Google and Bing to integrate AI into ad-creation software
Google and Microsoft search engine, Bing, are integrating artificial intelligence into their ad-creation software that can adjust algorithms for advertising without human intervention. Personalising content and creating dynamic advertisements will be the main focus for the tech companies in 2017. Both will use data to optimise keywords and provide “innovative” programmatic technology to give more efficient advertising campaigns to clients. Google and Microsoft are using deep neural networks alongside data to automate better advertising across mobile and desktop for 2017.
by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, December 12, 2016

Google and Microsoft are building artificial intelligence into their respective ad-creation tools and serving technologies that can tweak algorithms without human intervention. The idea is to get at the core of intent and better manage campaigns. It's not difficult to imagine. Hints of the shift emerge from brands and agencies in conversations during the MediaPost Search Insider Summit.

Personalizing content and dynamic advertisements to help marketers manage campaigns will be the biggest push by Bing and Google, as well as a variety of vendors releasing products and services, in 2017.

Brands need to identify the correct time to serve an ad and the type of content it should include, said Jacob Davis, director of digital acquisition at Hilton, during a discussion at the summit. He still thinks search is "sexy," Machine learning and AI are hugely important to Hilton because the company focuses on personalizing experiences for guests.

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What if Hilton knows a guest likes to stay on the east side of the hotel and needs dark window shades because she likes to sleep in each morning, but cannot because the sun wakes her up? Would the message of dark window shades be placed in the advertisement or a targeted email message?

Davis said brands must determine the need of the customer and answer those needs in the targeted advertisement.

Data will also play an important role. "If you don't have healthy data and are putting crap into a machine, you will get crap out and a lot of misreads," he said, suggesting a monitoring system is needed to ensure better data.

The reality is that marketers using any type of bid optimization system, keyword or advanced creative testing tools have been using artificial intelligence for years, as Dave Regals, global managing director of search at IgnitionOne, reminded marketers also during the summit.

Some might call this "innovative" programmatic technology, but it's really just the next phase in search that shuffles in machine-to-human conversations that support and improve on efficiency and transparency in campaigns. The focus on data, machine learning and AI increasingly puts automation at the forefront for changes to occur on mobile and desktop services in 2017.

The engines that are utilizing deep neural networks will make it possible to support marketers in everything from managing campaigns to creating better ads.