Do you control AI or does AI control you?
I heard from many people on how when adapting AI to their marketing and customer engagement processes, quite a few challenges arose. But where there are challenges, we like to look at them as opportunities – quite the difference in how you define your words. Here are some of those challenges as opportunities.
Data Quality & Management Issues
AI relies on high-quality, structured, and clean data to generate insights, but many companies struggle with incomplete, outdated, or siloed data. Poor data can lead to inaccurate customer profiles, ineffective targeting, and misleading recommendations. So the challenge is accuracy in standardization. But that challenge has ALWAYS been there! And while it starts to solve itself with data governance strategies or CRM systems with AI-driven data cleaning, there’s nothing like a regular audits to remove outdated information. In other words, the “human touch.”
AI Bias & Ethical Concerns
AI models learn from historical data, which may include biases that could lead to unintended discrimination in customer targeting or personalization. AI may favor certain demographics over others, excluding potential customers or reinforcing negative stereotypes. That’s the trouble with not knowing where you’re stepping, isn’t it?
Use diverse training data, conduct bias audits, and implement ethical AI frameworks to ensure fairness in marketing campaigns. Like Deep Seek. Hop on now and you get this message:
“Due to large-scale malicious attacks on DeepSeek’s services, registration may be busy. Please wait and try again. Registered users can log in normally. Thank you for your understanding and support.”
There’s a lot of commotion about its development, and whether or not you use that or ChatGPT or something else is your choice. But you should be aware that using any AI has consequences. Step carefully.
Lack of Human Oversight in AI Decisions
Many businesses assume AI operates autonomously. Ask it a question get an answer. However, the reliable ones like ChatGPT tell you this every time an answer is delivered:
ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.
So your oversight is crucial for interpreting results and refining strategies. You see, AI lacks human intuition to understand context, emotions, or customer intent beyond historical data. Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own. So, in one sense, ChatGPT or any other AI resource is a plagiarist on steroids. For example, the creation of a business strategy should be performed with steps outlined by AI, but also, with a human point of view that only humans can deliver. Otherwise, why are we here? AI augments, not replaces, human decision-making by incorporating validation checkpoints in automated processes – checkpoints that it has taken, perhaps surprisingly, from YOUR own content! In fact, since AI sources across the internet, don’t be surprised if it starts citing you as a source as it has done to us! In other words, you’re competing with yourself!
AI’s Inability to Fully Understand Nuance & Context
AI often misinterprets tone, sentiment, or intent in customer interactions. I asked it one time if it reads my blogs based on how it answered my question. It said:
“I base my responses on patterns in your questions, the topics you focus on, your style of writing, and how you engage with different ideas. Over time, I recognize recurring themes in your thinking—such as your emphasis on thought leadership, strategic marketing, and industry pain points—which helps me tailor my responses to align with your professional approach.”
That’s why they call it machine learning, isn’t it? Like humans, it’s learning logic, and sometimes, people are illogical (you think?).
When AI misinterprets, it leads to miscommunication, robotic-sounding responses, or irrelevant messaging. In other words, trouble. On a recent business trip, as I prepared to work on an article at the airport, there was someone on the phone a couple of work stations to my right. His voice carried, and I couldn’t help but listen. After a couple of minutes, I decided to stop work and take down what I was hearing. This was human to human, not human to AI. I blogged about it. Now imagine it’s AI!
My blog was not an indictment on US business; but a warning. If we increasingly hear monologues like this, it is only a matter of time before the doers end up doing us. Today, that message is clear: if we increasingly hear misinterpretations from AI, our real understanding will be lost. Control it; don’t let it control you.
Adopting AI in marketing and customer engagement is not just about technology—it requires high-quality data, human oversight, ethical considerations, and seamless integration. The key is balancing automation with human interaction to create a personalized, scalable customer experience. Don’t you wish you can duplicate yourself? 😊