Why we’re not afraid of AI

Welcome to the start of 2024 – one of the most exciting and challenging in decades. No, really!

Why? Three reasons:

We are likely to see a presidential campaign in the United States that will test the boundaries between truth and fiction. We are already seeing debates about whether the nation’s highest court has the right to rule Donald Trump out of the race for his participation in the Capitol Hill riot.

AI will either be tamed by the New York Times copyright case or be freed to rip off publishers across the planet and drive the final nail in the coffin of journalism.

And in the remarkable battle for public perception over the war between Israel Hamas, the jury still seems to be out about who the bad guys are.

These critical events should be no brainers. The fact that they are not is why content with purpose is so important.

A recent study showed that that human ability to focus on a subject before zoning out has plummeted from 12 seconds to eight.

That’s not a lot of time to work out what’s really going on. The reason: too many distractions.

When we formed Big Splash Media almost 16 years ago, we called it a “factual media company”. A few people asked us what that meant.

We explained that, as a communications company, we wanted to be honest and transparent with those consuming our content.

Our audiences are the lifeblood of our business and the services we deliver to our clients. Without their engagement and attention, we are nothing.

There’s quite enough spin out there already without our adding to the stockpile. Providing factual information has a strong marketing edge with our core demographic. We tell it the way it is. They reward us by coming back time and again…and purchasing the products we rate as outstanding.

We’re a highly creative agency across video, audio, web, socials and print. And that’s important, too. All these platforms are part of the tapestry across which we engage large numbers of different demographics.

AI is feared most by those who aren’t uniquely creative. AI is certainly a threat to those producing bland, wallpaper content because that’s what you get with generative AI.

The result: something called “semantic satiation”. You hear the same messages again and again – so you ignore them.

Real life stories well told will always cut through. And that’s our speciality.

We’re optimistic about the coming year. We’ll do well because we have strong connections to our clients who share our ideals. And we thank all of you for your support and trust.

Our big news is we are expanding our team – and our offerings.

We have three new hires starting in January in strategy, digital and client success.

We will be expanding our footprint in travel and new digital and print products like The Sydney Guide. And we will be addressing new topics in personal finance and lifestyle.

We look forward to working with you in the coming 12 months – we think it will be our best year yet!

*In answer to that cheeky headline ‘Will this be the year truth died?’, the incremental evidence is that truth, like so many of the world’s scarce commodities, is endangered. Let’s keep it alive in 2024!

And our take on those three dilemmas for the coming year:

Trump should not be allowed to run for president, just as the clear-headed judges of the Supreme Court ruled.

Of course OpenAI and Microsoft are misusing New York Times content so they can sell AI services to businesses.

And in the Mid East, there is a lot of history. But we all know how this chapter started.

Let’s prey for peace.