We are all learning about the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) and the applications it might have in our industry. AI can be perceived as incredibly powerful and game changing or frightening and taking over what humans do. Regardless of your perspective, it is here and we are surrounded by examples of it. It is true we have been living with this in many forms, but the recent explosion of attention on applications such as Chat GPT has made it much more prevalent.
My understanding is the applications comb millions of websites for content. They use this learning to enable them to complete tasks, as outlined by the user. The response time is very fast and the applications have the ability to create responses in a format suitable for different purposes.
In food and beverage there will be many opportunities to use this technology.
Marketing & Communications
We expect brands to communicate regularly with consumers over social media and other mediums. The AI applications can write copy for this communication and format it to fit the platform you are using. For example, they can write it for Facebook or LinkedIn. They can also create the content for direct communication to your community of consumers. AI can even write your holiday message to your online community if you choose to send one.
Providing ideas and recipes for consumers to use food and beverage products is an important component of most marketing strategies. AI can be a source for recipes and other ideas to use your products. Sharing this type of information with your target market positions the supplier as a valuable resource and should drive trial and use.
Almost every food and beverage business has a website and so many of those brand owners will tell you the website needs work or a refresh. AI does have the ability to generate some of the content for websites. Providing information to a target market that compliments a product does increase the value of a website.
AI is becoming an option to the traditional Google search, and food businesses can do research with AI to understand the potential for specific market segments. The difference between AI and Google is that AI will do the work for you, as opposed to going through multiple websites to get the information you need. The other difference is that with free versions of applications such as Chat GPT, you are not aware of the sources they are using to compile the information. We should all be weary of trusting any information gleaned from the Internet.
After exploring the capabilities of AI, it is apparent this can be a valuable tool, but it does not replace the human element required for brands to stand out and create space in the market. The best analogy is to view AI as a piece of equipment on a processing line. Each piece of equipment you add can improve efficiencies, because they can do it faster or more accurately than humans. AI will allow you to create content faster but you still need to make it your own if you want to stand out and ensure it really does reflect your brand positioning. It can be a good starting point, but a person who can add critical thinking and understand the brand will ensure it is unique.
This article was written by a human being. Peter Chapman operates SKUFood in Halifax, N.S. SKUFood works with producers and processors to help them get their products on the shelf and in the shopping cart. Contact him at peter@skufood.com