AI may have been around for decades, but its impact on business has never been greater than it is today. Back in the 1950s, Christopher Straking was already programming computers to play drafts, and the first chatbot, Eliza, emerged in the 1960s. However, the real game-changer is the recent acceleration of AI’s ability to drive business growth and efficiency. This change has been fueled by unprecedented accessibility, making AI tools available to the masses, and unleashing the full power of these tools. It’s an exciting time to be part of the AI revolution and businesses that embrace these technologies will have a significant advantage over their competitors.
These tools are transforming how we collect data, carry out research, build relationships and respond to questions. Not to mention how we create, design and execute.
So what brands are leading the charge when it comes to AI? Here are four examples of brands that are embracing AI and the tools they are using.
Levis X LaLaLand
When the pandemic hit, the concept of photoshoots became a distant reality. Many fashion houses had to come up with new ways of capturing new collections without the infringement of physicality.
Fast forward to April 2023, Levis has announced a new campaign with a difference. Collaborating with AI studio LaLaLand, the models used within the campaign are completely AI-generated, a digital rendering of a human being. The goal is to deliver greater diversity, bringing a more inclusive shopping experience to consumers. Currently at the testing phase, AI models will not be released onto Levis’ E-commerce website until later this year.
Levis’ AI manufactured model
Spectrum Reach X Waymark
The production of television advertisements are notorious for being expensive and timely endeavours, resulting in this medium being relatively inaccessible for small businesses.
Spectrum Reach have recently collaborated with Waymark to introduce a first of its kind AI powered platform that allows businesses to produce high quality TV commercials and AI voice overs in less than five minutes. Using Waymarks platform, clients of Spectrum Reach will now have access to creating real time, ready to air adverts for their TV and streaming campaigns. These videos can be used across different platforms including social media, TV and digital, with a maximum running time of 30 seconds.
Users have a varying degree of options when creating their videos. Using a mix of templates and AI voices the platform is able to scan the internet for business data to automatically populate your video, edit features and add branding and then download in a matter of minutes.
Waymark website
Duolingo X Open AI
Duolingo is the worlds’ leading platform for digital language learning, with their mission to make languages universally accessible. Although successful, users have felt a loss of interpersonal and physical communication you would traditionally have in a classroom.
Recently partnering with Open AI, Duolingo has taken this issue and enhanced user learning through GPT-4 to make learning more fun, powerful and most importantly, interactive.
Duolingo Max is a new subscription tier that gives learners access to two new brand features and exercises; Roleplay and Explain My Answer.
Roleplay is a function that allows you to practise real-world conversational skills with world characters in the app. AI will guide you virtually through different scenarios that you can potentially face when speaking in a different language. For example, if you want to order something in a cafe in Paris, Duo will act as a server taking your order.
Sometimes you make a mistake, but you’re not exactly sure what the right answer could be. Or you keep making the same mistake repeatedly. Explain My Answer tells you more about the mistake you have made and how you can improve. By tapping on a button after an exercise, you can enter a chat with Duo to get a simple explanation on why the answer was right or wrong.
Duolingo Max visual identity
Mattel x DALL-E
When well known toy and game manufacturer, Mattel, were faced with designing the new Hot Wheels model car, they sought a new direction in getting creative with their model design.
DALL-E, an AI system that creates realistic images and art from a description in natural language, has brought a new dimension to how we think about product design. Using this tool, designers can type in a prompt such as “A scale model of a classic car”, DALL-E will generate an image of a vintage toy car.
As a new step, the designer can adjust the visuals, for example by typing “make it a convertible”, and this will then erase the top of the car from the design. There’s no stopping there, you can keep tweaking the design, from changing it from blue to green or asking for specific features to make it more customisable.
Mattel designers were able to generate dozens of images, each sparking and refining ideas that can help flesh out their final design. Although this system does not produce a high quality final design, and ultimately the designer will need to go back and tweak it, it’s a great tool to use to flesh out initial starting ideas.
Mattel Hot Wheels product design
Whilst in its infancy, AI is clearly showing its benefits already across different industries. There’s positive aspects to the tools available in generating quick and efficient assets, however it’s also clear that the outputs lack the final quality of what humans can create. Businesses will clearly see the potential cost saving that can be achieved in using AI, but the creative industry needs to position ourselves as collaborators and educators in this space and reinforce why we can’t just skip the human touch. With AI showing its green shoots to more and more people we shouldn’t hide from how we can incorporate it in our work, embracing the benefits whilst elevating the important role that skillful people will always play.