Issue #2: Build your own email bot, AI predictions for 2023, and who got $100M

Good morning,

As 2023 gains momentum, AI developments have been coming thick and fast.

We’ve got details of global legislative motions, plus a tech giant revealing they’ve already been posting AI-generated blog content. And check out who’s been scooping up OpenAI to monetize it for the masses.

But what about the wider ripple effects of AI’s big bang?

AI’s potential is limitless. The more people who can access it, the faster we evolve.

Combining your own marketing expertise with the power of AI will unlock infinite opportunities.

You bring your skills and I’ll bring the AI news, how-to’s and tools. Marketing mastery in the making.

In today’s issue:

• Free guide: Discover how to create your own ChatGPT email bot in less than 15 minutes.

• Save money and time while boosting productivity with these innovative AI marketing tools. Sales outreach and content creation both get a futuristic makeover.

• The big names making big AI predictions for 2023. Will new legislation and regulations throttle progress?

• The latest funding announcements: Find out who got $100M.

• Discover the multi-modalities getting a helping hand from AI. Where will it take your creativity?

Let’s dive in.

BIONIC JUICE

There’s a difference between aspiring copywriters who ask AI to “write a tagline for a juice company” and those who will excel as AI flourishes. The high-achievers recognize one crucial element:

AI can’t make you a good copywriter. But it can make you a better one.

And well thought out prompts are the secret to generating effective, imaginative prose that captures the heart of your product and the mind of your prospect.

Not sure where to start? Check out this introduction to using prompts to get better output from your AI tools (with 100 prompt ideas to get your juices flowing).

AI won’t replace copywriters or marketing professionals.

But those of us who use AI will replace those who don’t.

Elevate your AI copywriting skills with this resource. Create prompts for your copywriting, content, and research, plus:

• Optimize and boost your conversion rate

• Select the perfect AI for your content

• Leverage your data for machine learning

• Utilize the power of natural language processing techniques

• Find the sweet-spot combination of analytics, leverage, and language to get great results

If you’re a step ahead, how about building your own AI email generator?

Master of SEO, Danny Richman, went viral on social media for creating a GPT-3-powered AI to support a dyslexic man with his business emails. He went on to write a “no-code required” tutorial for building an AI Business Email Generator.

It takes less than 15 minutes to implement the generator into your Gmail account, so say goodbye to agonizing over finicky titles and email formalities and let GPT-3 do the heavy lifting for you.

LATEST DISCOVERIES

Microsoft has announced plans to invest $2B into OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, DALLE and GPT-3, with another $10B on the table.

If the investment goes through, we’ll see the power of generative AI across Bing, Outlook, and Word—re-establishing Microsoft as a Google competitor.

Some sources are even calling the move the “Google Killer”.

And it’s not just Microsoft that believes in AI’s world-changing potential.

Future predictions: What has AI got in store for 2023?

The co-founder of OpenAI, Greg Brockman, nailed his colors to the mast on New Year’s Eve, albeit with a vested interest.

But what is everyone else predicting for the next 12 months in AI?

Masters of advertising at Ogilvy released their social media predictions for the year ahead—and AI takes the main stage.

Generative technology will allow users to browse for information that transcends text, according to Forbes.

This could mean the ability to search for a specific action in a YouTube clip, a particular person in the background of a video, or a conversation in an audio clip.

This data comprises over 80% of the internet’s information, and it’s about to become very discoverable very soon.

AI isn’t just expanding content writing and art; Vox foresees the rise of AI-assisted video animations, music compositions, code writing, and translation tools.

AI is about to get hyperrealistic.

CNET revealed its readers have unknowingly been reading AI-generated articles since November 2022.

They used AI to write basic finance explainer articles, such as “What Is Compound Interest” and “How to Cash a Check Without a Bank Account.” 

Since the experiment began, they’ve released 75 “AI-assisted” articles.

Their approach is a great example of how to use AI in content writing. They use AI to write a rough draft, and then each story is reviewed, fact-checked, and edited by an expert prior to publication.

Despite the measured methodology, inevitably the AI skeptics were out in force at the news.

But don’t get bamboozled into the narrative that using AI for content creation undermines the value and financial support of human journalists and writers.

It gives them a way to be more punctual, factual, and efficient.

The European Union is already pushing the AI Act, which aims to ensure that AI can only be used for good.

Under the proposed law, marketing materials created with generative tech will require clear declarations. This could be articles with disclaimers, Twitter headers with DALL-E watermarks, and movie openings with a by-line that reads, “This film was made possible with the power of DeepAI.”

The act is the first law on AI by a major regulator anywhere. And, if GDPR is anything to go by, it’s likely become the global standard.

But none of that is stopping funding rolling in for AI:

$14.6M: Iris.ai is a science and academia research AI that has been granted funding by the European Innovation Council. It was one of 78 successful companies selected - and the only one with a female CEO.

$40M: Consulting tool turned chatbot and search engine tool Inbenta secured a huge multi-million dollar investment, bringing the company’s valuation to over $60M. 

$100M: The world’s most powerful translation tool, DeepL, was already attracting attention—but the latest fundraising round has seen its value soar to a whopping $1B.

BIONIC TOOLKIT

Leave your excuses at the door. Your weekly selection of inspiring and downright genius AI products is here. Your creative adventure is calling.

🤖 Smartwriter

Freelance marketers, especially copywriters, know the pain of cold pitching.

Writing personalized, punchy emails packed with hours of research can be exhausting. Especially when a good cold email response rate is around just 5%.

Smartwriter took notice and created a tool that takes just a few seconds with minimal input to craft personalized pitches that sell.

The best bits:

• Uses data points to generate friendly, funny and relevant lines that resonate with the recipient.

• Saves time on research and eliminates the exhaustion of repetitive cold pitches.

• Anti-spam technology keeps pitches out of the junk folder.

• Pitches can be tailored to LinkedIn or email.

🤖 Instantly.ai 

Another outreach game changer to transform your strategy.

This intelligent bot’s technique interacts with outbound campaigns to keep emails out of the spam folder.

Say goodbye to sender-reputation anxiety, timid warm-ups, and manual follow-up emails—and hello to more leads and customers.

🤖 Peech

This type of visual marketing AI scales content creation allowing a one-man team to work like a small army—with access to powerful assisted editing tools.

You can:

• Edit, optimize and brand videos with music and auto-generated visuals.

• Add logos, colors and motion graphics in just a few seconds.

• Scale and adjust the quality of each video for each platform.

• Add accurate, snappy auto-generated subtitles - with a built-in translation feature.

Platforms like these also touch on creating inclusivity for those with limited auditory, processing, or visual capabilities to consume and enjoy the media other people often take for granted.

THE LAST BYTE

Wherever you are in the marketing ecosystem, AI opens up a whole world of creative possibilities.

Complex information is being distilled to its finest essence, specific data searches are becoming more straightforward, and questionable text transcription and subtitle services are being replaced by highly accurate, perfectly timed captions (finally).

We can now eliminate obstacles like convoluted jargon and complex referencing systems that have long prevented differently-abled people from accessing fascinating, important concepts.

AI unlocks your creativity, gives brands a new reach, and opens up opportunities for those who might have previously been overlooked.

The speed of change may feel daunting, but it’s time to put away the tin foil hats and embrace the brave new world.

With so much opportunity and innovation, it would be a travesty not to.

See you next week,
Sam Woods
Editor