Cannes Lions 2017: 'At times humans make silly decisions and AI cannot make sense of that'

On day three of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Jean Lin, global CEO, Isobar took to the stage with Wei Lui, head Tencent AI Lab to talk about artificial intelligence and how it can impact the future of creativity.

 

Lui said, "AI is very relevant in today's age but it's not new. But what we've seen in the modern age is that companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Tencent are pushing it and taking it to new heights." Lin added, "It is fair to say that AI helps us create personalised brand experiences at speed." 

 

With that she spoke briefly about how KFC embraced AI in Shanghai to get a robotic ordering device. 

 

 

She explained, "It was a good way to get experience and transactions together. Technology is now an invisible twin in terms of marketing. People are afraid of what AI can do. I believe it can just make marketing more comfortable."

 

The moderator for the session, Adam Lashinsky, executive editor, Fortune, then asked the duo about how AI could drive innovation.

 

Lui said, "Statistically AI is better than humans when it comes to face recognition". But he had a word of caution for self-drive car enthusiasts. "I've got a concern. Censors and radars among others are needed in these cars rather than just images. These self-drive cars need more hardware assistance," he added.

 

Data is the fuel

 

Isobar's Lin then spoke about the importance of data for a creative idea. She said, "It will help us transforming the industry. Data is the fuel. Before the idea is arrived upon, AI can help draw real-time insights. It helps augment creativity. You can predict where the problem arises so that it can be fixed even before it comes up. There are tools which help with this. After the idea is originated, AI tools can help activate creativity.

   

She added, "In China, lots of people take pictures of food on social media and not any text to support that picture. With AI, you can make sense of it and figure whether it was delicious or not."

 

AI vs EI

 

The duo then spoke about the anxiety surrounding humans and how they're embracing AI. 

 

Lin said, "Last year there was a face-off between a human creative director and a machine creative director in Japan. The human won by only nine per cent. AI helps us move to the future and we have to embrace it. It can revamp our (advertising) industry. So much of the work the juniors are told to do these days can be done by AI. So that helps talented people keep their time only for creative ideas. When we recruit juniors now, they have to be the best."

 

She surmised, "I'm a big fan of human behaviour. I have full confidence in humans versus AI. AI is great, but humans score on emotional intelligence. At times humans make silly decisions and AI cannot make sense of that. The power of being human is in empathy. This cannot be customised or outsourced."