Generative AI is turning the marketing industry on its head. So, establishing an AI Policy for our creative agency is a must.
The release of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022, seemed to open the floodgates of content creation. Very soon, if not already, all marketing software we currently use will be assisted, or solely dependent upon, generative AI.
While new AI tools are appearing almost daily and agentic AI is rapidly expanding, many feel like the train has left the station and they’re too far behind to catch it. Not so! If you’re just tipping your toes into the AI pool, here are a few terms that will help you get acquainted with the players.
Defining Terms: AI, GAI, LLM, and GPT
AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a general term for a coded program that calculates and responds as a human would. Its algorithms use data to discern patterns, translate languages, and solve problems.
GAI (Generative AI), as defined by Investopedia, is a “form of machine learning that can produce outputs in the same medium in which it is prompted (e.g., text-to-text) or in a different medium from the given prompt (e.g., text-to-image or image-to-video).”
From designing graphics to analyzing data, writing code, and providing customer service, GAI is quickly learning to deliver the content and solutions people want.
LLM (Large Language Model) is a kind of GAI, an AI framework trained to complete language-related tasks. As generative AI, these tools recognize language in context, understand meaning, and can generate new sequences of text.
GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) was developed by OpenAI in 2018. OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022, and as an LLM, it continues to introduce upgraded versions.
AI Hallucinations: This term describes events and information that AI tools “make up.” It occurs when AI algorithms and generative-trained networks produce incorrect or unreal outputs. It’s a phenomenon because these hallucinations don’t exist in the data, nor do they align with any known pattern. While these are becoming rarer, human oversight will continue to be a vital piece of AI use.
What does AI mean for creative agencies?
Creative agencies are swiftly incorporating AI. Creative teams like ours are asking themselves, “How do we implement AI to add efficiency without sacrificing human connection and weakening our creative muscle?”
If agencies use AI effectively, we must select the optimal tools, understand their limitations, be aware of any risks, and know how to stack AI tools for better results.
Identity Creative’s team has been exploring ways to implement AI.
At the AI for Agencies Summit, Paul Roetzer, Founder & CEO of Marketing AI Institute, and other speakers addressed many vital issues facing creative and marketing agencies. Roetzer kicked off the summit with an overview of how AI will significantly impact knowledge- and customer-service-based industries over the next year, listing industries that will soon need to adapt to an AI world or risk becoming obsolete. (Think typewriter.)
Retail
E-commerce
Marketing agencies
Event businesses
Media companies
Law firms
Medical practices
Artists
Writers
Graphic designers
Financial services
Insurance
Software
Game and app dev
Real estate brokers
Consumer products
Hotels and restaurants
Manufacturers Distributors
Education
How will we use Generative AI in our business?
While we look for ways to improve efficiency with AI tools, we are careful to use them in ways that strengthen brands and not bruise them.
- Inappropriate reliance on AI can weaken human brain power and atrophy creative muscle.
- The need to mitigate the risks of exposing proprietary data and intellectual property.
- As AI evolves, copyright & trademark protection will come into question, and we want our clients to “own” every part of their brands.
- “AI Slop” is everywhere with tell-tale signs. Even as generative AI improves, there’s a growing trend toward wanting what’s real.
- AI is enabling the creation of what was once impossible or only available to big-budget agencies. Now we can leverage it (wisely!) for small and medium-sized businesses.
- We’re finding ways to implement AI tools to do more for our clients while maintaining creative brand strategy, implementation, marketing campaigns, and sales integration.
1. AI and the Risk of Atrophying Human Creative Thinking
In collaboration with Harvard and three other universities, BCG, a global consulting firm, conducted a study on professional consultants using AI. This study demonstrates a common denominator among many of us regarding the use of AI.
The “creativity trap.” “Even when consultants used GPT-4 for tasks that showed the greatest performance gains, despite individual improvement, collective creativity scored lower.”
Alarmingly, “the homogenous output of GPT-4 reduced ‘diversity of thought’ by 41%.” – BCG Study
“Falling asleep at the wheel.” Fabrizio Dell’Acqua of Harvard used the term “falling asleep at the wheel” when people using AI tend to “switch off their brains” and “outsource their judgment to AI.”
If I’m guilty of leaning on GPS when driving a route I know, don’t I risk weakening my creative muscle by relying on AI in my work? I’m not alone in my concern: 70% of the BCG consultants in the study worried that using GPT-4 would “stifle their creative abilities over time.”
2. AI and Intellectual Property Protection
IP protection has been pretty straightforward in our work. We create original work and begin using it. We can get trademark protection ® © registering it or adding the TM symbol after a new product or service.
We’ve always been careful to give credit (e.g., cite an author’s work) or purchase an artist’s license if we use their work. Our client agreements have the legal language to clarify who owns the created work. Leaning on IP attorneys and referring our clients to them has been pretty standard.
It appears, however, that AI has opened a new can of intellectual property worms.
In her AI for Agencies Summit presentation, Sharon Torek, founder of Legal+Creative | Toerek Law, suggested that we’ll likely see more AI companies place the responsibility for copyright infringement on the user.
Adobe, a well-respected and widely used software by artists and educators, includes “a new kind of tamper-evident metadata that can be applied to (AI) assets at export or download. They increase transparency around the origins and history of the assets they are applied to.”
Adobe will attach and may publish Content Credentials (Adobe’s AI Beta Tool, Firefly, Terms and Agreement Content Credentials) for content created with generative AI features to let people know it was generated with AI.
Identifying the source of artwork is good for clients of creative agencies. People should know who has the rights to the creative work they’re paying for, and who could be liable for copyright infringement.
3. AI Litigation Risk
Several guest speakers discussed AI-generated content and the potential legal liability. While I initially intended to learn how we can improve efficiency with our internal processes and deliver better results for our clients, I was not surprised to learn that there are and will be plenty of legal considerations as the use of AI tools increases.
Sharon Toerek covered the Wild West of AI. She pointed out several risks and liabilities of using AI tools. So much is open for new regulations and copyright law. Who owns the intellectual property of content created by AI, and how are we protecting our clients’ intellectual property when using AI tools?
While judicial and legislative action regarding AI will likely be playing catch-up, recently, I learned of several issues in the balance:
- Comedian Sarah Silverman and two other writers are suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement.
- A federal judge in New York fined two attorneys for using ChatGPT because the program cited hallucinated cases that the attorneys used in their court brief.
- OpenAI is under investigation by the FTC for violating consumer protection laws.
Toerek and others have recommended that companies create AI policies to establish guidelines and principles for the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence within their organizations.
Creating an AI Policy for Identity Creative
How we developed our AI Policy.
Jasper.ai has made its AI Policy template available for download. It helped me craft our first edition. As the AI landscape evolves, we anticipate continually modifying the document. We’ve published a summary of our AI Policy here.
Already, it’s outdated, and it’s only a month old. Our team has decided that, at least for a while, we need to include a review of our AI use in our monthly meetings.
In my research on how AI will impact our industry, I kept notes on areas we need to stay alert to with AI. I ended up with a list of ten, reinforcing the importance of creating a AI policy for our team.
10 Reasons Why a Creative Agency Needs to Implement an AI Policy:
- Ethical Considerations: To ensure that AI tools are used in a manner that aligns with our ethical standards and values of original work, privacy, and transparency.
- Data Privacy and Security: To protect sensitive client and user data from open-source AI software.
- Accountability: To ensure that the outputs of AI tools are accurate and that our team is on the same page with using AI systems.
- Legal Compliance: To adhere to existing and emerging laws and regulations related to AI use in the creative industry.
- Bias and Fairness: To recognize and mitigate biases in AI algorithms to ensure equitable outputs.
- Innovation and Research: To encourage responsible experimentation with AI technologies to foster innovation.
- Quality Assurance: To establish clear guidelines for validating and verifying AI outputs and hold employees accountable for maintaining quality standards.
- Cultural Adaptability: To foster a culture of innovation and the ability to adapt to emerging AI technologies. Seek to stay informed about the latest advancements in AI as a team and incorporate responsible AI practices into our work.
- Risk Mitigation: To identify and mitigate potential risks associated with AI implementation.
- Stay on top of an evolving industry
– Regularly review and update our policy to address emerging ethical concerns in AI.
– Identify appropriate use cases and reliable, reputable tools
– Establish a process for reviewing and approving new AI projects
– Regularly solicit feedback from users and clients to identify areas of improvement.
Will AI replace the need for creative branding and marketing agencies when companies can access AI?
It’s a very real question. At least for now, AI tools need humans to use them. There’s also the term “AI Slop” that describes the generated AI pablum that is published. Personal stories and authentic human connection will mean more.
I was tempted to write this post with ChatGPT, but I didn’t. Writing helps me give deeper thought to issues, whether journaling or writing a blog. Even if no one reads my articles, I want them to be from me, not a machine.
For some, it’s exciting and opens doors of opportunity, cost savings, and expanded outputs. For others, it’s multiplied fears of obliterating their careers and potentially taking humankind to inhuman places where there will be no return.
We’re continually learning all we can and helping others adapt their businesses with AI. Identity Creative has been hosting AI Learning Online MeetUps. Join our LinkedIn Group, StrongerBRANDS AI Group, to connect with AI experts and learners.
Just Because We Can Use AI… Doesn’t Mean We Should
This idea draws inspiration from that iconic Jurassic Park quote, and it’s something we need to bring into today’s conversation around AI. We’re seeing a wave of businesses rushing to implement AI into every possible part of their workflow. But in the scramble to “use it,” many are forgetting to ask a few critical questions first.
Here are three foundational questions every business leader should be asking when it comes to AI:
- Does it save time in practice, or only in theory? | Some tools sound like time-savers, but create more friction than they remove. Testing and real-world implementation matter.
- Does it support or weaken my team? | AI should reduce burnout and free people up to do more meaningful work. But if it’s replacing human insight, morale and performance will suffer
- Does it help or hurt my brand? | Will your use of AI dilute your voice, cheapen your messaging, or break the trust you’ve built with your audience?
Too many companies are jumping into AI to create more lead touches, generate content, write messages, or even craft a strategy without considering the long-term impact.
One of the biggest concerns I see on the horizon is the outsourcing of critical thinking. There’s a major difference between using AI to enhance your thinking versus letting it do your thinking for you.
Using AI as a creative partner is like having a mentor who challenges and expands your perspective. But when you start telling that “mentor” to think, write, decide, and build for you, that’s not mentorship. That’s laziness disguised as efficiency.
- If you’re using AI to generate your content without oversight, it will come across as careless.
- If you let AI build your strategy instead of using it to help refine your thinking, your approach will lose depth.
- If you’re using AI to polish your message but neglecting authenticity, you’ll start to sound inhuman.
And here’s my prediction: We are going to see a massive cultural shift in how content is consumed. People will still interact with AI-generated content, but they’ll increasingly seek out content that feels human-centered.
If your ideal customers value authenticity, insight, and relationship, then AI cannot be allowed to take the wheel. It can sit in the passenger seat. It can read the map. But you have to do the driving.
Everything you build with AI today needs to be aligned with where you want your brand to be in five years. Sustainable brands will be the ones that are human-led and AI-supported, not the other way around.
That’s how you build a future-proof business.
AI is here, and as an agency, we are determined to use it to continue fulfilling our purpose, creatively capturing our clients’ unique brands, connecting with their ideal customers, and growing!
Speaking of being connected and growing, connect with our StrongerBRANDS AI Group on LinkedIn. We have AI experts and implementers, and those who are just getting their oars in. You’ll be in the know about our online and in-person events. It’s a judgment-free zone where we can grow professionally and explore how to leverage AI for our businesses without bruising the intangible, valuable business asset: our brand. Join us!
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Article Summary:
Generative AI is changing marketing fast—but using it without guardrails creates real risk. At Identity Creative, we believe AI should enhance human thinking, not replace it. That’s why we’ve implemented an AI Policy to protect creativity, client data, intellectual property, and brand integrity. The strongest brands moving forward will be human-led and AI-supported.
FAQs:
What is Generative AI?
AI that creates new content—text, images, video, or code—based on prompts.
Why does an agency need an AI Policy?
To protect creativity, client data, intellectual property, and legal compliance.
Can AI replace creative agencies?
No. AI lacks judgment, strategy, and authentic human insight.
What’s the biggest risk of AI in marketing?
Outsourcing critical thinking and diluting brand voice.
How does Identity Creative use AI?
As a support tool for efficiency and insight—not a replacement for strategy or creativity.
Bottom line?
Just because you can use AI doesn’t mean you should.
Identity Creative is your bolt-on team for Manufacturing, Industrial, and Professional Firms in B2B sales. Our Brand-FIRST Strategy leverages your marketing and connects it with your sales team for sustainable growth. Book a complimentary Brand Strategy Audit today!
