The rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) is presenting both opportunities and challenges for businesses across various industries as they seek to enhance their operations and deliver more effective customer experiences. As the new year approaches, industry leaders have shared insights on how companies are navigating the complexities of AI integration, revealing key strategies, use cases, and necessary governance considerations.
Cory Bennett, Senior Director at Sallie Mae, highlighted the crucial need for governance in AI deployment, noting that “AI won’t govern itself – yet…”. He emphasised that, without proper safeguards, the risk of disseminating inaccurate or irrelevant information is high. This observation underlines the importance of implementing checks and balances akin to those used in traditional content publishing to safeguard brand integrity.
The integration of AI into content operations has seen significant dialogue around effective strategies for enhanced personalization. Timi Stoop-Alcala, Principal Content Strategist at IKEA, posed a pressing question for 2025: "How might we mature our ways of working to effectively weave content strategy, content engineering, content design, and knowledge modelling into content operations and product development?". Stoop-Alcala advocated for transforming content practices to ensure tailored and meaningful customer interactions.
There is also a growing awareness of the collaborative potential between human professionals and AI. Christopher Jones, PhD, Vice President of Content Science, asserted that ongoing research will further elucidate how humans and AI can work together effectively. He expressed hope for advancements in the understanding of AI's limitations and the establishment of best practices for governance.
In the field of health, organisations are placing increased emphasis on health literacy to bridge equity gaps. Juviza Rodriguez, Senior Director of Consumer Health at March of Dimes, pointed out that clear and actionable information is vital for empowering diverse populations, particularly in maternal-infant health. Effective content strategies that utilise inclusive and culturally sensitive language can significantly impact health decisions.
The influence of AI is particularly transformative in the realm of organic search. Greg Vilines, Chief Product Officer at Terminal, indicated that AI integrations in platforms like Google have shifted the landscape of content consumption. With ChatGPT reportedly reaching over 300 million weekly users by December 2024, users are increasingly relying on AI as their primary source for information, altering traditional search dynamics.
As organisations measure the success of their content strategies, Laura Barnes, Senior Director of Global Content at Red Hat, stressed the importance of connecting content efforts to marketing metrics. She noted that content must now be intentional, accessible, and measurable, and that data-driven insights are paramount for demonstrating content’s value to the broader business.
Despite individual adoption of AI technology skyrocketing, broader enterprise-level adoption has been slower, as observed by Colleen Jones, President of Content Science. Concerns regarding accuracy in generative AI deployments have caused hesitation in many sectors, particularly manufacturing. Jones advocated for a strategic shift towards adopting modern content skills and practices that can mitigate risks while leveraging AI's potential.
The significance of content research in enhancing customer experience was further reinforced by Erica Jorgensen, a strategic content design expert. She noted that understanding audience perception through direct feedback is essential to ensuring engaging content experiences.
Additionally, there is a growing interest in content engineering as a means to operationalise content strategy effectively. John Collins, Senior Content Engineer at Atlassian, remarked on the increasing recognition of the importance of content operations in optimising content for AI integration.
An overarching theme highlighted by Carrie Hane, co-author of "Designing Connected Content," was the discrepancy between organisations' expectations of technology and their operational maturity levels. Proper assessment of existing practices is crucial to determining the most suitable technology solutions for content production and governance.
As organisations continue to navigate the multifaceted developments in AI and content operations, the drive towards an integrated and strategic approach appears to be key to unlocking the potential of this transformative technology in their operations.
Source: Noah Wire Services