At the Marketing AI Institute, we read dozens of articles on artificial intelligence every week to uncover the most valuable ones for our subscribers (become a subscriber today), and we curate them for you here. We call it 3 Links in 3 Minutes. Enjoy!
1. Free Machine Learning Course From Google
Looking to share its knowledge of artificial intelligence and machine learning with the world, Google recently opened to the public an educational site called Learn with Google AI. According to The Verge, Learn with Google AI will serve as a hub for AI and machine learning resources.
Google has a lot of experience in AI. Some of its more popular AI projects include machine learning software TensorFlow, cat doodles, and AI browser experiment Teachable Machine.
Google hopes Learn with Google AI will serve as a repository of resources for anyone who wants to learn more about AI and machine learning, specifically people looking to “learn about core ML concepts, develop and hone your ML skills, and apply ML to real-world problems.”
The site caters to all levels of AI enthusiasts, from beginners to seasoned professionals, and offers a free course, Machine Learning Crash Course (MLCC). This course, originally developed to teach Google employees the fundamentals of AI and machine learning, now has 18,000 Google employees enrolled. It teaches machine learning concepts through exercises, interactive visualizations and instructional videos.
The MLCC is designed for beginners with no machine learning experience and is estimated to take around 15 hours to complete. It is also the first of many resources Google intends to make available through the hub.
It’s hard to read anything online today without a certain term continuously popping up—artificial intelligence. But how does one define “artificial intelligence?” Digiday reached out to eight agency executives for their definition. We shared our two of our favorites here.
Jason Goldberg, senior vice president of commerce and content at SapientRazorfish, defines AI as:
“AI are computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. Machine learning is a subset of AI, and deep learning is a subset of machine learning. Essentially in deep learning, instead of writing a set of programmatic rules, a model can be developed that can be trained with a data set that allows the model ‘to learn.’ For example, I can train a model with consumer behaviors to learn what offerings and services a new shopper is most likely to want.”
Jason Beckerman, CEO of Unified, states:
“I would define AI as the end outcome. AI takes the data processed from machine learning and makes ongoing decisions about what to do to achieve specific goals. Often when marketers refer to AI, they’re actually talking about machine learning, which is a subset of AI. Machine learning is especially top of mind for marketers, because it enables computers to efficiently analyze data without any manual human assistance, and can automatically dig deeper into insights based on what it learns.”
Digiday’s full list of responses can be found here.
3. AI-Written Subject Lines Perform 98% Better Than Human Ones
In a recent HubSpot article, Paul Roetzer, founder of the Marketing AI Institute, analyzes whether artificial intelligence can write better email subject lines than humans.
Hint: it can.
The matter of email subject lines may seem like just one of the hundreds of tiny tasks that marketers spend time working on. However, it’s the perfect use case for how artificial intelligence and machine learning can improve your marketing.
Persado and Phrasee are two companies using AI to write better email subject lines for brands. Using a dataset of emails, natural language processing (NLP), natural language generation (NLG) and no human involvement, Phrasee is able to write and test email subject lines that are on-brand and, they claim, perform 98% better than those written by humans. In one case study, Phrasee increased Virgin Holidays’ email open rate by 2%, an increase worth millions in new revenue.
Roetzer shares that these tools are great news for marketers for two reasons. First, they streamline a time-consuming, manual process into one a machine can complete in a few seconds. Additionally, these tools enable marketers to spend more time focusing on growing other areas of their business.
However, it’s important that marketers start taking notice of the developments in AI and act on them. We’re at a place right now where those who capitalize on the benefits of artificial intelligence will have a significant advantage over their competitors.
Roetzer elaborates:
“AI in marketing right now has a very ‘first-mover advantage’ to it. Let's say I start using a tool like Phrasee to write my email subject lines. I improve performance almost immediately. I reinvest hours each week into building better campaigns in every area of our marketing. And I collect more and more data on what subject lines work best, improving performance even more.”
For More Resources Like These...
...Subscribe to the Marketing AI Institute. Every week, we bring you expert advice, exclusive interviews and actionable insight into the world of AI. Our subscribers get the content first.
Ashley Sams
Ashley Sams is director of marketing at Ready North. She joined the agency in 2017 with a background in marketing, specifically for higher education and social media. Ashley is a 2015 graduate of The University of Mount Union where she earned a degree in marketing.