[ad_1]
If you’ve spent any time watching the Olympics on NBC or Peacock over the past two weeks, you’ve almost certainly seen them: sensational ads for new AI tools from the world’s biggest companies. From Google’s Gemini to Microsoft’s Copilot and Meta AI, artificial intelligence is inevitable at the Summer Olympics, an event ostensibly meant to showcase the best of human capabilities.
Meta The story begins with a sad lady sitting on a couch asking an AI how to prepare for a marathon. MicrosoftIn one of the first ads, a pregnant woman asked Copilot to write an email about weight training (are we sensing a theme?), while a father asked it to summarize his morning calls so he could have more time to help his son with his boxing practice. The uplifting music and slightly inspiring taglines — “Expand your world” and “You, the power”, respectively — are meant to show how AI can be used to act as a personal assistant, giving users more time to spend on the things that matter. It’s pretty standard stuff as far as Olympics-themed ad campaigns from tech giants go.
but Google’s ‘Dear Sydney’ adwhich revolves around a father whose daughter is an aspiring track star and a huge fan of U.S. Olympic hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Leveron. We learn that the daughter wants to write a letter telling McLaughlin-Leveron how much she means to her. But inexplicably, the father then decides to have Google’s Gemini write the letter for her, turning what could have been a heartwarming father-daughter bonding moment into an opportunity to generate a chatbot version of a fan letter.
To say it was unsuccessful would be an understatement. Alexandra Petri of The Washington Post writes The ad “makes me want to throw a sledgehammer into the TV every time I see it,” and it’s “one of those ads that makes you think that maybe evolution is a mistake.” “Their pitch is really, ‘Hey, we can feel and express emotions so your daughter doesn’t have to’?” the sports writer asked. Shehan JeyarajahShelly Palmer, a technology consultant who provides AI consulting to businesses, wrote “Dear Sydney is ‘one of the most disturbing adverts I have ever seen’.”
After closing the comments section on the YouTube page, Google eventually removed the ad NBCUniversal reportedly wrote in a statement to Variety: “We believe AI can be a great tool to augment human creativity, but can never replace it. Our goal was to create an authentic story that celebrates Team USA.”
This isn’t the first time a tech company has made a marketing mistake in recent months. In May, Apple Posted an ad To promote its new iPad, a hydraulic press completely crushed the physical objects used in its creative practice: a piano, a paint can, a mannequin, a drum kit, and a camera, leaving only an iPad. As The Verge’s Elizabeth Lopatto explains Point out At the time, “the message many of us received was that Apple, a trillion-dollar behemoth, was going to crush all that was beautiful and human, all that was pleasing to the eye and tactile, and that all that was left was a thin sheet of glass and metal.”
That doesn’t look good, given widespread concerns about technologies like artificial intelligence developed by Apple. Investing a lot of moneywill replace work and Make the existing situation worseMarketing strategies that tout AI’s ability to make meaningful activities (like drawing or writing letters to your daughter) just a click of a button will sound deeply out of place to people already anxious about the future of the technology. 52% of Americans They said they were more concerned than excited about the widespread use of artificial intelligence in daily life.
Despite claims by AI proponents over the past two years that AI will soon become The Great Equalizer of Creativitywhich turns ordinary people into artistic geniuses and offers all the perks of a personal assistant at the touch of a button, suggests that people have recently begun to think Artificial intelligence is a bubble that is about to burst. Stock Market Heavy losses this week Led by chipmaker Nvidia and Amazon, technology companies that are optimistic about artificial intelligence, Part of the reason is The cost of running AI models is extremely high ( estimated OpenAI spends $700,000 a day to run ChatGPT, and the more it’s used, the more it costs), and the economic reality that at some point the bills must be paid.
The tone of the ads was reminiscent of the crypto, Web3, and metaverse that were ubiquitous during the 2022 Super Bowl, enlisting a cast of celebrities to promote unregulated currencies for companies like FTX, Coinbase, and Crypto.com. Each touted their respective technologies as the next great innovation that would make humans super-efficient (in the case of AI) and rich (both). Since then, as crypto prices have plummeted and the three companies have either gone bankrupt or been embroiled in scandal, the cryptocurrencies have been Absolutely non-existent Starting with the Super Bowls in 2023 and 2024. As early as 2022, people criticized the ads for being untargeted and obviously fraudulent: they “felt like a copy of Pets.com,” wiredand cited this century’s infamous tech bubble.
Like cryptocurrencies, the AI tools touted by today’s tech companies It’s an environmental disasterconsuming as much energy as the entire country. This number is expected to double by 2026, including Millions of gallons of water Cooling equipment is required.
Although the Paris Olympics promised to be “Most sustainable ever”. Part of NBC’s report use It’s an AI version of the voice of 79-year-old sportscaster Al Michaels, while the International Olympic Committee has launched an Intel-powered chatbot that athletes can use to ask questions about procedures and scheduling. Wealth Notes The IOC found 180 use cases for AI at the Olympics, but most of them appear to be “no more than marketing gimmicks.” But others, particularly technology used to track movements among crowds of spectators, raise serious questions about what role AI will play in increasing surveillance.
Yet what you see on TV are expensive, well-made commercials featuring a woman motivating herself to train for a marathon or A man is very excited This AI-generated image shows the sound of “kersploosh” from Jay-Z’s Public Service Announcement. You’ll see a bunch of sparkly emojis, It has now become a symbol of the entire industry Representatives of artificial intelligence who compare technology to magic (even Although the flash never asked Be a part of it! ). You’ll see Leslie Jones Ask Gemini Design a set of gymnastic moves for her, with a tagline describing how AI can be a superpower in the palm of your hand.
The AI industry faces far bigger problems than a poorly executed ad from Google. It faces questions about the viability and usefulness of its products, and whether it has failed to deliver on its promises. And the latest round of AI ad campaigns has so far failed to highlight how its products can help Most Americans actually want to use AI to i.e. helping with chores around the house, rather than ultimately demonstrating how AI will be used for most of us No We want it to interfere with our job prospects, our privacy, and our uniquely human experiences and skills. If the world already thinks AI is dangerous, wasteful, and yet another example of overhyped marketing, then these ads only confirm our worst fears. No wonder they seem so unbearable.
[ad_2]
Source link
