Can AI be used to resolve India’s AQI crisis?

 

Photo by Landiva Weber

India’s AQI crisis sees no signs of abating. All across northern India, the winter season sees the AQI stay in the very hazardous category for months together across the big cities, small towns, and even villages of North India. AQI readings above 400 are routine, and one has come to regard a 150 AQI, which constitutes the poor category, as pretty much normal and par for the course. The fact that the high AQI levels have started getting reported from the sylvan hill towns nestled in the verdant Himalayas has shown that the AQI crisis threatens normal life across the length and breadth of North India and even beyond. For most of the harsh North Indian winter, even a satisfactory AQI of about 100 has become a pipe dream. How sick and pathetic is that?

Clean air and water are basic necessities provided in abundance by nature, but the quest for rapid growth and development by a nation of a billion and a half people that aspires to be counted amongst the prosperous nations of the world has led to the defilement of the very air and water that ensure that they live long and healthy lives. The farmers who ensure food security for this vast nation cause a great deal of pollution by their annual stubble burning projects, and the ongoing massive infrastructure development projects necessary for taking the economy to the next level also exacerbate the air pollution problem.

 Aware of the severe consequences of the short term and long term consequences of breathing highly polluted air, the government and the authorities in question try various means and methods to rein in the pollution. From restrictions placed on the movement of vehicles to phasing out of old and polluting cars to banning construction whenever the AQI levels become very high, spraying water droplets into the air, and even trying to create artificial rain, nothing seems to work.

Can we not turn to AI-which is purported to change the very nature of the way human beings will live their lives in the times ahead, to stem the rot and come to our rescue?

AI to the rescue?

The various pollution fighting measures presently put in place seem largely reactive and don’t seem to be part of a pre-planned, integrated process that could fight the menace in a holistic manner.  The recent failed attempt to create artificial rain over the national capital region with the view to bringing down air pollution is emblematic of this ham-handed approach to a crisis that shows not the slightest signs of abating.

AI, with its outstanding predictive abilities, can be of great help in how we interact with and manage the environment. It can be put to great use in analyzing all the necessary data about where pollution originates and the likely times and regions it is likely to peak. This can help the government and authorities to plan ahead to combat the threat in the most effective manner possible.

AI’s ability to study everything from satellite data and information sourced from various low-cost sensors to weather and emission data can help obtain precise street level pollution updates, instead of city averages empowering authorities to attempt to provide solutions at ground zero, making them far more effective than sweeping city wide solutions. Besides, AI can help in making citizens sensitive to the prevailing AQI levels in their localities with the help of apps allowing them to take actions like staying indoors or wearing masks when venturing outside.

AI’s greatest contribution in the fight against high AQI levels would be in coming up with holistic strategies to bring down and eliminate the causes of air pollution, rather than helping deal with its side effects. With the strides AI technology is making and the possibility of its making the best possible decisions on behalf of mankind, independent of human supervision, in the very near future, it is quite possible that it will present us with a growth and development model that does not lead to life-threatening air pollution, even in a country as populous as India.

In defense of capitalism

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We live in what are described as post-capitalism times where the economic system that

promotes the virtues of creating individual wealth has been variously described as broken,

defunct and even failed. It has, according to many morphed into a system, where the

oligarchs control the resources required to make immense wealth and leave the rest tofend for themselves and fight over scrap. Some go to the extent of romanticising

the concept of a welfare state where basic worries like food, shelter and education are

assured for all by the state.

It is acknowledged, however, that wealth creating economic activity is the path to generating enough resources to afford that kind of nanny state where one is looked after from the cradle to the grave, but one is not certain that unbridled capitalism is the way to do that. The looming spectre of  AI replacing human labour as a factor of production has further added to the chorus denouncing capitalism as a dehumanising and even sinister force hell-bent upon lining the coffers of already very rich oligarchs and their cronies. With the failed experiments of communism as a cautionary tale about the danger of going in completely the opposite direction with regard to harnessing the resources of a nation for the greater good of its people, one is left at a crossroads, when it comes to choosing an economic system that keeps everyone happy.

To the credit of capitalism, the immense wealth and the generally high standard of living found in Western Europe, North America and elsewhere are the result of following unbridled capitalism. The bastion of communism, the Soviet Union and its allies in East Europe collapsed under the weight of their own contradictions. Fellow communist nation China was walking down the same course of self-destruction, until it changed course in the late 1970s and adopted capitalism lock, stock and barrel, heralding an unprecedented era of growth and wealth increase for the average Chinese.

Similarly in India, hundreds of millions of its people came out of extreme poverty for the first ever time on the back of big ticket reforms carried out in the 1990s that opened up the Indian economy to the world allowing it to finally step on the gas pedal, when it came to achieving fast paced economic growth.

As a matter of fact, wherever capitalism has been allowed to strike deep roots, it has transformed the economies and destinies of the people concerned. The most definitive proof of this lies in nations across the South East Asian region, especially in places like Singapore,Hong Kong and Taiwan. It is also true of other nations in the region like Malaysia, Thailand and even communist Vietnam.

Capitalism is a far from perfect system of bringing about economic growth and suffers from myriad ills that are well known and documented. These range from colonialism in the past and inequitable distribution of wealth to exploitation of peoples and environmental degradation in the present times.

Yet, it is the only system that has delivered. From lifting nations and peoples out of poverty to the funding and financing of education, healthcare, infrastructure, discoveries and inventions, there is much that has been the gift of capitalism to the world.

Does capitalism have a future?

Does the only system of economic growth and development which has been adopted to varying degrees by 70 to 80% of the world’s population have a future? One would imagine that it does.

Where capitalism went wrong was in the part where it allowed the profit motive to quite often disregard the moral and ethical bedrock that should define any model of economic enterprise. While it is similar to communism in that human follies that corrupt the system led to its assumed fall of grace, capitalism is not a basically untenable system like the latter is.

The ills of capitalism include the primary one of allowing certain groups to prosper at the cost of others which alienates the former leading to much resentment on their part. Often the ones who fall behind are the ones whose parents and grandparents had prospered under the capitalist system - the same system that was now promoting the rise of a new elite that possess the skills now in demand. The obvious case in point is the rise in demand for technology workers at the cost of traditional blue collar workers. This has led to the rise of right wing ultra nationalist governments across the world who pander to the fears of such people by putting in place protectionist trade policies that impede global trade and do more harm to the capitalist system, in turn exacerbating the problems of the very people who claim to have been left behind in the economic sweepstakes.

Currently, there is a tendency for nations of the world to enter into separate trade agreements with nations or blocs of nations, rather than continue within the existing global trade order which served the world so well in the years following the Second World War, right up to the present times. These populist measures ultimately don’t lead to any tenable solutions to what many, especially left leaning people believe are inherent flaws in capitalism. Whatever its flaws, reverting to failed communist and socialist economic models is undoubtedly worse than the temporary protectionist policies put in place by right wing demagogues. 

 The thing with capitalism is that it is anything, but a static process. If large numbers of people feel ill served by the existing trade arrangements of the world, there will be a reaction against it with old certainties being discarded and new ones inexorably taking their place. Right now the capitalist way of doing things is undergoing a flux, but it will find its new balance, like it always does.

The age of AI is changing the way that economic activity will take place in the times ahead with the nature of human labour as an important growth factor undergoing a profound change. There will be both immense challenges and equally immense opportunities presented to the nations of the world as it walks further down the path; yet it will undoubtedly be the capitalist way of doing things that will shine a light on the path ahead. For that has been the way of humans since the earliest times. It has always been capitalist trade carried out between nations and civilizations of the world that has shaped human destiny and will continue to do so.

Side gigs that Indians aged 60 and above can take up

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 Indians aged 60 and above need not contemplate a life of inactivity and declining economic opportunity as the twilight years begin to stretch ahead of them. To those who have just turned 60, a time when they are at their professional prime, and still physically capable of doing everything they did from when they were in their twenties right till the present time, the decades ahead might appear quite disconcerting.

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Yet, they are or at least can be on the cusp of the most fulfilling and satisfying time of their lives- both personally and professionally. With their children all grown up and settled, their loans repaid and their finances in top shape, they can for the first time in their lives prioritise themselves, with their no longer having to make sacrifices and delay gratification on account of familial reasons.

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Besides, age is literally a number these days, with many sixty-year-olds being fitter than those in their forties and even younger. The advent of the digital age has opened a world of opportunity, both from the point of view of leisure and work, for those just entering the world of seniors.

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This article concerns itself with the latter by listing out the side gigs that Indians aged 60 and above can take up to make a fair bit of money on the side in their golden years.

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1. Content Creation

People aged 60 and above can share a world of knowledge and insight about matters like finance, investment, travel, business ideas, philosophy, religion, raising children, managing relationships, buying and selling property, cuisine, fashion, and what have you. They can write blogs and books or come out with podcasts and YouTube videos about areas that interest them, hobbies they are passionate about and fields of expertise they specialise in, and create a lucrative income stream for themselves.

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2. Consultancy

People aged 60 and above have decades of experience behind them, which they can leverage by offering their unique expertise to businesses that can benefit from their deep insights. This can prove to be a very highly paying proposition, given that corporates are willing to pay very well for advice which helps them enhance their business prospects in a substantial fashion. Online platforms like Wisdom Circle, SCOPE (Senior Citizen Opportunities for Productive Engagement), and Flexing IT provide myriad consulting opportunities to senior professionals seeking consultancy projects and gigs.

​From finance & accounting and business & management to healthcare, technology & IT, and taxation, there are consulting opportunities galore for senior professionals aged 60 and above.

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3. Online Tutoring

Those with the requisite skills can go online and teach academic subjects or impart professional skills on platforms like Urban Pro, Chegg and Vedantu, making a fair amount of money in the process. What is great about this is the fact that it doesn’t require much by way of investment to get started.

​4. Creative Home-Based Businesses

If you are a senior with creative skills like painting, woodwork or carrying out other kinds of craftwork, you can both indulge in your passion and make money on the side by selling your work on sites like Facebook, Etsy India and Amazon Karigar.

​Another lucrative business opportunity lies in the home-cooked food space for those with a yen for cooking. Young  professionals across urban India are increasingly turning to home-cooked food tiffin services, instead of eating restaurant food, which is often quite unhealthy. Food delivery apps like Swiggy and Zomato can be tied up with through their home-chef arrangement to take care of the operations and business parts of this home-based setup.

​5. Tour Guide

India’s cities and towns are a treasure trove of history and culture. If you are a senior with intellectual inclinations and love the history and heritage of the city and town you live in, you could get yourself registered as a local guide and help conduct heritage walks or walking tours. This would help you get more intimately acquainted with the past of your city, as well as help others discover it. While keeping you occupied in an interesting avocation, it would also earn you a fair income.

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Conclusion

Indians who have made it to 60 are in a great position to embark on yet another successful innings in their lives, both personally and professionally. With longevity on the rise and the ability to live a fairly active life for at least another two decades, there is no reason why the years ahead cannot be the happiest and most fulfilling ever. The advent of the digital age has made it possible for seniors to both connect with the world at the click of a mouse and avail of a fairly large number of economic opportunities. Life at 60 and beyond was never better

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Consultancy in the time of AI

 

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

The all-consuming tidal wave of AI has impacted more professions than what one usually believes. Things like writing and coding are low-hanging fruit, which the AI juggernaut has apparently swallowed effortlessly, while other professions are on notice. From teachers and healthcare professionals to cab drivers and an increasingly large number of blue-collar workers, apparently, more and more working men and women fear for their jobs.

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In this article, we shall look at consultancy, the hitherto unassailable bastion of human intellectual ability, and how it is getting increasingly impacted by AI.  Over the years, their expertise enabled consultants to benefit from unbelievably fat consultancy fees calculated on a billable per-hour basis. The advent of AI, with its ability to both automate routine tasks and provide cutting-edge analysis as well as insights, has led to consultancy firms adopting a value-based work model that speaks to their customers’ needs in a much better manner than the traditional model. This is on account of faster and better deliveries at a much better cost.

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Wake-up call for the consultancy industry

The only thing that one can expect never to change is the fact that there will always be change. This is at the heart of the human conundrum of existence. Overnight, the much feted and eugelised consultants have woken up to the realisation that what they would take weeks to do can be rustled up by AI in minutes. Consequently, clients have begun to have higher expectations than before, with consultants scrambling to change the way that they provide value to clients. It is telling that an IBM report found out that 66% consultancy services buyers will not work with consulting organizations that do not deploy AI.

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What AI does is to make technology more accessible, empowering one to enhance business value in unprecedented ways. It helps create an ecosystem. The most sought-after consultants are those who can leverage AI to break down and resolve the most complex and knotty of problems extremely speedily and in the most optimal manner possible.

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The new age consultancy expert can no longer be a generalist relying on intuitive brilliance but, instead, be an empowered professional capable of delivering impactful solutions in real-time. With traditional expertise and core competencies becoming irrelevant, whole new delivery models that require consultants to become agents of AI-powered transformation need to be developed in order for the profession to survive and thrive.

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Businesses these days do not need to rely on the exclusive expertise of highly priced consultants, as they have unimpeded access to economically priced AI tools that help them conduct their businesses optimally. The reasons, therefore, for hiring the former have to be compelling ones. The principal challenge facing the consultancy profession lies in its ability to move from relying on formulaic expertise to dynamic and nimble AI-powered abilities.

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AI’s impact on consumer behaviour

 

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The time has come for one to seriously study the impact of AI on consumer behaviour in all its entirety. This is something which has been happening since much earlier than the much publicized launch and promotion of generative AI and has been exercising the minds of social scientists, marketers and indeed common people for a few years now.

The fact that we receive suggestions to buy goods and services in our social media feeds, as if somebody is cued into our thought process has caused anxiety amongst many for a few years now, as it seems to subvert free will itself.

Everything from e-commerce companies and social media platforms to streaming services deploys AI powered algorithms to get a handle on consumers’ buying and browsing behaviour. This makes it possible for them to come up with bespoke product and service offerings, in the process leading to supposedly optimal  shopping experiences resulting in enhanced consumer loyalty.

The concern with AI powered product and service recommendations is centered around the fact that these may lead to a subversion of the traditional way of arriving at consumption decisions. Instead of subliminally guiding consumers to decisions that best suit their interests, these may instead lead them to believe that the interests of businesses selling them products and services align with theirs.

With AI expected to become fully autonomous in the not so distant future, are we paying any attention to what kind of products and services it might decide to promote to unsuspecting and gullible consumers? Is there any guarantee that these will be in the best human interest? What if autonomous AI decides that serving the best human interests is not in its own best interest? Maybe that won't happen, but shouldn't we be guarding against such a possibility?

On the other hand businesses marketing their products and services have access to a surfeit of critical information collected by cutting edge tools that not only provide vital insights about their interests and needs, but also their vulnerabilities. Might they not exploit these and emotionally manipulate their consumers into making purchase decisions that are not in their best interests?

It is nobody’s case that AI be not used as an immensely enabling technology to further a business’s marketing prospects. What is instead required is to ensure that ethical AI be made non-negotiable for any entity seeking to use it to more efficiently market its offerings.

Businesses have to be made to mandatorily adhere to a code of ethics that ensures that they never indulge in any kind of unfair practices including discrimination, disrespect for consumer rights or any form of deception. The bottom line is that legal and moral standards are adhered to at any cost. There can be no scope for bias ,breach of trust of a compromise of confidential consumer information.

It is contingent upon marketers to use  AI tools of companies that adhere to the highest ethical standards. Building an ethical eco system for the deployment of AI in digital marketing has to be absolutely sacrosanct.

Storytelling in the age of AI

 

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The human facility for storytelling has led mankind to both chronicle its past and inspire the young to aspire to ever greater achievements. From the days of cave dwellers to the era of ebooks, storytelling has defined and epitomised what it meant to be human.

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Not anymore and any longer in the age of AI, where synthetic and manufactured storytelling looks poised to  and forever destroy an art form that gave us Shakespeare, Kalidas, Milton, Hemingway, and thousands of other luminaries telling tales in different tongues, who shone a light on what it meant to be human.

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Generative AI is phenomenally good at regurgitating existing writings and producing slickly and neatly written stories that read quite well. Why, it can be prompted to write in the voices of Shakespeare and Tolstoy, and it would even do that remarkably well. But this would be writing without a soul, as a soulless being has fabricated it by efficiently manipulating the original  thoughts and emotions of human beings.

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AI can simulate human emotions, moods and feelings, but not experience them. Therefore, anything it creates will not connect with living human beings on a primal and spiritual level. AI at present is not fully independent or autonomous and can be manipulated to run the narrative of its handlers. But what happens once it achieves the ability to at last think and take decisions autonomously?

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What kind of tales will it spin and with what sort of an agenda? It may or may not want to serve human beings’ interests and may push one of its own. Its tales may be of its own and not human making. How scary would that be? We have already seen how harmful the impact of all pervasive social media has had on children and teenagers. This, when  the agenda has been set by large business houses run by flesh and blood individuals.

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What would happen to the world if machines with super AI capabilities decided that humans are an impediment to their own plans for their future and decided to act against them? Vile propaganda worse than what could be conjured by the most evil and twisted dictator could be a primary weapon in their campaign against humans.

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Storytelling is a human instinct. To cede its control to AI is to cede control of the destiny and future of the human race to entities that likely don't share the same instinct.

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When emotional manipulation by greedy corporations who sell us products and services we may not really need is something we so consciously guard against, should we not fight tooth and nail against the advent of soulless, manipulative, and hollow content that threatens to swamp us completely?

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How will the new Platos and Aristotales emerge from the froth and foam of nonsense created by fake and almost illiterate influencers who craft an untrue narrative using AI tools? The tales told by them don’t evolve the human being, but distorts and devolves them into becoming nitwits and cretins incapable of achieving anything truly wonderful.

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The old adage that man does not live by bread alone needs to be discovered by mankind. There is more to life than producing goods and services more and more efficiently, even if it means ravaging the Earth and all life on it. Mankind needs emotional bonding within its communities, a sense of a shared destiny, and the urge to learn, grow, and discover. It needs to find time to notice and appreciate beauty and have an urge to strive for greater things in life. It needs to have a quest to understand its place in the universe.

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Storytelling is both the catalyst and the glue that allows mankind to grow in the most wonderful of ways, even as it keeps it grounded and in harmony with itself and nature. It would be disastrous for us if this enabling facility that has helped us become the most evolved life form outsourced it to machines and algorithms that we have ourselves created.

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Using AI as a tool in crafting communication in the interest of enhanced efficiency is all very well, but not giving it the job of thinking on behalf of us. We cannot stop thinking for ourselves, as that would leave us with no agency. What are we without free will? The PR and media industry have seen AI being used extensively for carrying out research as well as actually creating content in the shape of text, graphics, and even video. The famous Indian television network India Today, even as an AI anchor.

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Using AI to inform people of trends or provide detailed analyses of corporate earnings is certainly useful, but perhaps does not resonate very well in the absence of a personal human connection between the narrator and the audience. Not very long ago, Hollywood writers went on a strike, fearing that AI would decimate their profession. While they rightly feared for the future of their livelihood, cinema viewers didn’t weigh in on how having AI dictate stories and screenplays would influence the cultural ethos of their times. Cinema is, after all, more than just business-it is also an art form that needs to be protected from crass commercialisation.

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Entrenching AI in the business of storytelling will not augur very well for human beings. Relying on algorithms to second guess what will excite emotion in the audience is to try and stymie the ability of human individuals to think originally and create art that moves and uplifts its audience. Brands that understand the importance of storytelling in connecting with their audience on an emotional level should know that synthetic content created by unfeeling AI will not resonate with their audience on a primal level. People crave authenticity and the human voice, which is increasingly being drowned out in the clamour created around more and more AI.

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Digital Marketing in the world of AI

 

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Like everything else under the sun, digital marketing too isn't immune to the all pervasive impact of AI. The influence of AI in this realm is mostly visible in the enhanced use of data-driven insights and the increased automation of functions that make it possible to provide a highly personalised experience to one's target audience.

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AI has begun to impact the digital marketing landscape in myriad ways. In particular, Generative AI helps with certain aspects of the digital marketing process in a major way, incorporating things like high-quality content creation that is primed for optimal customer engagement, as well as putting very effective conversion strategies in place.

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This is done primarily through bespoke  marketing campaigns, smart content generation using cutting-edge insights obtained with the help of predictive analytics. It also helps optimise the impact of advertising.

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It is a no-brainer that large and small corporations around the world use AI and leverage its ability to carry out data based predictive analysis to help them fine tune their marketing set ups as much as they possibly can. No less a person than digital marketing guru Neil Patel believes that the most important role played by AI in digital marketing is that of enabling amazing analytics. Increasingly, AI is being used to create evocative content that resonates with prospects and customers.

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The thing about marketing is the fact that its success depends on reliable, accurate and actionable data. This process is more often than not crimped by the fact that such data is available across diverse individual silos. AI steps up to the plate by helping collect, order, and analyse such data automatically, even as it improves its ability to do so over time. The data thus obtained is then made easily accessible for very effective use in marketing campaigns.

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AI can help improve and enhance the marketing process in multiple ways that  range from better web design and copy design to a very effective call-to-action design. What’s more, it can help subject campaigns to very efficient A/B testing, which improves over time.

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Moreover, AI is particularly effective in market segmentation and hyper-focused lead generation. It can account for potential clients’ and customers’ social media behaviours, creating an accurate prospect profile. Algorithms can help fashion bespoke messages for leads most likely to convert and even put in place a mechanism to track leads snagged by competitors. Increasingly, AI is being used to create evocative content that resonates with prospects and customers.

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Rather than make digital marketers redundant, AI is more likely to make them free from overwork, which is  often the default state of many digital marketers. They would, in fact, be freed to give full rein to their creativity with regard to pushing the frontiers of digital marketing. Clearly, AI is a huge catalyst for digital marketing and is only likely to assume a more and more significant role in the time ahead.

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