Gen AI Can Tailor Ads to Our Personalities—and They’re Pretty Persuasive

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the potential of generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) for creating highly personalized and persuasive advertising. It highlights how advances in gen AI and our expanding digital footprints are enabling advertisers to create customized marketing appeals that are more influential than generic messages.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Featured Faculty

1. What is the key focus of the article?

• The article focuses on the potential of generative AI, particularly ChatGPT, to create highly personalized and persuasive advertising by leveraging consumer data and personality traits.

2. What are the key findings from the research conducted by the authors?

• The researchers found that personalized ads created by ChatGPT were more persuasive than non-personalized ads, even when participants knew the ads were generated by AI.
• The personalized ads were particularly effective for promoting experiences (e.g., a trip to Rome) compared to consumer products (e.g., Nike sneakers), as personality traits play a bigger role in experiential decisions.
• The researchers also found that knowing the ads were generated by AI did not diminish their effectiveness, suggesting a cultural shift in the acceptability of being persuaded by targeted messaging.

3. What are the implications of these findings for marketers and consumers?

• For marketers, the research suggests that personalizing messages to consumers using generative AI is highly effective and will become more prevalent.
• For consumers, the research highlights the need to be more mindful of the content they consume online, as personalized messaging can be persuasive even when the source is known to be AI-generated.

[02] Policy Implications

1. What policy recommendations does the article suggest?

• The article suggests that social media platforms may need to do more than simply flag AI-generated content to protect users from being persuaded by misinformation.
• The research indicates that merely disclosing the use of AI in content creation may not be enough to address the issue of personalized persuasion.

2. How does the article anticipate the future development of generative AI and its impact on personalized persuasion?

• The article notes that the research was conducted using ChatGPT-3, which is already outdated, and that newer versions of generative AI are likely to become even more effective at incorporating various facets of a person's personality into a single ad.
• The article suggests that the effects of personalized persuasion using generative AI are likely to become stronger over time as the technology continues to evolve.