The Ethics Wake-Up Call

The AI hype machine is real, OH SO REAL. But it’s the ethical decisions we make right now that will determine whether AI elevates our work and our world or sinks us farther into doom and gloom. OpenAI’s latest report on malicious uses of AI reads like a thriller... but it’s nonfiction. As marketers, we don’t just have a seat at the table - we set the table for responsible AI use. Let’s lead with integrity, call out the bad actors, and show the industry how it’s done.

This moment calls for more than passive awareness. It demands action. Make the commitment to actively combat disinformation by promoting accuracy, media literacy, and accountability in your work. Join me, the Institute for Public Relations, and others by taking the pledge and helping lead the way toward a more ethical, transparent future for marketing.

This week’s stories pull back the curtain on both the promise and peril of AI in marketing, so my loves, let’s dig in.

🔥 This Week's Hot Takes: AI Marketing Edition

• The Do's and Don'ts of Ethical AI in Content Marketing (Lisa Peyton) – As marketers, it is our responsibility to use AI ethically. My latest post lays out a practical playbook, urging us to use AI as a creative partner for brainstorming and research, while always maintaining human oversight for fact-checking, brand alignment, and cultural sensitivity. The key is transparency with your audience about your AI use, which builds trust and focuses on creating value over volume.

• Real-World Insights from Deploying Custom GPTs for GTM (MarTech) – Custom GPTs can be powerful additions to your go-to-market strategy, but they are not plug-and-play solutions. Treat them like junior team members that require strategic direction and human oversight to be effective. They can accelerate automation and creative production, but the nuance of brand judgment and cross-tool integration still requires a human touch.

• Ethical AI Marketing: From Chaos to Competitive Advantage (Josh Weaver) – This article challenges the conventional wisdom of making AI predictable and safe. It argues that AI "hallucinations" can be a feature, not a bug, leading to viral campaigns and deeper customer connections when handled with radical transparency and a "human safety net." The key is to embrace "Ethical Chaos" to create memorable brand moments that perfectly polished content can't replicate.

• Companies Are Using AI to Make Faster Decisions in Sales and Marketing (Harvard Business Review) – AI is not about replacing reflective decision-making but speeding it up. This piece highlights how companies are leveraging AI to accelerate processes in sales and marketing, enabling quicker, data-informed choices. The focus is on enhancing, not eliminating, human strategic input.

• Where Are Marketing Teams Under-utilizing AI? (MarTech) – Marketing teams are still leaving powerful AI applications on the table. Key underutilized areas include predictive analytics for customer segmentation, hyper-personalization engines, and sentiment analysis of customer feedback. Embracing these areas can lead to improved targeting, higher ROI, and a more personalized customer experience.

• AI is Marketers' #1 Priority and Challenge (Salesforce State of Marketing Report, 9th Edition) – The latest "State of Marketing" report reveals that while marketers rank AI adoption as their top priority, it's also their biggest challenge. While 32% of marketing organizations have fully implemented AI, many are still grappling with unifying data sources and ensuring customer trust.

• Amazon Ads Launches Enhanced AI-Powered Video Generator (Amazon Ads) – Amazon Ads has enhanced its Video Generator, allowing advertisers to create realistic, multi-scene video ads from a single product image in minutes. The tool can now generate more complex shots, show products in use, and even summarize existing video content into optimized ad formats. This significantly lowers the barrier for brands to create compelling video creative.

• Generative AI, Marketing Role Changes, and Team Evolution (MarketingProfs) – Summary could not be generated as the content of the article was not found.

• Yeah, Yeah, Agentic AI—What You Really Need To Know, Who's Making It Happen (Forbes) – Agentic AI promises a potential earthquake in the digital advertising power structure. The real story is not just about shifts in ad creation and distribution, but a fundamental change in how the digital landscape operates. Marketers need to pay attention to who is building these agentic systems and what it means for their future strategies.

• Google Introduces AI Influencers in New 'Portraits' Tool (eMarketer) – Google launched "Portraits," creating AI-generated versions of influencers that offer personalized coaching. Unlike other virtual influencers, these are based on real experts, potentially solving trust issues that have plagued AI personas.

🧪 The Alchemist's Lab: Tools I've Been Testing

• Gamma.app

  • Function: An AI presentation maker that generates presentations, documents, and webpages from a short prompt. It aims to simplify the creation process, allowing you to focus on content rather than formatting and design.

  • Marketing Application: Quickly create drafts for eBooks, slide decks, go-to-market plans, webinars, and even simple webpages. It’s great for overcoming the “blank page” and can embed multimedia like YouTube videos and TikToks to make content more engaging.

  • Pricing: Offers a free plan with 400 credits. Paid plans include a Plus tier ($10/month) for unlimited AI use and a Pro tier ($20/month) for advanced features like custom domains and detailed analytics.

💼 Industry Moves & Grooves

52% of U.S. Adults Now Use AI Language Models – According to Elon University's survey, LLMs like ChatGPT have become one of the fastest-adopted technologies in history. Hispanic (66%) and Black (57%) adults are more likely than White adults (47%) to be users. (Source)

AI Use Cases Shift from Content to Support – Harvard Business Review's analysis shows the top AI use cases in 2025 are therapy, life organization, and finding purpose—a major shift from 2024's focus on idea generation and search. (Source)

Google Expands Ads in AI Overviews – Google is placing Search and Shopping ads inside AI Overviews on desktop, allowing businesses to connect with customers earlier in their search journey. No extra work needed if you're already running Performance Max or Shopping campaigns. (Source)

🎓 AI Marketing Master Class Moment

 Title: A Complete Guide to ChatGPT Projects

 Description: This video provides a complete guide to using ChatGPT Projects like a pro to enhance productivity and marketing campaigns. Projects are described as dedicated smart workspaces within ChatGPT designed for specific, ongoing work, helping to organize relevant chats, uploaded files, and custom instructions in one place.

 URL: https://youtu.be/We5RZBECvPs?si=2BQjNjqRfyc-FV31

Practical Application: Use ChatGPT Projects to create a dedicated workspace for each client or major marketing campaign. You can upload brand guides, customer journey documents, and key messaging to ensure every piece of content the AI helps you generate is contextually relevant and perfectly on-brand from the start [02:30].

📊 The Number That Made Me Spill My Green Tea

73% of new martech tools introduced in the last six months are powered by AI—that's 2,042 new AI-powered solutions flooding the market. The martech landscape isn't just growing; it's fundamentally transforming into an AI-first ecosystem.

🥊 Battle of the Week: Ethical Chaos vs. Predictable & Safe AI

This week's articles spark a fascinating debate. On one side, you have the "Predictable & Safe" camp, which aligns with traditional AI ethics focused on reliability, accuracy, and avoiding any potential brand risk. This is the approach most corporate legal and compliance teams would advocate for.

On the other side, Josh Weaver's concept of "Ethical Chaos" argues that playing it safe is boring and ineffective. This approach champions leveraging AI's unexpected, "hallucinatory" outputs as a source of creative genius, suggesting that when handled with transparency, these weird moments can drive massive engagement and build a more authentic brand personality.

My Verdict: I'm firmly in the "Ethical Chaos" camp, but with a huge asterisk. This is not about letting an AI run wild without guardrails. The key is in the name: Ethical Chaos. It requires a marketing team with strong critical thinking skills, a deep understanding of their brand, and the courage to be transparent. For most brands, a hybrid approach is best: use predictable AI for data analysis and personalization, but embrace controlled, ethical chaos for creative ideation and top-of-funnel content to stand out.

Before You Go: Hit reply and tell me - what's your biggest AI marketing challenge right now? I read every response and it helps shape future newsletters!

That's a wrap on this week's AI marketing alchemy! Keep experimenting, keep transforming, and remember - true magic happens when we blend AI efficiency with human creativity.

Crafted with passion (and a dash of AI alchemy) by Lisa Peyton | AI Marketer, Professor, and Innovator

Let's connect in the digital realm: https://linktr.ee/lisapeyton

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