CLEVELAND — Over the last year, artificial intelligence has opened our eyes to new possibilities in the way we live our lives, prompting a seismic change not seen since the advent of the internet.
This week, about 700 people are set to attend MAICON, the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference, at the Huntington Convention Center. The event is organized by the Marketing AI Institute, which is a media, event and education company focused on making AI accessible and actionable for marketers and business leaders.
This is the fourth year the event has been held in Cleveland, however, organizer Cathy McPhillips told News 5 the crowd is set to double in size compared to years past.
"Ever since November 30th, when ChaptGPTcame out, people are like, 'Oh, that’s what AI is,'" McPhillips, the chief growth officer at the Marketing AI Institute, said. "It’s given people the opportunity to see what’s possible. It’s not this big scary thing anymore in many respects. It's given people a chance to say, 'I think this is something helpful for my business and my marketing.'"
Even before the advent of ChatGPT and other similar bots, artificial intelligence has already permeated many facets of daily life.
Artificial intelligence, which is computers and machines that have the ability to think and solve problems as well as react to its surrounding environment, is already used in adaptive cruise control in cars, facial recognition to unlock a phone, tools used to help teach children how to read, and virtual assistants such as Amazon Alexa.
"This is a whole new world right now, and people are coming from all over the world to our event," McPhillips explained. "It's exciting to see how much things have advanced already with so little we already know. As these tools get better and things start to improve, I think it will make us more efficient, more resourceful in what we're doing and make us love what we're doing more and not doing a lot of the repetitive things that take up much of our week."
AI updates, 100k downloads, and insightful conversations with @PaulRoetzer and @MikeKaput. Catch the latest episode of the #MarketingAIShow via @cmcphillips https://t.co/45pDulDhiN
— Marketing AI Institute (@MktgAi) July 22, 2023
Just last week, leaders from the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, along with business leaders and educators, met with Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to explore what AI looks like going forward in Ohio.
"Society's cultures and nations throughout history, they have all become dominant or submissive based on how they've used technologies," Husted said.
"Hopefully, it [AI] can be an improvement for our quality of life, efficiency-- maybe an equalizer in society."
— Lt. Governor Jon Husted (@LtGovHusted) July 20, 2023
-Lt. Governor @JonHusted at yesterday's #Cleveland AI forum at @JohnCarrollU pic.twitter.com/zlCEBEMfB6
"Generative AI is different in that it is actually synthesizing information from a variety of patterns and generating new information," Dr. Rohit Chandra, Cleveland Clinic's chief digital officer, said. "It is in the hands of everyday consumers, and it is going to affect everything. I think it cannot be overemphasized that the seismic shifts in every industry are going to happen."
Intellectual property and marketing attorney Sharon Toerek is among those set to speak at MAICON and admits she's encountering more and more questions when it comes to AI. However, her firm has not started to use it when it comes to drafting legal documents.
"We certainly reviewed things that clients provided us that AI had a hand in creating, but we’re not there yet, no," she said. "I think we have a ton to learn. These are early days of dealing with the technology and what it means for the content that’s created with it."
Toerek does see how past the concerns of plagiarism and replacement, harnessing the collection of information AI pulls from can change not just her industry but her entire world.
"Educate yourself about what it means for you, your work on a daily basis," she said. "The more you know, the less reason you have to be afraid of it. I'm choosing for my firm to embrace the positive possibilities of it. I am exhibiting a healthy amount of skepticism for now about the speed with which it's going to replace human involvement and knowledge work."
"People think AI is out to replace all of us, and I don't think it is," McPhillips added. "I think it's here to help us do better work. None of these can run without human intervention. Humans need to make sure the outputs are right; we need to practice what we're inputting so the output is accurate and make sure we're using the machines the right way to augment what we're doing and not replace it."
MAICON runs through Friday, and you can learn more about the conference by CLICKING HERE.
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard or on Facebook Clay LePard News 5. Only content gathered, created and written by humans was used in the reporting for this story.
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