Bridging the AI Divide

How can marketers avoid losing competitiveness and falling into the AI abyss?

The AI Divide is a phrase derived from the digital divide, which was a socioeconomic term describing the communications and computing technologies by economic and social factors, such as economic prosperity, racial divisions, etc. The digital divide is a serious societal and political issue affecting whole countries and swaths of people, putting them at an economic disadvantage.

Like the digital divide, the AI divide encompasses socioeconomic, educational, and infrastructural aspects, affecting businesses, individuals, communities, and nations on the grandest scale. Businesses who find themselves weighing the positives and risks of AI implementations also need to consider how inaction may impact them. This is also true of individual marketers.

Because there are security and ROI concerns, many businesses choose to take wait-and-see approaches,  slow-walk implementations, or not act at all. But unlike the digital divide, which largely fell upon a clear line of the haves and have-nots, the AI divide is murkier, simply because fear and reticence to embrace AI can easily thrust entities into the proverbial AI abyss.

Inaction or a refusal to incorporate AI creates a new risk: Watching AI-savvy competitors accelerate and outperform in some or all aspects of business, including in the marketing function. Avoiding AI adoption denies incremental gains to be had and effectively handicaps businesses and, in the case of individuals, causes unanticipated productivity losses and a lack of competitiveness in the job market.

Long-Term Implications of the AI Divide

Well-discussed marketing benefits include but aren’t limited to lower-cost operations, stronger lead generation, and, most importantly, greater ROI. Getting out-marketed by AI-powered competitors could lead to short-term deal flow losses and, if ongoing, permanent market share loss.

Ultimately, failure to adopt AI or any sea-change technology can be catastrophic. For example, businesses can lose market share and even collapse in the face of the new technology wave. History is littered with examples of companies rendered ineffective by new technologies; for example, consider the impacts the Internet made on the retail sector and brands like Circuit City and Blockbuster.

For individual marketers, the dangers are more dire. An unwillingness to adopt AI technologies will inevitably lead to lesser performance than peers and colleagues across the sector. Further, a failure to adapt can lead to job displacement and an eventual end to a marketing career. It’s difficult to imagine a company hiring a marketer in 2028 who refuses to use current technology tools.

Adopting AI is a necessary upskilling path for employees and the companies responsible for their careers and prosperity, respectively. Further, nurturing soft skills, such as EQ, creative development, and analytical judgment, is critical for managers and individuals embracing the AI era.

The remainder of this article delves into the nature of the AI Divide for marketing organizations and individuals, its implications, and potential strategies to bridge this gap.