AI Bubble?!

Author

Mike Fishbein
August 23, 2024

Hey, welcome back to AI Marketing Brief, where we serve your AI news hot, like a fresh espresso shot. Sip on this and stay wired with the latest trends and spicy takes.

Here’s what’s in your cup today:

  • Are we in an AI bubble? Y Combinator Partners debate.

  • Insights from Head of Growth, Erika Warren on leveraging AI for growth marketing

  • Perplexity AI's ad rollout advances the AI-assisted search market

  • Asana’s Ethan Dawal replaced himself with AI…so he got promoted!

He Replaced Himself With AI…So He Got Promoted!

Ethan Dawal, AI GTM Program Manager at Asana, skyrocketed his performance by getting AI to do his job for him. Ethan says use cases like meeting prep, and crafting hyper-personalized emails in minutes saved him hours. Recognizing his impact, Asana tasked him with developing AI tools for the entire sales team, propelling efficiency and output.

My take: Using AI requires new skillsets. I think we’ll see more companies have dedicated teams responsible for helping everyone at the company take advantage of AI.

Mastering the Fundamentals for Growth with AI

AI isn’t just a shiny new tool; it's an accelerant for growth. Erika Warren, former Head of Growth at Change[.]org, emphasizes that leveraging AI requires first understanding your business. She says AI reduces friction, optimizes processes, and boosts internal bandwidth. But you need to know your growth engine before deploying AI. Think of AI as a turbocharger—it magnifies your efforts but only if you apply it where it counts most.

Are We In An AI Bubble?

The AI landscape is bustling, sparking both excitement and fear. The "Magnificent Seven" tech giants are riding high on AI hype, fueling stock market gains. Yet, there's a lurking fear of a bubble burst, echoing the dot-com and crypto booms. Y-Combinator Partners debate: Is this AI gold rush on solid ground or a speculative frenzy?

My take: Don’t try to time the market. AI will almost definitely be a bigger part of our work and the economy in the next five years. There will be ups and downs along the way. That’s fine.

Perplexity AI to Roll Out Ads Amid Controversy

Perplexity is diving into the ad game. Despite criticism about monetizing “stolen” content, they’re boasting 230 million monthly queries and a $1 billion valuation. Perplexity will start monetizing via search ads in Q4. It will cost advertisers more $50 CPM. That’s pretty high compared to platforms like Facebook, which also offer CPC pricing.

Google AI Overviews and Organic Results Now Overlap 99%

Remember the wild west days of AI Overviews when Google would cite any source but the top ten? Well, those days are over. Google AI Overviews now align with top organic search results a whopping 99.5% of the time. After backlash for unreliable sources, Google tightened up, linking AI and traditional search signals more closely than ever.

My take: I’m still waiting for more data on how AI Overviews will impact clickthrough rates and organic traffic. My hunch is it won’t help, but maybe AI Overviews will increase total search volume enough to counteract any negative impact.

More Insights and Hot Takes

  • GenAI startups raise at 1.5-2x the post-money valuations of all software companies, and publicly traded AI companies trade at twice the forward multiple of non-AI peers, reflecting significant future growth expectations, according to research by Tom Tunguz.

  • Manny Bernabe says that as Generative AI becomes smarter and cheaper, companies must strategically integrate LLMs to truly benefit from these advancements.

  • Small teams that leverage AI to achieve high ouput are the future of software companies, according to Mckay Wrigley.

New AI Tool Alert 🚨

AI Search Grader by HubSpot helps you analyze your brand's presence in AI search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity, and offers insights to improve brand awareness. Use AI Search Grader to get a free analysis of your brand sentiment and share of voice in AI search results.

3 New Marketing Jobs at AI Companies

  1. Head of Marketing at Coactive AI

  2. Director or Product Marketing at Level AI

  3. Product Marketing at Play

Mike Fishbein

PS: My new company, Atherial, provides AI workflow creation as a service to startups. The cost of using LLMs has plummeted to nearly zero, but GTM teams are blocked from taking advantage because it requires new technical skills. We’re here to help you save time and money by getting LLMs to execute on the boring parts of your sales and marketing. No prompting or new app subscriptions required! Reply to this email to get a free use case consultation.