Click here for Part One

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been the stuff of sci-fi since the 1950s – think 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Blade Runner and The Matrix. AI is now very real and it’s shaping our lives in countless ways: algorithms actively influence our purchasing decisions, the entertainment we consume, the routes we travel, and even the people we choose to date.

Andy Sexton, Partner & Creative Director at 2LK interprets his five Cs of AI – communication, control, consumption, creation and contrast – and how they will impact the future of live events and brand experiences. In the second of two articles, he shares his take on consumption, creation and contrast – while part one looked at communication and control.

There’s a tendency to overestimate the effect of technology in the short-term and underestimate its effect in the long run. A big promise up front, initial disappointment and then results that far exceed the original expectations. Computers, digital photography, solar/wind power, DNA and even grocery home delivery all evolved to this pattern. I think it’s safe to assume that this phenomenon (known as Amara’s law) will repeat itself with AI. According to Adobe’s 2018 Digital Trends survey, 31% of nearly 13,000 marketing, creative and IT professionals worldwide plan to invest in AI in the next 12 months.

Consumption

There’s no doubt that personalisation drives action, and AI’s most significant promise currently revolves around the delivery of more personalised experiences. Netflix and Amazon recommend entertainment that’s bespoke to our tastes, Apple Maps has learned our travel schedules, Facebook can choose our friends and LinkedIn suggests new business contacts.

Brands will soon commission multiple content streams around a single theme, with each theme targeted to different emotional states: happy, sad, funny etc. AI systems will then push the most appropriate version to individuals, defined via probability mapping. This will move us far beyond simple and singular profiling (like age or gender) into a realm of complex algorithmic assessments on our unique preferences. This sort of predictive user modelling could bring delight and simplicity to delegates pre-, during and post-event, but it would no doubt narrow our choices. Let’s hope personalisation doesn’t just become generalisation.

Personalisation is great, but how do we provide entirely unique content in the live event space? I believe AI and AR (Augmented Reality) will soon become inseparable, and together become a mainstay of live brand experiences. Everyone will have a powerful AR device on them at all times to access entirely unique versions of the same ‘reality’. AR is a live event storyteller’s dream. It complements the physical space and digitally amplifies it, allowing us to each see the world differently. AR is site-specific, so the more bespoke the physical space, the more powerful the experience. It’s also social – a group of people can have concurrent communal experiences. This blend of physical and digital design will become a funnel for AI customisation at live events. The result will be immersive, unique, and above all memorable.

Creation

Creativity is the Holy Grail for many AI analysts. By its very nature, the design process involves non-linear thinking, a challenger approach and the ability to reason with one’s environment. AI currently revolves around deep learning which is very different – adapting and improving things rather than creating new things.

AI catapulted into the mainstream when IBM’s ‘Watson’ won $1 million on Jeopardy in 2011. The same cognitive platform created a movie trailer for 20th Century Fox’s movie Morgan. AI systems write pop music and even have the potential to mimic great works of art as per Deepmind’s recent experiments.

Last year Adobe launched their Adobe Sensei platform. It’s more IA (Intelligent Assistant) than AI (Artificial Intelligence). Whatever you call it, the creative process is fundamentally changing, as machine-learning algorithms begin to absorb the more time-consuming tasks within creative processes. For example, Wix has an ‘Artificial Design Intelligence Service’ that creates a stunning website tailored to your needs, instantly and for free. Scary stuff for web designers, and it’s just a matter of time before brand experience and live event design is also affected.

Personally, I’m excited to see the innovation in this space, and strongly believe that new AI tools will actually support the growth and efficiency of the creative community. Jeff Kowalski, CTO of Autodesk, echoed this when he said: “Designers will eventually be more like mentors for computers, using their experience to train the machines that do the actual work”.

Contrast

AI will undoubtedly become a valuable tool for brands’ relationships with customers and may even streamline the design process itself, but for me, there’s already too much focus on technology for technology’s sake. It’s essential that consumer expectations are met with genuine personality and interactions that connect on a human level.

I’m a great believer in designing for people first. Technology changes rapidly, but human beings don’t. It’s often the simple things that we remember, share and care about. I can see great potential for extremely low-tech brand experiences to blossom, an antidote to tech proliferation.

Fundamentally, events are for people. Good events are built around stories, good stories tend to be about people, and the best stories are shared with other people. Let’s hope we can continue to find space for these exceptionally simple, human-centric experiences by way of contrast to the high-tech society in which we all live.

Thanks to plummeting hardware costs and some recent innovation leaps, AI is now a reality that will no doubt revolutionise what we do, how we do it and how we measure it. With Millennial and Generation Z audiences craving experiences over possessions, and with the (AI) doors firmly open, live events and brand experiences can only become increasingly personalised. With that, let’s hope they also become increasingly powerful.


Written by Andy Sexton, Creative Director & Partner, 2LK

Driven by an absolute passion and commitment for effective design, Andy oversees 2LK’s intelligent, insight-led approach to creativity. From one-off tradeshow installations to global events, he directs high-level brand experience design for the likes of Canon, Cannes Lions, Fabergé, Honda, HSBC, Intel and Oracle. His vision is key to the agency’s ongoing success and shapes the award-winning work they produce. Andy is also regularly invited to write articles, speak at events and judge awards programmes.

Adam Parry
Author: Adam Parry

Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.