How AI Can Build a More Meaningful Digital Experience

Source: WP Engine

Agency heads, digital marketers, and innovative thinkers came together for WP Engine’s third annual European Summit in London, which highlighted breakthrough developments in WordPress, personalization, and voice.

WP Engine also unveiled a groundbreaking new study on Artificial Intelligence during the event, which took place at the historic Langham’s Hotel.

Empathy And Intelligence: AI’s Competitive Advantage 

Jeremy White, Executive Editor of Wired UK, kicked off with a look at the dramatic rise of AI, driven by technological advances which mean that today, a $1,000 computer is a million times more powerful than in 1993. 

“Seven years ago we were teaching computers how to recognize cats,” White said,  “and now KFC can recognize a customer, know when they last visited, what they ordered, and what’s new on the menu since their most recent trip.”

White also highlighted how McDonald’s uses AI to recognize customers by their license plates at the drive-thru and to change menus dynamically depending on the traffic flow, the weather, the time of day, or even up-to-the-minute eating trends.

Facial recognition is now so good that Apple-owned Emotient can read crowds at an event, analyze the mix of gender, age, socio-economic group, and even mood, and then adjust ads on digital billboards to best target the audience in real-time. 

For example, sports audiences are predominantly male, but at half time, when men are more likely to buy a drink and use the bathroom, the audience can become up to 80% female, which is priceless information for advertisers looking for precision targeting of customers.

Voice technology is still relatively nascent, but it’s growing at a fast pace, especially in Asia: the Bank of China now handles up to two million customer “conversations” every day. Meanwhile, Samsung’s Viv can write its own program on your phone to provide accurate answers to sophisticated queries like, “Will it be warmer than 70 degrees at Golden Gate Bridge the day after tomorrow?” So far she can only do it in American English, which is why Viv is not better known. 

AI is not just clever; it gives you a proven competitive advantage. Just ask Bd4, whose “digital empathy” AI improved conversion rates on a travel site by 40%; or Nintendo, whose market value shot up by $8.5 billion in the two days after Pokémon Go was launched.

Read the full article at WP Engine