Artificial intelligence (AI) has literally revolutionized the business landscape almost overnight - particularly in the realms of marketing and sales.
But as with all powerful tools, there's a catch or two (or a million), and here’s a big one: AI systems can develop biases that skew decision-making and affect business outcomes.
We did some research on AI bias for ourselves, so we put this article together to share what we found.
Feel free to skip around through the article to the topic most relevant to you by clicking a chapter from the links below - or read it all.
AI bias is skewed output due to flaws in training data, algorithms, or both.
This skewness results from data that doesn’t represent the full range of possibilities, or from algorithms that learn and perpetuate existing biases.
When AI systems are used in marketing and sales, this bias can influence:
Metaphorically speaking, AI bias is similar to human biases like racism, sexism, and ableism.
Because AI systems are trained on data generated by humans, and that data can inadvertently include our biases.
Here’s one example of how this is a big problem: if an AI system is trained with data that includes prejudiced attitudes - such as hiring data where male candidates are favored over equally qualified female candidates -the system may 'learn' to perpetuate this bias and favor male candidates in its own decision-making.
In the same way that it's important to work against these biases in human society, it's also crucial to identify and mitigate these biases in AI systems.
However, it's also important to remember that AI bias, while metaphorically similar, can be even more pervasive (and harder to notice) than human bias.
An AI system can make thousands or even millions of decisions in the time a human makes one, and each of these decisions could be subtly biased in a way that's hard to detect without careful analysis.
That’s why it's so important to monitor AI systems for bias and to take steps to mitigate it when found.
So, as you can imagine, AI bias can have serious implications for businesses whether you use AI in your business or not.
At its worst, it can lead to unfair outcomes and missed opportunities.
For instance, an AI system trained on biased data could overlook a viable customer demographic, skewing your marketing efforts and potentially causing damage to your brand reputation.
In sales, AI bias might result in unfair prioritization of leads, which can result in missed revenue opportunities.
So, how can you control AI bias when most of us use 3rd-party tools?
It’s a challenge, but it can be done in several ways, so let’s take a look.
When using AI tools built and managed by other companies, there are steps you can take to mitigate bias.
Here's how:
By being proactive and vigilant, you can greatly reduce the risks of AI bias, even when using third-party tools.
Remember, a tool is only as good as the way you use it – and understanding potential biases is a big part of using AI responsibly.
OpenAI, the organization that developed and maintains GPT (including ChatGPT), has stated its commitment to reducing both glaring and subtle biases in how the AI responds to different prompts and data inputs from users.
The development process includes efforts to make the system understand and respect users' values and to ensure it doesn't generate outputs that could do harm.
An important part of the process is having a strong feedback loop with the user community, so users can help identify issues and participate in the system’s rules.
As for using ChatGPT in a way that mitigates bias, here are a few suggestions:
Clear, concise, and detailed instructions will often yield better results.
It's important to remember that while ChatGPT and similar AI systems can provide a lot of valuable information and help automate tasks, they're not a substitute for human judgment and expertise.
Users should always exercise critical thinking when interpreting and applying AI outputs.
For more from Growth on ChatGPT:
At Growth, we place a high premium on using state-of-the-art tech + human brilliance to fuel our operations and deliver optimal results for our clients.
A pivotal component in our tech stack is the suite of tools provided by HubSpot, including its CRM, CMS, and comprehensive Marketing, Sales, Service, and Operations Hubs.
We also trust Apollo, RollWorks, and Kixie for our ABM system-building and outreach.
What sets these tools apart - and the reason we place our trust in them - are their built-in artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, user-friendly interface, and comprehensive services.
We trust these tools to empower us to deliver efficient, personalized, and superior service to our clients.
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