BY SCOT T . GILLIES

We test ChatGPT and Bard to see whether they can craft a massage-related marketing email

IN HER STORY ABOUT USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ( AI ) to elevate spa marketing (“ Maximizing Spa Marketing with AI ,” page 44 ), Sherrie Tennessee mentions AI chatbots as a currently available tool for spa-specific tasks like scheduling , data collection and client personalization . While that level of customized service from an AI app was almost unimaginable 20 years ago , it has become so common in the past few years that , in some market segments , it is an expected level of service .

A more recent offshoot of AI chatbots is their use in modeling human-like conversation and prose . The long-term implications are vast : If you think social media has transformed the way we interact , just wait for the super-personalized content that will soon target each of us as individuals . Going well beyond marketing , AI chatbots will deliver bespoke business , news and entertainment updates tailored to our individual interests and whims . The high quality of the AI-written word today is extraordinary — despite some snafus regarding reliability of cited information — and will continue to improve rapidly . But text is only the beginning . Already , AI applications like DreamStudio and Midjourney are producing flawless graphics based on user-input parameters . Video and virtual reality are knocking on the door .

It ’ s been only about half a year since ChatGPT entered the mainstream , with similar apps — like Google ’ s Bard and Meta / Facebook ’ s LLaMA — following quickly . It seems like a good time to take AI chatbots for a spin and record the results for posterity . For our test case , we ’ ll ask both ChatGPT and Bard to draft a marketing email promoting a couple ’ s massage to spa clients .

If you already know the capabilities of AI chat , the autogenerated text in the examples shared here may not come as much of a surprise . But if you ’ re like the majority of information consumers who have not explored the functionality of artificial intelligence chatbots , you may have an unsettling realization that you can ’ t tell the difference between AI-assembled information and human-authored content .

48 PULSE n JULY 2023