Sam Altman, a leading figure in the world of AI, has suggested that AI will handle up to 95% of marketing work currently done by agencies and creatives. This comment emerged from a recent publication, ‘Our AI Journey’, authored by Adam Brotman and Andy Sack, business innovators who have previously held key roles at Starbucks, Forum3, and Microsoft.

Klarna, a major payments company, recently disclosed that its AI assistant now carries out tasks previously handled by 700 employees. Klarna’s CEO has urged for a well-planned societal preparedness for advanced AI.

Their book explores various perspectives on AI from several industry leaders, including Altman. A significant highlight is Altman’s conviction about the impending advent of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). AGI is envisaged as an AI capable of performing tasks that humans do, yet can even achieve novel scientific breakthroughs autonomously.

Take aways:

  • Your Creative Department Might Be an AI: During their comprehensive interview with Altman, Brotman and Sack probed about the impact of AGI in the marketing realm. Altman believes that AI will handle almost all strategy and creative tasks, which will radically change the consumer brand marketing landscape. The AI will not only execute these tasks but also test the marketing strategies with real or synthetic customer focus groups. Even more incredibly, it will do this almost instantly and at negligible cost.
  • AGI Is Around the Corner: Altman has also projected a timeline for AGI’s emergence. He estimates it may become a reality within five years, albeit the implications for society remain speculative.
  • AI Is Already Disrupting Industries: While AGI’s advent may seem surreal, AI is already causing significant disruption across various industries. For instance, Klarna, a major payments company, recently disclosed that its AI assistant now carries out tasks previously handled by 700 employees. Even more startling, within just a month, the assistant handled two-thirds of all the company’s customer service chats, resolving requests faster and more accurately than human employees. Considering this, Klarna’s CEO has urged for a well-planned societal preparedness for advanced AI.

Reference: Sam Altman Says AI Will Handle “95%” of Marketing Work Done by Agencies and Creatives