The launch of ChatGPT by Microsoft-funded lab OpenAI in February has brought to light the transformative power of today’s advanced AI tools. With the emergence of large language models (LLMs) and natural language processing, AI has the potential to revolutionize not only daily life but also a broad range of industries. However, this newfound attention has also brought scrutiny, with regulators around the world taking note of the risks AI poses to user privacy.
The Future of Life Institute, backed by Elon Musk, has gathered 1,000 signatures from tech leaders calling for a six-month pause on training AI tools that are more advanced than GPT-4, which powers ChatGPT. While legal and engineering matters are important, the fundamental ethical questions are easily digestible. If developers take a break from AI advancements, will they shift their focus to ensuring that AI upholds ethical guidelines and user privacy? Can we control the potentially disruptive effects AI may have on ad spending and media monetization?
Google, IBM, Amazon, Baidu, Tencent, and a host of smaller players are also working on similar AI tools. In an emerging market, it is impossible to predict the products that will come to dominate and what the outcomes will look like. This underscores the importance of protecting privacy in AI tools right now and planning for the unknown before it happens.
The Impact on the Digital Advertising Industry
As the digital advertising industry looks to AI applications for targeting, measurement, creative personalization, and optimization, industry leaders must closely examine how the technology is implemented. Specifically, they must look at the use of personally identifiable information (PII), the potential for accidental or intentional bias or discrimination against underrepresented groups, how data is shared through third-party integrations, and worldwide regulatory compliance.
The rise of AI chat could lead to a “search vs. AI” face-off, with AI collecting all the information a user needs in one place. If young people accept AI as a central part of the digital experience going forward, non-AI search engines’ relevance could diminish, affecting the value of search inventory and publishers’ ability to monetize traffic from search. While search still drives a significant share of traffic to publisher sites, advertising is making its way into AI chat, and publishers are questioning how AI providers may share revenue with the sites from which their tools source information.
Preparing for a Privacy-Safe, Transparent, and Profitable Future
Industry leaders must keep their focus on how they and their tech partners collect, analyze, store and share data for AI applications in all of their processes. Leaders should consider implementing consent or opt-in buttons with AI tools that personalize content or advertising. Despite the convenience and sophistication of these AI tools, the cost simply cannot be paid with privacy risks to users. As the industry’s history has shown, we must expect users will become increasingly aware of these privacy risks. Businesses shouldn’t rush the development of consumer-facing AI tools and jeopardize privacy in the process.
With AI tools generating the most attention from Big Tech businesses, we shouldn’t be lulled into a false sense of security that the effects of this evolution will be Big Tech’s problem. The recent layoffs in major tech businesses are leading to a great dispersal of talent, which will, in turn, lead to AI advancements coming from smaller companies that have made talent grabs. Industry leaders need to treat the rise of AI chat as the pivotal moment it is and prepare for a privacy-safe, transparent, and profitable future.
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