Could artificial intelligence (AI) be marketing’s new best friend? According to sentiment at this week’s AIMCON event in Auckland, AI could bring enormous value to marketing as an enabler that helps people, not one that takes away their jobs.

AIMCON brought together marketers with the aim of inspiring people to rethink the way they design and build interactions, manage datasets, and how they leverage emerging technology.

Speakers at the event included Qrious CEO Nathalie Morris, Vodafone head of mobile Byron Powell, Konnector Founder Glenn Marvin, IBM Watson Customer Engagement Asia Pacific CMO liaison lead Jodie Sangster, and many others.

According to AIMCON founder Justin Flitter, New Zealand is one of the best places to explore how marketing can use AI.

“A vast majority of businesses in New Zealand start and stay as SMEs, but grow big in confidence and capability. By empowering organisations to leverage Artificial Intelligence within their business structure, we can truly become world leaders in the AI tech space.”

He adds that marketers are starting to understand how the customer experience can benefit from AI such as digital assistants, natural language processing, and automation.

“I want to focus on what’s accessible in New Zealand to us today that we can use and start implementing.”

AI can also be used across automation, chatbots, consumer insights, customer experience, on-boarding and many other areas.

Clearpoint CEO Hamish Rumbold spoke at the event and noted that voice as a tool is on the rise.

Voice activated technology like Google Home and Amazon Echo are expected to be massively popular – the market may reach $40 billion by 2022 just in the US alone.

“Voice is the new search and the next wave of commerce – it’s also, in my opinion, the first real change we will all experience that will be driven by deep learning,” Rumbold says..

“It’s predicted that 50% of search will be made by voice, powered by AI, by 2020.  This has massive implications for marketers.”

There’s also a possibility that voice-driven tools could also humanise communication again and take the focus away from solo-driven activities such as reading and typing on screens.

“Artificial intelligence is making significant improvements to human communication in ways that seemed impossible over a decade ago. Innovative tools are able to enhance marketing by uncovering entirely new ways of creating and distributing value to customers,” a statement from the conference says.

“AI-partnered marketing tools such as biometrics, voice search, and chatbots can provide a more comprehensive view of customer behaviour, predictive analytics, and deeper insights that benefit consumers and marketers alike.”

AIMCON conference partners included: Clearpoint, IBM, Qrious, JRNY, Spacetime, Generator, Konnector and Storicom.