Layla as a Calendar Model

I saw an ad on Facebook from a company looking for the pet of the year, which invited you to submit a picture of your pet to be considered for their annual calendar. I said to myself, “I'll bite”, and I submitted a portrait-sized (tall) photo to see if they would come back and ask for a landscape-sized (wide) one, which is better suited for a calendar. I awaited their response.

I received an email stating she had been accepted, along with a link to order the calendar for $37.99. This wasn't a competition; it was AI taking my picture to sell me a one-of-a-kind calendar with her picture alongside 11 other random dogs.

Then I asked AI, “How much does it cost to do a custom calendar of my dog?” The answer I got back was “CreatePhotoCalendars.com: Standard photo calendars start at $14.97 (on sale from $29.95).”

AI is really good at doing tasks, but lacks the empathy to appeal to my love for my dog. One picture for $37.99, or 12+ pictures for $15, or OPP (other people's pups) from Amazon for $9.97. Decisions? Decisions!

When I walk Layla (1.5 miles) in the morning, I listen to podcasts from my Apple Watch to my AirPods. One of my favorites is ‘On with Kara Swisher‘. Today's episode featured a conversation with three highly respected experts on the capabilities and applications of AI.

Her panel included: Sayash Kapoor, co-author of the book AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Can Do, What it Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference and the Substack AI as Normal Technology; Rajeev Kapur, CEO of 1105 Media and author of the book AI Made Simple: A Beginner's Guide to Generative Intelligence; and futurist and author Amy Webb, founder and CEO of the consulting firm Future Today Strategy Group.

It was a fascinating perspective on what AI really is, where it's headed, and the challenges we face in incorporating it into our businesses.

Conversation with AI

If you are in marketing, you live in a niche where AI tools are being developed at the speed of light. You can create content, write code, and even replace the need for paid-for tools and people.

There are free and fee-based AI tool access. Obviously, the fee-based offers more power and capabilities, but less than 10% of people who use them pay for it.

I asked Perplexity, “What percentage of people are using free AI tools vs paid subscription versions?” The answer was:

“Among Americans, one study found about 9% pay for an AI subscription—this rises to about 18% for young professionals (18-25 age group), but the average remains below 10% for the general population.”

There is a meme about using Facebook (which applies to all free internet tools). It says, “If you are not paying for it, you are the product being sold.” This has been true with Facebook using your content to create ad clicks, and Google using your website, blog, audio, and video content to sell ads. Be aware that AI is scraping your content and giving it away for free, and making money on people who pay for the pro versions of AI.

By using AI to ask questions, write code, and create content, it is using your and others' content to create new content. AI cannot think or create new concepts yet; it uses prompts to synthesize new content from old.

AI lacks the cognitive ability, creativity, and empathy to understand your audience unless you share your customers' data. Now, AI can use that data to help your competition learn who they are and how you attracted them.

I asked AI, “What have I used Perplexity for the most?” It answered:

• Sports Scores & Tournament Tracking
• Grilling & Cooking Techniques
• Golf Equipment Research
• Lottery Numbers & Powerball
• WordPress Website Troubleshooting & Digital Marketing
• Tool Comparisons & Tech Platforms
• Blood Test Interpretation

I will not upload any medical data, but I do ask, “What does this mean?” from a blood test or “What does this drug do?”

The more you use AI to ask questions, write code, and create content, the more AI is learning about you, and it can be shared with both positive and nefarious results.

Will AI Replace Workers?

There has been a lot of buzz about how AI is already replacing people, which is leading to higher profits for companies. But, is AI all that it is cracked up to be? Will it replace a complete marketing agency or just parts of it? The jury is still out, but…

During the podcast, Sayash said, “For example, in the 1970s, lots of people thought that ATMs would make bank tellers obsolete. And what we've seen instead is that, at least for the first four decades after ATMs were installed, the number of bank tellers employed increased. That was because it was so much cheaper for banks to open new branches with the rise of ATMs that they started opening more of these. But having opened a new branch, they realized that, look, we often do still need bank tellers.”

So I asked AI, “What jobs will AI replace this year?” and here is a list of what it said:

• Customer Service Representatives
• Data Entry Clerks
• Content Writers and Translators
• Market Research/Data Analysts
• Administrative Assistants and Paralegals
• Factory and Warehouse Workers
• Software Engineers (entry-level)
• Financial Traders
• Basic Sales Roles
• Remote Outsourced “Back-Office” Jobs

When it came to content writers, it said, “Automated content generation tools and translation AIs now handle basic writing, summaries, and document translation for many businesses.”

Sayash also said, “If you ask it to do something on the Internet, maybe you will get an 80 percent version of it back. But actually getting to what is often called the five nines of reliability, that something is 99.999 percent reliable, is much, much harder, especially with random systems or stochastic systems like chatbots. And so I think that's what many companies have failed to realize.”

Then Rajeev said, “Talking about leadership and CEOs being replaced, you just can't, because you can't replace that empathy.”

AI will keep getting better, but creativity and empathy are not what AI LLMs do. They can only repeat what they have scraped or been taught to do. Amy said, “A calculator is just a brick if you don't know basic math. And in a way, AI is also kind of a brick, if you don't know what to do with it. But it is becoming easier to know less and be able to sort of do more.”

Sayash said, “For example, if you ask it things or information that belongs in Wikipedia, this is something language models have been trained hundreds of times on, and it is quite likely that the chatbot will get it right. That's what gives it the illusion of being all-knowing, in a sense, by providing these answers correctly. If you, for example, ask the same question to a human, you would expect a human who can tell you anything on Wikipedia to also be able to count up to 100. But that's not the case for ChatGPT. This has also been called the Jagged Frontier.”

Closing Thought

I am a bit sad that Layla will not be a pinup calendar model, but AI didn't seem to care that I would be the only one ordering it. AI was playing a trick on me. By walking with Layla and listening to that podcast, I learned how AI is already tricking us.

When I asked AI to tell me about me, it said, “Brian Basilico uses AI in his marketing strategy as a powerful support tool—never as a full replacement for human creativity or strategic thinking. Here’s how he applies AI in his daily work and client services…” ( I will just leave it there).

That's what I want my internet persona to show, but there is no mention of sports, cooking, golf, lottery number picks, or any (thank GOD) of my blood test results!

Here is the bottom line.

• AI content is 80% of the way there – it takes a human to get you 99.999%. That is the content I want to post on the internet.
• Be careful what you post into AI – once it's up there, you have no promise or control over how it will or can be used in the future.
• AI is just a brick if you don't know basic prompting – continue to use it and learn how to get you well on your way to quality content creation.

AI is new, exciting, and a bright, shiny object, but it is not the cure to what ails your business. It excels at completing tasks, but it's no replacement for you and your high-quality employees. Unless you know what you want to achieve with your data and AI, it cannot guide you to Valhalla.

For me, that will take a lot more walks with Layla and listening to some great expert-quality podcasts!

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Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about business-to-business sales and marketing today! Do you have a sales or marketing communications strategy that works for you? What tips or techniques can you share that work for you and your business?

To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.