Coca-Cola created quite a stir by releasing an online ad that was generated by AI.
From a marketing perspective, we can say this was successful. The fact that people are talking about it is the goal for any marketing piece. It is unlikely that the ad will sell one more can of Coca-Cola. At the same time, we also will not see people turning away from the products because of it.
There appear to be some strong feelings on both sides. Some were impressed by the ad while others felt this was a "crime against humanity". Either way, people are going to have to realize what we are dealing with.
This is the future. Anyone who thinks this is the last venture into this realm is sadly mistaken.
It is also a indicator of where things are going with regards to video production.
Before getting started, here is the advertisement.
The Future of Video Creation is Arriving
Today is the worst that AI will ever be.
It is worth remembering this concept whenever you see something that looking fairly lame.
With this advertisement, was it impressive? To me, I would rank it as "meh". The value is not in the quality itself but in what it took to make. This was likely a fraction of the personnel (and cost) compared to a regular ad.
Some will maintain that the added cost shows how people are needed. The fact the quality lags is an indicator of technology's limitations.
Go back to the line above: today is the worst that AI will ever be.
Anyone who follows the progress of generative AI realizes this is nothing more than a phase we are going through. Compared to a year ago, this is quality stuff. Does it match up to what can be done with a team of humans? Not at the moment.
Another key is the fact that this video will be much better in 6 months. Actually, if we go out a year, I am going to forecast that a significant portion of online ads will be done using AI by next holiday season.
Coca-Cola will not be the outlier. In fact, we will look back and realize it was simply ahead of the curve.
Image generated by Ideogram
Working Up The Scale
Technology is a bottom up approach. What does this mean?
To start, we deal with low hanging fruit. When it comes to generative AI, this is text. Images, audio, and video are more difficult media to deal with. For that reason, the advancements in chatbots outpaced the other areas.
Over the past year, we did see enormous progress with images. Are they perfect? Absolutely not. However, they do suffice in certain instances; which brings us to our second point.
The focus begins where expectations are lower. The image I generated above is not of the quality that you would want to see in a museum. Actually, it doesn't even make it for a basic photography showing.
That said, it is of good enough quality to be posted in an online article. Here we come across another key.
The Internet has a different level of expectation as compared to other areas. For example, when it comes to video, cinema level quality is not required. How many hours per week does the average person spend watching YouTube, videos that will not rival major studios?
For this reason, I feel safe in making the prediction above. Online advertising does not require the same level of quality. Will advertisements for the 2026 Super Bowl be done exclusively using AI? Probably not. However, to place an ad on X or Facebook, that will likely be commonplace.
Entertainment Disruption
So far we focused upon advertising. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
The honeypot is the millions of hours of video content that is created for entertainment (or information) purposes. Here is where AI is going to dominate.
Computers speed things up. That is an advantage they will always have. It is why the discussion about things stalling (in any digital) area are usually unfounded. The fallback is always brute force, i.e. more processing.
For more than half a century, humans were second class when it came to the calculations game. Google Docs can add up a column of numbers in milliseconds whereas, depending upon the length, it could take a human a few minutes (with a calculator).
As such, we can look at computers as time compressors. What once took minutes, especially if done manually, is now near instant.
This is the path video generation will take. It is in the embryotic stage today. Nevertheless, it keeps working up the scale. We will see the advertising videos getting better. This means the quality is there, allowing for the ability to generate some low-end entertainment or informational videos.
Speed is going to be the key.
We will arrive upon a time when a feature length film will be generated in a few seconds. This is likely a few years down the road but we will see it. My guess is to watch the progression with text and images. They will improve in lockstep although to varying degrees.
The fact a major corporation is putting out an online add that is AI generated shows disruption is here. It is only going to accelerate into the future.
Remember, today is the worst AI will ever be.