Being a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of a fast-growing AI company, Pixis, my team and I are constantly striving towards answering one key requirement: How do we continue to democratize AI for the industry we serve – the growth marketing sector?
At Pixis, we’ve always had conversations about what it means to truly ‘democratize technology’ for our users every step of the way. These conversations have led to products that require zero technical expertise, it’s a complete marketer’s product. When we started, back in 2019, we noticed how the term ‘democratizing AI’ was used constantly yet the technology itself would still require experts and engineers to use it. Right from the integration of AI into the marketing stack to utilizing the tech to its maximum potential – it required a whole mix of technical experts. Thus began our journey to truly catalyze an industry-wide paradigm shift that would see marketers directly leverage the potential of AI by themselves.
One of the bigger challenges of integrating AI into business is the implementation process itself which we noticed was taking 2-3 weeks. With nearly 70% of companies reporting a lack of understanding of implementing AI, we acknowledged the need to make the process simple and intuitive. We solved this challenge by delivering our AI infrastructure through a method as simple as downloading and installing a plugin, bringing integration times down to minutes from weeks. I truly believe that the goal of every marketing AI company must be to ensure the products are directly usable by the growth marketers themselves. Whether it is to leverage the powers of natural language processing (NLP) models or more complex algorithms to predict the best strategies for all-round performance and bid-budget optimization – our customers must be able to easily work the product regardless of their familiarity with data science.
AI technology needs to be designed in a way that’s easy to use, even for those without a background in data analytics or programming. This could mean developing a simple drag-and-drop user interface (UI) so anyone can input data and interpret results. Codeless AI infrastructure combines artificial intelligence with intuitive, user-friendly interfaces allowing marketers to harness the power of AI without the necessity of coding skills.
A codeless AI infrastructure also addresses other barriers to democratizing AI.
- Transparent Processes: Codeless AI marketing tools can be programmed to clearly explain how they work, what data they use, and how they arrive at their results, just as Pixis AI does. This lack of transparency can often scare away potential users who are unsure of how AI will affect their marketing activity, or how the AI arrived at a particular recommendation. Over 60% of businesses deem ‘trust in AI’ as a critical roadblock, and codeless AI marketing tools prioritize transparency by implementing explainable AI (XAI) algorithms that outline the decision-making process, fostering trust in the technological process and outcomes, tackling this persistent concern over AI “black boxes”.
- Data Privacy Compliance: Implementing encryption, anonymization, and robust access control layers in the data pipeline is crucial. The lack of coding required by marketers in codeless AI tech does not mean lesser compliance with data privacy. Codeless algorithms can be made to keep in mind that international data standards such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are imperative, and commit to securing and respecting any sensitive data entrusted to their AI platform.
- Affordable AI Solutions: Advanced AI technology that requires specialized expertise and experts can be expensive, making it inaccessible for many businesses. Purpose-built codeless AI solutions can bring down costs significantly and deliver higher ROI simply by virtue of being developed to effortlessly solve the specific challenges that a customer is looking to overcome. Additionally, there is no cost to upskill the workforce to work with AI or bring in an AI tech specialist. This cost-effective, powerful AI solution opens up the market to AI by making it within the reach of startups and established corporations alike.
However, I acknowledge that one could argue that a marketer may want to do a lot more with an AI solution than what it allows. This is where I believe the truly exciting part comes in. Today, as part of our AI infrastructure, we also open access to AI playgrounds where marketers can invite data scientists and other technical experts on their team to collaborate and customize models for their specific purposes. Thereby enabling Business-As-Usual prioritization along with product experimentation. This is truly where the power of democratization lies, where tech providers empower users to mold the product and safely leverage or customize the product beyond its initial offerings.
We look at the democratization of AI in marketing not as a challenge to overcome, but as an exciting journey that we are on. It is our vision that AI should not be held as an ‘exclusive privilege’, but an accessible tool that adds tremendous value to businesses of all sizes, delivering unparalleled results in the hands of every marketer.
About Pixis
Pixis is a no-code AI platform helping brands scale all aspects of their marketing and augment their decision-making in a world of infinitely complex consumer behaviour. The company’s codeless AI infrastructure delivers over 200+ proprietary AI models that provide marketers with robust plug-and-play AI products – from campaign optimization to creative asset generation – without having to write a single line of code.
Vrushali Prasade is the Co-Founder & Co-CTO at Pixis.
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