A recent report from Blue Bell, Pa.-based information management specialist Unisys revealed some interesting insights into how workers view and understand artificial intelligence (AI). When asked what emerging technology had the highest potential to transform their workplace environment in the next five years, 31 percent identified the Internet of Things (IoT), while 27 percent cited AI. However, only 20 percent said they really understood AI, despite its current buzzword status. Given the importance of AI, we dug a little bit deeper to identify the issue. Unsurprisingly, what we found was the problem for many was not with the technology -- although there are problems there too -- but with a lack of understanding of what AI is, what it can do and what its limitations are.

Aman Naimat, senior vice president of technology & engineering at Demandbase says personalization is at the crux of why marketing has to and will adopt AI. "Ultimately, marketing is all about how a brand communicates to its prospects and customers, and personalized, relevant customer experiences are the most effective way to reach their target audiences," says Naimat. "Think about how easy it is to filter out spam with the glance of an eye."

On first hearing, "machine learning" and "Artificial Intelligence" sound like technologies that will replace people. Computers will find people and sell them stuff they want, so who needs humans in marketing? Well, it turns out that you do. Computers can do the scut work of counting, but only humans can truly say what counts. Marketers are not going to be replaced by automation, but they can make best use of it so long as they know what it can do and can't do, just like any other tool.

On first hearing, "machine learning" and "Artificial Intelligence" sound like technologies that will replace people. Computers will find people and sell them stuff they want, so who needs humans in marketing? Well, it turns out that you do. Computers can do the scut work of counting, but only humans can truly say what counts. Marketers are not going to be replaced by automation, but they can make best use of it so long as they know what it can do and can't do, just like any other tool.

Artificial intelligence will come to the forefront this year in marketing departments across the world. But do marketers really understand what AI is in marketing and how to best implement it in their marketing strategies? A Demandbase and Wakefield Research AI survey asked just these kinds of questions of marketers and found some very interesting results. To understand the results of this survey at a deeper level, I spoke with Aman Naimat, SVP of Technology at Demandbase. Naimat has a very extensive background in data science.

Eight out of ten B2B marketing executives predict artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize marketing by 2020, according to a December report by Demandbase -- but is it the key to unlocking a future without email spam? Demandbase, an account-based marketing (ABM) platform, partnered with Wakefield Research to poll 500 B2B marketers from the manager level to c-level executives, at companies with at least 250 employees, about AI-driven marketing. The results of the study suggest that marketers are eager to embrace artificial intelligence, yet only 10% of respondents are currently using AI and only 26% of marketers are confident that they understand how artificial intelligence can be applied to marketing. Education and integration concerns are the largest hurdles obstructing marketers with regard to artificial intelligence. Integrating AI into an existing marketing stack was the top-ranking challenge expressed by marketers when they considered incorporating AI into their marketing campaigns, with 60% of marketers selecting it as their top concern.

Once upon a time, we writers would note whether some new tech was cloud-based or not. Now, it's often assumed that all business software lives in the cloud. At some point sooner than we think, the same is going to happen to artificial intelligence (AI). You'll just assume all marketing software employs some flavor of AI. We're seeing this complex technology showing up in all kinds of marketing tech, where automated insights, natural language processing and pulling predictive patterns from massive amounts of data can be particularly helpful.

Artificial intelligence will revolutionize marketing in the next five years, according to survey results Demandbase released this week. Eighty percent of the 500 B2B marketers who participated in the online poll, conducted last month by Wakefield Research, said they expected an AI-fueled marketing revolution. However, only 26 percent were very confident they understood how AI was used in marketing, and only 10 percent said they already were using it. AI "has the potential to help marketing and sales teams hyper-personalize the customer experience at an entirely new level," remarked Aman Naimat, SVP of technology at Demandbase. Its use "will allow for one-on-one conversations with marketers who have the background information necessary to successfully interact with prospects," he told CRM Buyer.