Last week we wrote about ChatGPT, as an introduction and a reflection on where the tool might develop in its capacity. However, we realize that it may all still seem a bit distant, and disconnected from our everyday reality of the professional world.
ChatGPT4 is coming in 2023, and will make the current version look like a cute toy. It can write a 60,000 word novel from one prompt, and will disrupt a great many industries. Sundar Pinchai, CEO of Google, said in 2018 that "AI is one of the most important things humanity is working on. It is more profound than, I dunno, electricity or fire". If ever there was an inappropriate statement to water down with "I dunno", that was it. ChatGPT would not have made that slip.
Does that seem real? Overwhelming? Well, then let's bring it a little closer to home, to you, the education marketing professional. And let's broaden out from ChatGPT just a bit, to include the full range of tools in the current suite at OpenAI. That would include not only ChatGPT, but also Whisper (speech recognition tool) and Dall-E2 (image generator).
The Pew Research center predicted back in 2014 that AI and Robotics would drive nearly any aspect of our modern lives by 2025, and we are on track for that to become a reality.
We are going to give you a list. This list is of things that AI-powered tools will be able to do automatically for you in your organization by 2025. The things marked with an asterisk are already possible today.
- Write targeted social media posts and data-driven blog posts*
- Write A/B test landing page copy*
- Carry out effective keyword research*
- Accurately (ish) transcribe audio files from various languages*
- Predict student behavior based on specific marketing approaches*
- Find optimal approaches for email content and personalize copy for audiences*
- Have detailed conversations with students, and learn more about them to build more effective future responses and recommendations*
- Create realistic and creative images from text prompts*
- Create animation and even video content from voice prompts
- Get straightforward explanations instantly about anything you don't understand*
- Write code from prompts, and check your own code for errors or security risks*
- Conduct specialist market research reports and recommendations in seconds
- Have conversations with an AI voice that helps you learn and even challenges your assumptions (Star Trek, anyone?)
- Design and build websites, landing pages and marketing assets
Let's just stop there for now, though this is not the end. This is based only on the suite of tools offered by OpenAI, with their massive Microsoft funding now in place. So much of the work we do right now in education marketing is going to be something we can now train machines to do. Scary?
We reflect a lot on what we tell our clients when we come in to automate their CRM architecture and marketing processes. We tell them, and this very much proves to be true, that by automating as much as possible, the human team is far more free to think creatively and strategically.
In a recent HBR survey, top executives reported that they were mainly excited about AI because it would help them free up staff time, and optimize products and services. Being able to reduce headcount came out as the least reported benefit.
AI is full of bias. It doesn't always "get" emotion; especially brand-centric evocation. Even the best of it can still sound a little clunky. Even when that improves over time, there will always be room for human creative flourishes to put the final parts in place.
Letting AI do the groundwork frees us up to step outside, get the bird's eye view, interact with each other, and spark genuine creativity that can only come from taking the time to step outside well-worn routines.
Whether we like it or not, the genie is out of the bottle. Just a few days ago (February 2023), the huge management consulting firm Bain & Company announced a partnership with OpenAI.
Marketing is a key focus of this partnership, with collaboration on "creating automated, real-time scripts for contact center staff and boosting turnaround time for marketers by using ChatGPT and DALL-E to generate personalized ad copy, imagery, and targeted messaging." Coca-Cola jumped on board immediately as a client.
How long* until the universities, schools, colleges, and language schools are using streamlined AI strategies to gain competitive advantage? We guess you spotted the asterisk; some are already doing it in the three key areas of student learning experience; student support; and enrollment management. HubSpot is already in there, using OpenAI technology to draft outbound emails, categorize and prioritize leads and much more besides.
We will let you be the judge of that, but we are sure you can see that your world is about to drastically change. The whole sea change of AI in education marketing is inevitable. Starting to prepare now by automating your marketing processes, and training your team on the way new technologies might work for your institution, are a good first step to preparing for deeper AI integration.
NEO is not a tech organisation, but we are tech positive because embracing these changes will not only help education institutions survive and remain competitive, but it will also free humans up for deeper learning, creativity and more focus on personal wellbeing. Get in touch to start the conversation with us about how we can support you in this transition, and we will be back soon with more on the AI revolution in education and education marketing.