AI responses.

Being that OpenAI Search uses Microsoft Bing to browse the web, incorporating Bing ranking factors into SEO strategies will play a vital role in building visibility in its responses.

Google AI Overviews

After a lengthy testing period, Google has officially begun the rollout of their generative search assistant, AI Overviews (formerly SGE), across the US.

For the uninitiated, AI Overviews is Google’s answer to Microsoft Copilot. It’s an AI search assistant capable of parsing conversational human language and replying in kind.

As discussed in our article about the impact of Google’s March 2024 core algorithm update, it seems a full AI Overviews UK release will come sooner rather than later, so there’s no time like the present to start preparing for its arrival.

How will Google AI Overviews affect digital marketing?

AI Overviews will contribute towards the same shifts in digital marketing as GPT-4o.

Google’s AI search assistant was, in part, designed to hold users in place on the SERPs, so we forecast less engagement with traditional search engine listings. Again, this means that appearing for generative search will be an integral aspect of SEO moving forward.

AI for digital marketing

GPT-4o

GPT-4o is the latest iteration of OpenAI’s GPT technology, designed to understand all manner of input (query) formats, including text, audio, image, and even video.

The outputs (replies) of this new model can combine text, audio and image — whatever best suits the user and complements the input.

Both ChatGPT 3.5 and 4.0 have ‘Voice Mode’, enabling users to interact verbally with the AI, but GPT-4o (the ‘o’ stands for omni) is much faster, with an average audio response time of 320 milliseconds. This isn’t too far removed from actual conversational response times.

GPT-4o, or just ‘O’ as the AI refers to itself, can differentiate between tone (and thus perceive emotion), hear and comment on background noise, and can even include laughter or singing in an output. 

Additional benefits include:

• Enhanced non-English text outputs
• 50% more affordable in API form than GPT-4 Turbo
• Vastly improved visual and audio understanding
• 5x higher rate limits than GPT-4 Turbo
• A good grasp of humour - something ChatGPT famously lacks

OpenAI’s goal in producing GPT-4o is to further naturalise interactions between humans and computers in order to make their AI more usable in a variety of contexts. From a digital marketing perspective, brands can leverage its capabilities to generate customised audio and visual content that resonates more deeply with diverse audiences.

Additionally, the ability to understand and respond to non-English text with greater accuracy can help businesses reach global markets more effectively. The cost efficiency and faster response times also enable more scalable and real-time interactions, meaning it can be used to implement AI-driven customer service and interactive advertising.

Gemini 1.5 Pro

Google Gemini follows similar principles as GPT-4o in that it has been trained on textual, visual, auditory, and video data.

However, though conceptually similar, Gemini serves as a comprehensive AI assistant within the Google ecosystem, while GPT-4o is more of an all-purpose helper.

GPT-4o is a lot more intelligent and has a much deeper understanding of humanistic interaction and concepts, generally making it the superior tool for several applications. But recent updates have helped Gemini establish a few areas of expertise.

The penultimate update introduced Google’s next generation AI model, Gemini 1.5 Pro, to Gemini Advanced users. This model brings some welcome benefits, chief among them being an enlarged context window, enabling Gemini to process up to 1 million tokens. 

In plain English, this means Gemini will remember every detail of your interaction, even if it’s an incredibly long (up to 1,500 pages) and complicated discussion. It also means it can process long-form content with ease.

As you may have already experienced, AI systems often “forget” or confuse elements of an interaction after a few follow-ups, which can derail the entire query process and waste a lot of time. This is because they have a smaller context window.

Gemini 1.5 Pro, on the other hand, now has the largest context window of any AI system, and there are plans to double it in the near future.

Not only does such an expansive context window make it an excellent tool for intensive problem-solving, as the most recent update enables users to upload spreadsheets, Gemini can also assist in exploring, visualising, and drawing insights from dense proprietary datasets.

Originality AI

Now Google is cracking down on AI content, the tables have turned — and instead of using AI to produce content, website owners may be scrambling to block any from reaching their site. Given the scale of AI’s influence in the world of content creation, this won't be an easy task.

Depending on your post frequency and the number of writers at your disposal, you might be in for hours of proofing — and instances of flagrant AI content may still slip through the cracks.

Originality AI allows you to fight AI… with AI. It makes checking for both AI involvement and plagiarism in a piece of writing quick and easy, saving hours on manual assessments.

As it can highlight where a piece of writing may require a more human touch, it also has a use-case for those who still want to produce content using artificial intelligence — albeit of a higher quality with more oversight.

Of course, tools like Originality AI are not always 100% accurate, so it’s important not to take results as gospel every single time, but it is currently the best version of this type of tool, and can be a great help for auditing both published and unpublished content.

Writer

Specifically designed as a writing assistant for marketing teams, Writer compiles features usually spread across multiple platforms into a single ecosystem, streamlining the creation and editorial process, especially for collaborative tasks.

Writer offers all the staples of a quality text editor, such as grammar and clarity checks, autocorrect, and autocomplete, then expands upon this core feature set with an array of advanced appointments.

These include a suite of tools for ensuring a consistent house style and brand voice across all content, recall of commonly used snippets for immediate pasting into new content, and the analysis of proprietary data to reveal custom insights.

In the absence of specific guidance from Google on acceptable levels of AI involvement in content creation, Writer does a respectable job of establishing a healthy balance between human and machine input for you. It’s not as heavy-handed as other AI tools with generative capabilities. In fact, we’re hesitant to use the G word at all due to the subtlety of its implementation.

For instance, instead of taking the reins and writing or rewriting content, it will simply offer recommendations and guide human writers to produce higher-quality text.

Final thoughts

With Google and OpenAI butting heads at every opportunity, the race for AI innovation is in full swing, and we see this corporate competition generating a lot more opportunities to grow in the online space throughout 2024 and beyond.

However, as evidenced by Google’s March update, the parameters of digital marketing can shift at break-neck pace, and the nature of your relationship with AI may affect your ability to navigate changes and come out on top. It’s not just about quick wins; it’s about using the right tools responsibly to build resilience.

At TDMP, we stay informed about the latest digital marketing technology, developments and trends in order to offer the most relevant and impactful advice to our clients. Contact us today for expert digital marketing support.