Do you say please or thank you to ChatGPT and Meta AI in your prompts? Sure, nobody on the other side cares, and yet do you continue being polite? In a world where our AI assistants learn every day from the behavior input we provide, have you considered that maintaining our polite habits with AI is not just about practicing courtesy, but about preparing for a future where our digital counterparts might only learn to show us the same respect that we show them?

Irrespective of which side of the AI debate you might be on – we can certainly agree that AI will significantly transform our experiences by amplifying our capabilities to sense and feel, increase the efficiency with which these experiences evolve, and at the same time prompt significant social and ethical questions. As marketers, we’ll, of course, be dealing with all the new experience opportunities and challenges this will create.

Empowered Interactivity 

Emotional intelligence – the uniquely human ability to recognize and influence the emotions of others – is vital for creating impactful campaigns that build strong customer connections and loyalty. But when social cues like facial expressions, body language, voice tone, and words are bombarded from across sources, humans may need a little help from AI to process the information efficiently, continue to operate 24/7, and respond both tirelessly and consistently. 

Think, for example, of an AI-powered, always-on customer service app, because today, AI has greatly expanded the interactivity of extended reality by enabling interaction through natural gestures and voice commands, with support for real-time language translation. Perhaps even more poignant is how AI is enabling extended reality with adaptive interfaces that can create inclusion, like support voice commands for those with mobility challenges or multisensory support for those with impaired vision. A telling instance is how last season, during the NBA playoffs, the beer brand Michelob Ultra commissioned a bespoke AI tool for a blind sports broadcaster to commentate on the basketball game live on National TV! For the event, their tagline, “it’s only worth it if you enjoy it”, was changed to “it’s only worth it if we all enjoy it”.

Also read: The great marketing evolution: From monologue to dialogue to community

Deeper Immersion

The surprising twists of creativity, the subtleties and raw emotion – so often exhibited in music, art, and theatre – mark some of the most original immersive experiences that humans create. But experiential immersion is also significantly deepened by context-aware responses. AI can process unmanageable (for humans) amounts of data rapidly and generate highly responsive environments that adapt – almost instantly – to user interactions. Think, games that change course based on player actions or virtual makeup retailers who let you try products – clearly, immersion is key to these experiences.

Brands are getting inventive with the possibilities. Invesco, the investment management giant, uses an AI-powered virtual training environment to simulate sales situations for its advisors to learn how to tackle tough customers and difficult conversations. From AI-powered billboards teasing rained-out Londoners with real-time British Airways flight information headed for the sunny Caribbean, to AI-powering your own living space with IKEA furniture – AI-powered immersion is limited only by human imagination.

Meaningful Personalisation

Nuanced emotional understanding, empathy, adapting to complex situations and unique needs is what make human interactions authentic and meaningful. However, responding with as much relevance at scale is a challenge that marketers must tackle. After all, as consumers, we’ve come to expect it. For example, today, WhatsApp users (in the US only for now) can upload their photo, and generate custom AI avatars with a text prompt starting with “Imagine me,” followed by a description of any setting or situation. When it comes to population-scale personalization, AI is quick to analyze large data sets for patterns and preferences, which then enable targeted recommendations and content that align with individual needs. In fact, we too are experimenting with AI in tandem with our CDP to serve our large target audience customized content based on their interests and propensity to engage, churn or purchase. 

The human experience is incredibly diverse and complex, with each person’s journey being uniquely coloured by their environment, upbringing, culture, and personal choices. It also entails navigating right and wrong and applying the filter of ethics to complex situations. AI, on the other hand, is incapable of ‘thinking’ out experiences, just yet. It can, however, assist with making sense of data and variables too voluminous or too quick for human comprehension, while also amplifying and orchestrating sensory stimuli to create a complex matrix of intelligence that mirrors the human experience. For marketers, the challenge and opportunity then are to interweave both to create more interactive, more immersive and more personalized experiences that pay off for the brand.

Sumit Virmani, EVP and Global CMO, Infosys.

(The author is EVP and Global Chief Marketing Officer at Infosys. This article is part of the BrandWagon Plus Master Series. Views expressed are the author’s own and not necessarily those of financialexpress.com.)