CDP Institute

How bad is the problem of unreliable answers from gen AI systems?  A month-long study by the BBC using ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and Perplexity determined that 51% of answers to queries had “significant issues of some form.” Almost 20% of answers based on BBC content had factual errors while 13% of quotes were altered or just didn’t exist.

Adoption of gen AI has slowed as marketers adjust to its limits, according to a study by Deloitte Digital.  Use of gen AI to create newsletter and advertisements, automate content creation and produce graphic content is down, while the number of respondents using gen AI to create short-form text or brainstorm content ideas is up YoY (7% and 19% respectively).

Meta this week announced a round of performance-based layoffs likely affecting some 5% of its global staff. Zuckerberg is claiming to “raise the bar on performance management.” Meanwhile, employees are being encouraged to assist in the recruitment of machine learning engineers.

Marketing data and audience engagement platform Wiland is partnering with sports CDP StellarAlgo to enhance fan intelligence for sports organizations. Wiland’s FanSignals data on billions of fan transactions will be used by the StellarAlgo platform to enhance its fan profiles. The combination is aimed at enhancing fan loyalty, reducing churn and optimizing ticket and merchandise sales.

Retail media is the number one marketing channel for consumer goods brand, with 92% ranking it as their most important strategy according to a survey from Skai. Questions are raised, however, about ROI and incrementality. A full funnel approach to retail media is winning favor with 61% of leaders emphasizing its consistent messaging and 59% saying it helps to influence consumers throughout the customer journey. Only 25% claim full-funnel maturity, leaving room for growth.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked provisions of a Texas law that required users to verify their age and banned social media advertising targeted at teens. The judge had already blocked portions of the law limiting the content that teens could view.  All provisions were deemed likely violations of free speech.

Meanwhile, a Senate Committee has passed a bill which requires social media companies to estimate users’ ages and use their findings to block accounts for children under 13 and not use algorithms to recommend content for users under 17.  Prospects in the full Senate and House are uncertain but the bill does have bipartisan support.  The bill faces similar Constitution obstacles as the Texas law, but, then again, the Constitution ain’t what it used to be.

Meanwhile, Jamie from our Department of the Obvious, shares a pair of studies about GenAI. The first, from SEO agency HigherVisibility, finds that people use GenAI search for complex questions and conventional search for simple ones.  The second, from academics funded by Microsoft, finds that people with more trust in AI put less effort into checking its results and worries extensive AI use may result in the loss of skills needed to work without it.