AI Winning Competitions and Instagram Improvements

It’s been an interesting week in the marketing world. From AI winning prestigious photography competitions, to Bing challenging Google for search supremacy, this week has left us with a lot of questions to answer.

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s a possibility for an Optix Bake Off, which of course is the most important issue we’ll be discussing today.

The Great AI Art Scandal

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has had a profound impact on many aspects of our lives, including the creative arts.

Recently, an artist named Mario Klingemann used AI to generate an image that was submitted to a photography competition under a pseudonym. To his surprise, the image was selected as one of the winners, and it was only later revealed that it had been created by an AI program.

Klingemann's intention was to raise awareness of the growing role of AI in creative fields and to challenge traditional notions of what can be considered "art." The win sparked a lively debate among artists and photographers about the nature of creativity and the role of technology in art.

As mentioned by one of our podcast hosts Sophie, can a red square on a random wall in the Tate Modern be considered art? What makes that art, but not the AI generated photograph? Can everything be considered art?

When the first camera was invented and photographs were being taken by people, were painters were outraged at their photographs being considered art?

Bing Battling Google

Google has been making headlines recently for its latest advancements in the world of AI-powered search engines.

According to a recent article in The New York Times, the company has been working hard to develop a search engine that can provide users with even more accurate and personalised results than ever before.

Apparently, this new search engine is designed to better understand user intent and context, enabling it to provide personalised results that are tailored to each user's specific needs.

However, as with any technology that relies heavily on AI, there are concerns around the ethical implications of such a tool, with questions being raised about data privacy and bias, which we touched upon last week.

Despite these concerns, Google remains committed to exploring the full potential of AI in the search engine market, as competition continues to heat up with the likes of Bing, who are making waves across the world at the moment.

Have you found yourself using Bing recently?

Instagram is Getting Reel Exciting

Ignoring that awful pun…

If you're a fan of Instagram Reels, you're in luck - the platform has just announced a bunch of new updates that are sure to make your content creation experience even better!

According to a recent article on Social Media Today, Instagram has introduced new analytics for Reels creators that will provide them with more detailed insights into their content performance.

This means that you'll now be able to see metrics such as plays, accounts reached, likes, comments, saves, and shares, as well as data on audience demographics like age, gender, and location.

In addition to the new analytics, Instagram is also introducing a new creation flow for Reels, which is designed to make it easier for users to create and edit their videos.

The latest updates to Instagram Reels are certainly useful, but let's be real - they're mostly just playing catch-up to TikTok.

After all, the rise of short-form video has put Meta (Instagram's parent company) on the backfoot, constantly striving to keep up with the latest trends and retain user attention.

However, these updates are likely to be effective in retaining Instagram's user base, especially given the negative press around TikTok's ownership and data privacy concerns.

In fact, Reels consumption has been a significant engagement driver for Meta over the past couple of years.

While the new functionalities may seem like a copy of TikTok, they're still beneficial for Instagram creators and could help to enhance their Reels strategy.

And if it TikTok does get banned, these updates could prove even more valuable.

There’s a Lot to Look Forward To

There was a lot to talk about this week, and there’s even more discussed in the podcast!

So, if you want to keep up to date with all things digital marketing and more, check out our podcast, where you’ll be able to listen to a brand new episode every Friday.

You can access the podcast via these platforms:

·       Spotify

·       Apple Podcasts

·       Google Podcasts

·       YouTube