Everything that civilisation has to offer is a product of human intelligence; we cannot predict what we might achieve when this intelligence is magnified by the tools that AI may provide, but the eradication of war, disease, and poverty would be high on anyone’s list. Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last.

– Stephen Hawking, Independent, May 1, 2014

Artificial Intelligence (AI) might mean the end of mankind?! Maybe we should head for the hills!

Or maybe the movie theater:

Sony Pictures Animation announced The Mitchells vs. The Machines, an AI-as-evildoer animated family comedy.

The story is: The Mitchells are a dysfunctional but loving family whose road trip is interrupted by a tech uprising that threatens mankind.

All around the world, the electronic devices people love – from phones to self-driving cars to a sleek new line of personal robots – turn on humanity. With the help of two malfunctioning robots and the family’s delightfully overweight pug, the Mitchells will have to get past their problems and work together to save each other and the world.

AI has entered the cultural bloodstream for sure when Hollywood is making animated family comedies about it!

So what is the reality: Doom and destruction – or delight in the darkness of the local cineplex?

The fact is, no one really knows for sure. That simple truth alone reflects the scale and the importance that AI is already playing in our lives – and if one thing IS certain, it is that AI and its associated technologies will only become more central as the future unfolds. Optimists and pessimists can and will continue to debate the prospects for that future, as they should. But on that overarching point, they would all agree.

This book focuses on ways in which AI can be harnessed for business applications: specifically, product innovation and marketing. Chapters touch upon a myriad of business-related subjects, from pricing and promotions to the future of market research and advertising agencies. The goal is to give you, the reader, an in-depth look at what AI is, what it can – and cannot – do, and provide ideas and insights on ways in which you might apply that knowledge to your own business and your own career.

This book is written to inspire the marketing professional or product innovator. To give you the reader enough of a grasp so you can be inspired to put the book down, and think of what you can do with it. The goal is not to create algorithmic mumbo-jumbo or a litany of case studies that do not seem peripherally applicable to your day job. The goal is to inspire you to “Think Different.” You need not be a computer expert nor know your way around a line of code to extract value from the contents herein. You need only to want to gain a meaningful glimpse into the future of business, and understand how and why daily life around us will increasingly be conducted in close partnerships – seen and unseen – with the intelligent machines that are already among us.

For businesses large and small, global and local, the real question is: What are the practical implications that Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (ML) have for my company? How can they best be put to work to gain a competitive advantage in today’s increasingly digitally driven economy? What do smart marketers want and need to know about the fascinating fields of AI and ML in order to understand and apply them to real-world business challenges?

This book is based on real-life examples of AI and ML at work. Techniques described in the book have become algorithms. The book describes the complementary disciplines of ML and AI so that readers can gain a better grasp of the new world we are already living in. This book outlines the resources, the skills, the best practices, the terminology, and the metrics required to harness the unparalleled and rapidly expanding power of these twin technologies.

But beyond serving as a marketer’s primer on this most timely subject, this is also a book that seeks to encourage the creative community to embrace and employ AI and ML in ways that speak centrally to the human mind and spirit. There is a reason the word “elevate” is used in these pages.

The most effective sales methods, messages, and new product ideas are those that resonate most deeply and meaningfully with consumers at the non-conscious level. AI and ML can deliver tools that aid both marketers and creatives in discovering and developing those messages and product innovations.

The book is not a repeat of well-understood marketing techniques and terminology, but rather looks at the same areas through the lens of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.

This is not a coffee-table book. This is a desktop book – designed to be an at-hand resource, a reliable guide, and a source of inspiration for successful product innovation and marketing in the exciting new Age of AI.