FUSION #neosletter 2
Let’s make being human the focus of our pre-festive foray into curated creative content. From not humanising AI to the importance of human connections – five gold links, a shiny PDF and two holiday campaigns…
#AI #misinformation
Got time for a quick word? ‘AI’ has been named WOTY (Word of the Year) by Collins Dictionary. Nope, not exactly surprising. But it is the words we use to talk about AI that are all important, according to Mignon Fogarty (aka Grammar Girl). We’d add that the visual language we utilise is just as critical given that humanising AI through images is also adding to the misinformation out there. All types of grammarians are needed to combat this challenge! More on this anon from those progressive bods over at Better Images of AI.
“The reason more precise wording [insert ‘language’] matters now is that it’s the first time we’ve widely had systems that could be mistaken for being human or having sentience — and it’s important that we as writers [insert ‘communicators’] don’t contribute to the misunderstanding of how these systems work.” – Mignon Fogarty
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/grammar-girl_ai-chatgpt-writing-activity-7126228944994893824-A6hi?utm
#financialservices #sustainability
From not humanising AI to being more human in sustainability comms. Check out this paper by the The Investor Relations Society Professional Development and Radley Yeldar that highlights issues with how we talk about sustainability*. Key for us is the fact that the same pitfalls it flags can be applied to visual sustainability strategies and representations: avoid cliches (blimey, not another wind turbine!), audience first, bring in different perspectives and be more human.
“Stock Sustainability is rife in the sustainability communication of the world’s most valuable brands. If these global leaders that all invest a fortune in building their brands are falling into the trap, you can be sure most others are too.”
#AI #responsiblecomms
The issue with stock approaches to important topics is that they are reductive. As our friends over at Better Images of AI have pinpointed:
“Stock images strongly influence the ways in which non-expert audiences think about and understand the topics they illustrate. This is why it is worrying that research has repeatedly shown that many images of artificial intelligence are misleading and unhelpful.”
Also check out ‘AI and Responsible Journalism Toolkit’ – a collection of guidelines on the ethics of representing AI and communicating AI to the public by the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge. See also our CVO Mark Terry’s dialogue with Alexandra Kuzmina from NOVA MMR Research on the subject.
https://blog.betterimagesofai.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Better-Images-of-AI-Guide-Feb-23.pdf
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“The reason more precise [language] matters now is that it’s the first time we’ve widely had systems that could be mistaken for being human or having sentience — and it’s important that we as [communicators] don’t contribute to the misunderstanding of how these systems work.”
– Mignon Fogarty, Grammar Girl
#stockimages #sustainability #imagery #creativedirection
From stock approaches to stock libraries… If you are looking for a more ethical approach to using AI image generation tools, then Shutterstock is developing one that’s a doozy. At least, it makes total sense to us so far. Shutterstock’s human-first attitude to AI image generation is firmly focused on sustainability. It’s AI tool draws (no creative pun intended) on a library of original content that Shutterstock manages. And every time that content is used and licensed to the user, the creative who produced it is compensated. Now, doesn’t that sound like fair play?
Shutterstock has released updates and add-ons to its tool since we joined its virtual launch event back in May 2023, but the principles guiding its approach remain the same.
https://shutterstockshowcase.splashthat.com/
https://www.neoposition.com/ai-versus-creativity/
#storytelling #campaign
The human spirit and connection couldn’t be more evident in Apple’s holiday ad. A Christmas Carol-steal and lesson in storytelling that Dickens would be proud of, it manages to move the focus from what it is peddling to what this promises. The iProduct can enhance ways of seeing, creativity and lead to changes in behaviour, which after all is what Scrooge is all about. As are, we’d add, the best creative comms campaigns.
#creativevalue #campaign
And lastly, a teensy bit lower budget holiday campaign with an arguably bigger human heart to leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy-wig inside:
The magic’s in what we do together. Go and get sparkly,
Team NEO
*Psst, by the way, full disclosure, we’ve mentioned the ‘s’ word eight times on our webpage (not including the page title), but don’t think anyone’s noticed! Anyhoo, it’s something we can improve on. And, as the report writers admit: “None of this is to say that communicating sustainability is easy.” But, just as there are things you can do to avoid the “clichés and pitfalls of stock sustainability” when writing about you know what, there are things you can do to avoid them in your visual strategy as well.
[This content was originally posted on LinkedIn. Follow us on LinkedIn.]
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