Next week, it's Marketecture Live III, and if you haven't been bombarded with updates about this from Marketecture, me, the speakers, and attendees, I'm sorry for not properly targeting and tracking you.

I'll be there emceeing some tracks when not shoving people out of the way to get dibs on the Russ & Daughters. Throughout the two days, here are 10 questions about AI that I'd love to hear various speakers address. They're questions that I hope you're thinking about too.

1) How are you measuring the success of AI initiatives today?

Is "time saved" still the main metric, or are you adopting metrics that are typically better for justifying returns on investment?

2) What is your favorite example of AI being a game-changer at your org?

How did AI help you win a pitch? How did AI assist in meeting a customer's needs? Where did it make a difference? What insight did it deliver faster or better?

3) What's your biggest stumbling block to doing more with AI right now?

ROI? Your legal team? Budget? Education? Are you overwhelmed with options? Are you underwhelmed with the current options? Is any of the hesitation rooted in fear? Fear of what, exactly? 

An aside: In nearly every talk I give about AI, I cite the scene from the first "Lord of the Rings" movie where Aragorn the human accosts Frodo the hobbit in a gloomy, dreadful inn and says, "Are you frightened? Not nearly frightened enough." You can harness this fear if you’re not paralyzed by it.

4) Do ethics matter?

Anthropic and OpenAI are taking different approaches toward ethics and privacy that extend far beyond whether to run ads within AI query results — though the ad debate is part of this. Are ethics and values factors in determining which AI companies you'll work with? Why or why not?

5) How do you mitigate bias?

There will always be bias in AI. We've seen attempts of major tech companies trying to minimize products’ biases, only to be accused of being biased with how they do that. What processes and protocols do you have in place to understand and mitigate bias in how you use these tools?

6) What don't you use AI for?

And what won't you use AI for? Where do you specifically keep it at bay? Do you have any sense of FOMO when you don't use it? Does it spark joy when you avoid relying on it?

7) What's the one task you can't WAIT for AI to handle for you?

We're getting to that “wave a magic wand" moment, and depending on the task, we might already be there. 

8) Once ads in AI engines become as easy to buy as Google and Facebook ads, will you buy them?

Put aside any qualms about $60 CPMs or even dealing with OpenAI if they're not your cup of chai. Would you hesitate to buy such ads? Why or why not?

9) What are you doing for AI reputation management?

How are you monitoring what AI engines say about you, your company, your category, and your team members? Are you doing anything differently right now? Is it just more SEO, or are you creating new processes for AI optimization and AI reputation management?

10) Cue Barenaked Ladies singing "If I Had a Million Dollars." Say you're an investor and have a check you're ready to write. What bet do you place in the AI space?

Do you double down on a stalwart like NVIDIA, OpenAI, or Alphabet? Is there a certain niche where you're excited by how they're pioneering or adopting AI? Is there an up-and-coming field within AI that you bet will be transformative? Where do you think you'll get the fastest returns? The biggest returns? The most surefire returns? 

Those are just some of my questions. What else do you hope we'll cover at Marketecture Live III, and in our ongoing AI Insiders series? Beyond the event next week, where I hope to get to meet you, we can seek out way more answers to these questions in the year ahead.

— David Berkowitz, Chief Community Officer, Marketecture Media

Who: Search Marketers, Media Buyers, Brand Managers, E-commerce Teams

What: OpenAI has launched a pilot program for ads within ChatGPT. The digital wedding platform The Knot is among the first to test the format, using a dedicated app and sponsored placements to reach users during the high-intent planning phase. The pilot is currently focused on test and learn phases to see how users interact with brands in a conversational interface.

Why it matters: The Search era is officially shifting to the Answer era. Marketers need to prepare for a world where brand discovery happens through AI dialogue rather than just blue links.

(Digiday)

Who: FinTech Marketers, App Developers, CRM Managers, Brand Strategists

What: Insurance provider ICICI Lombard has launched a 25-year anniversary brand campaign featuring an "origami bird" creative concept that blends realism with digital magic. Central to their current tech push is the IL TakeCare app, which now features an industry-first "Face Scan" tool. This AI feature allows users to track health vitals via their smartphone camera, moving the brand from a reactive claim-payer to a proactive wellness partner.

Why it matters: AI-powered biometric tools are becoming the new entry point for high-touch service brands to gather first-party health data while providing immediate utility to the consumer.

(The Economic Times)

Who: Creative Directors, Agency Principals, Content Strategists, Innovation Leads

What: At a recent industry event, creative leaders highlighted vibe coding — using natural language AI tools to create sites and apps — as the new frontier for rapid prototyping. Agencies are moving away from off-the-shelf tools to build bespoke, internal AI applications that mirror a specific brand's tone of voice or audience data. The consensus is that "the most creative people are now building their own tools" rather than waiting for SaaS updates.

Why it matters: The competitive advantage for agencies is shifting from using AI tools to building custom micro-tools that protect a brand’s unique identity.

(Marketing Brew)

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