Artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to inform actions and decisions that can truly enhance the human experience and lead to better outcomes for businesses and customers alike.

In an era of digital and technological acceleration, effectively leveraging such a tool could change — and has already changed — the game for marketers trying to not just grow their business but also do good for consumers and the world.

How AI Helps Put Humans First

Beyond the success of collecting important customer data that can help marketers better understand their consumers is now the move toward analyzing the data effectively.

Norman de Greve, chief marketing officer of CVS Health, highlights the example of having data from discount codes, loyalty programs and shopping behavior and trying to organize all of it.

“That combination can be a gigantic number,” he said. “And when we deployed AI onto that, we saw a 20% lift in our results.”

AI uncovers the unlimited possibilities that a human brain cannot compute and ultimately helps advertisers offer consumers a more connected experience.

“And you can take that into now that you know what people should see, what’s the technology that allows you to create the email or the digital ad in an efficient way and understand how it’s working,” de Greve said.

Real-Time Understanding for Real-Time Service

This fast automation afforded by the powers of AI empower organizations to be more agile than ever.

In the travel industry, employees can elevate the human connection at any second through understanding the customer journey and preferences, giving customers a more seamless and connected experience in flight and at the airport. Attendants are able to know at a glance if you are a long-time customer with certain flying preferences or if you are a new airline flier that they’d like to welcome.

“We really think about how we use technology and data to elevate the human touch,” said Molly Battin, vice president of marketing and communications at Delta Air Lines.

For CVS Health, the ability to reduce lag times in data analytics means bringing and advertising timely flu shot services to areas where they are needed before the height of the season.

Quelling Fears: AI is Augmented Intelligence

Though AI is not a new technology, it is often still treated as such, with consumers and businesses alike noting privacy concerns and the biases of automated algorithms. But education and transparency around how the technology works could change those initial reservations.

Bob Lord, senior vice president of cognitive applications, blockchain and ecosystems at IBM, explained that the purpose of AI is not to be the final decision maker, and understanding that AI aids the decision-making process and works with the data it is provided can break down misconceptions and distrust.

“The purpose of AI is to augment human intelligence, not replace it,” he said. “I often call it augmented intelligence.”

On-demand programming from the all-digital CES 2021, including How Marketers are Embracing New Tech for Good, is now available for all to view. The industry-changing insights and announcements shared by tech visionaries at CES 2021 are key to the continued growth and advancement of your business and our tech ecosystem. With that in mind, we’ve opened the CES sessions to everyone.