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Welcome to Volume 117!
Also known as The First Week of 2023.
By now, you’ve probably had to strikethrough and delete a few “2022s” throughout the day. It’s okay; we’re all feeling the Holiday Brain a little this week.
But you know who probably doesn’t get Holiday Brain? Like, ever?
Cyborg Don Draper.
It’s okay. He’s not real. At least, not yet.
What he is is an image created by Midjourney’s generative AI tool. (And you can thank Ross for the idea).
Cyborg Don Draper represents what we at Foundation believe will be a major theme this year and beyond: the merging of traditional and next-gen marketing tactics.
In this week’s newsletter, we look at how AI will change marketing and the wider world in 2023. Plus, a little sprinkling of the most anticipated Tech IPOs over the next 12 months!
Here’s what we’re taking a look at:
- How Artificial Intelligence Will Change The Marketing Industry
- Top 10 AI Predictions for 2023
- The Most Anticipated Tech IPOs of 2023
How Artificial Intelligence Will Change Marketing Forever
The impact that AI will have on the marketing industry is a topic we’ve touched on here and there over the past few years, but 2023 is the year it’s really going to take off for the industry.
I know. You’ve heard that before too. Admittedly, I’m one of those people who held out—I thought all the hype around AI was overblown and that we wouldn’t see a major impact for at least a few more years.
Clearly, I wasn’t paying enough attention. Luckily, Ross was.
In the most recent piece for Foundation Labs, Ross dissects how the AI tools that are *currently available* have the power to completely transform the marketing workflow.
Whether you need to create graphics for social media and PPC campaigns, generate a list of content topics for next month’s calendar, or flesh out a long form article, AI is here to help.
In this piece, Ross outlines how AI tools aren’t going to replace marketers (at least, not the good ones). They will springboard forward thinkers to a new level of productivity and success. Basically, we can all become a version of Cyborg Don.
Here’s a sneak peek at how AI can optimize a lengthy marketing workflow, giving you more time to focus on brand alignment and creative improvement:
See, we just have to learn to love our robot overlords and everything will fall into place…
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Top AI Predictions for 2023
Ross has astutely outlined how AI tools like Jarvis and Midjourney will permanently transform the marketing industry. Workflows, tech stacks, and even the creative process will change forever.
But what about the rest of the world?
You may have missed it before the holiday break (I know I did), but Radical Ventures partner and Forbes contributor Robert Toews released his own list of predictions for AI going into 2023.
Here’s a quick peek at some of the highlights:
GPT-4 is Coming, maybe as soon as Q1 2023
OpenAI’s been in the thick of the media storm around generative AI. The successful application of their GPT-3.5 large language model (LLM) in their ChatGPT chatbot has reignited mixed emotions surrounding the impact of AI on, well, everything.
But that’s just the beginning.
OpenAI’s GTP-3.5 and LLM analogs like Jurassic (AI21 Labs) and Megatron-Turing (Microsoft/Nvidia) are all trained on 12-figure data sets. GPT-4 is expected to go well beyond this, trained on a data set of 10 trillion tokens.
While the LLM’s ability to work with different media types is still up in the air, the release of GTP-4 promises to revolutionize revolving around text-based content.
Language Models Will Eat Through Our Data Sets
The field of AI has advanced by leaps and bounds in the past few years. One of the most significant realizations is that AIs based on large language models are improved, not by creating larger models, but through training models with larger data sets.
Unfortunately, we might be running out of those.
While the internet is a veritable treasure trove of data for humans, it’s not as useful for training artificial intelligence. We might be able to make sense of text riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. AI cannot.
Researchers estimate that all usable data sets across academia, science, the arts, and the internet total between 4 and 18 trillion tokens. DeepMind’s most recent model, Chinchilla, was trained on 1.4 trillion tokens alone.
Meaning, DeepMind may only be a few iterations away from eating through all the tokens of information human history has created thus far…
2023 Will Be the Most Transformative Year In Google Search—Ever
The ways that AI can impact Google are myriad, and the tech giant is obviously taking the matter seriously with their “recent code” red trigger in response to ChatGPT. Google is scrambling to keep up with the development of large language models and alternative search concepts are being proposed.
Here are a few of the AI technologies that are poised to transform the search process for Google and beyond:
- Conversational Search
- Semantic Search
- Multimodal Search
To see the rest of the predictions, including driverless cars, major IPOs, and humanoid experiments, check out the full article by Rob on Forbes.
Will 2023 Be another Boom or Bust for Tech IPOs?
As much as AI has dominated the tech headlines over the past few months, there are other things happening in tech land.
After a historically slow 2022 on the IPO front, one that experts called “the worst year for IPOs since 1990,” the Tech industry is primed for a (potential) resurgence in 2023. Despite all the market uncertainties and looming recession, several tech firms are ready to go public.
Let’s dive into a few:
Stripe
This payment processing company was at the top of many IPO lists for 2022 as well, but the FinTech giant is projected by many to lead the way for this year’s class.
It’s worth noting that Strip was one of many companies to lay off staff and contract during 2022, but the FinTech brand seems to be back on track. With $2.2B in funding raised and a recent valuation of $95B, Stripe is primed to make big waves this year.
Another company that filed for an IPO at the end of 2021 and was forced to wait through the turbulence of 2022 is Reddit. The social media platform has generated $1.3B in funding and is gaining traction as an advertising platform. It’s not inconceivable that this social media giant goes public in 2023
Databricks
As a leader in the data infrastructure space, there’s no surprise that the finance experts are buzzing about a potential Databricks IPO in 2023.
CEO Ali Ghodsi continued to expand the company while most contracted in mid-2022, adding to their workforce and passing $1B in annual revenue. Databricks is currently the largest private company in its niche, so a move to go public isn’t out of the question.
These are just a few of the major tech companies projected for IPOs this year, with other big brands like Airtable, Discord, and Foundation favorite Notion all potential players as well.
After a very slow 2022, stay tuned for some action this year!
NEWS OF THE WEEK:
- Generative AI startup QuickVid lets you apply multiple technologies to create short-form videos complete with voice-over
- Integrated IO architecture startup Enfrabica recently sat down for an interview on what the future holds for the industry
- Recall.ai is building a unified API for automated video call bots that do everything from note-taking to sales coaching
- Fivetran: the $5.6B cloud company that acquired its way to survival (and the Forbes 100)
BRAIN FOOD OF THE WEEK:
At this point, you may or may not be tired of hearing about AI. But bear with me for one final thought.
This talk of artificial intelligence’s impact on marketing always brings me back to a central question: will these complex algorithms be able to write better than me (and how soon will it happen)?
I used to be in the camp of “ain’t going to happen,” but, like all things in the tech industry, improvements occur exponentially. Scientists are even running out of text to feed these algorithms. Surely machine dominance over all things written isn’t far behind.
Regardless, it’s essential that we, as human marketers, feed our own algorithms.
And not just with industry-relevant material. But with everything you can get your hands on. That’s why, when people ask me the single most important thing they can do to become a better writer, it’s always an easy answer:
Read.
It doesn’t matter if it’s Shakespeare, SciFi, the latest Stephen King novel, or your favorite childhood book. Reading is the best way to improve your writing ability. (Don’t take my word for it, Stephen says so himself in On Writing).
If you want to fend off your robotic replacement for as long as possible, I recommend a stop at the library.
OTHER NEWS OF THE WEEK:
- AI startup Poly creates 3D graphics and visual assets from text prompts, joining the likes of DALL-E 2
- Plagiarism-detecting AI created by Princeton student to determine if ChatGPT has been used in writing
- The US government looks to seize SBF’s $460M stake in Robinhood
- OpenView’s Kyle Poyar weighs in on the current state of profitability for product-led companies
TWITTER THREAD OF THE WEEK:
INTERESTING FINDS ACROSS THE INTERNET:
- Aerones secures $39M in funding for its autonomous wind-turbine-cleaning robots
- Verizon closes out 2022 by sunsetting the 3G technology that brought in the smartphone era
- Elon Musk becomes the first person in history to lose $200B after disastrous 2022
IN CASE YOU MISSED SOME OF OUR GREATEST HITS:
- What is TikTok’s ‘For You’ Page and Why It Matters for Your Marketing Strategy
- The SEO Strategy that Capterra Uses to Drive $4M in Web Traffic
- 14 Must-Try Tactics for Video Content Distribution
- The Itty Bitty Logo Survey Monkey Uses to Gain Millions of Monthly Visitors
🎧 WHAT WE’RE WIRED INTO THIS WEEK 🎧:
This week’s round-up is brought to you by Ethan Crump — Jessica will be back in 2 weeks for our regularly scheduled programming!
