Google to Launch AI-Driven Ad Campaigns

Google is leaning into artificial intelligence, saying it will launch of AI-powered ad campaigns to capitalize on growing interest in the technology.

The tech giant outlined its plans in an internal presentation to advertising clients, according to the Financial Times. “Generative AI is unlocking a world of creativity,” Google said. The company’s own website now hosts a page for AI-powered ad solutions, which it says will help businesses “find new customers, unlock additional performance opportunities," and accelerate growth.

Google is expanding its advertising services as it faces challenges to its dominance of the online search market, notably from Microsoft's revamped Bing search engine. Microsoft had a significant rise in Daily Active Users (DAUs) on Bing after launching a ChatGPT-powered chatbot function in February. Google subsequently rushed the release of its rival AI chatbot, Bard, leading to a widely publicized misfire that wiped $100 billion off the company's market cap.

Google already uses AI technologies to serve ads. Its latest venture incorporates generative AI tools to produce ad campaigns similar to those of expensive marketing agencies. The presentation said that customers can supply creative content such as videos and images and the AI will “remix” those, optimizing for a target audience and other metrics.

No Plain Sailing for AI as Wozniak Warns, Musk Sues

As Google and Microsoft push further into generative AI products, others are sounding the alarm.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are among the more than 1,000 tech leaders who signed a letter last month demanding a six-month pause on developing more advanced AI.

Some fear the search engine-related products that have already been launched. A Google insider told the FT that AI-integrated search engines risk spreading misinformation. “It is optimized to convert new customers and has no idea what the truth is,” they said.

Google told the FT that it had plans to put guardrails in place to prevent those errors as its new ad product is rolled out in the months ahead.

Microsoft’s advance into artificial intelligence may already have put it on a fast track to court. Elon Musk hinted he would sue the firm for allegedly gathering Twitter data illegally to train its AI. Microsoft dropped Twitter from its advertising platform on Wednesday, leading Musk to tweet: "They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time."