Welcome to TekNiche – our take on the latest specialist technologies that are shaping the future of our world and the role of marketing in telling these incredible stories. Each month we will have a guest editor from Publitek to explore a new niche. This month it’s our CEO, Nick Clark.

“This month’s niche has to be AI...”

I remember reading a few years ago about deep learning algorithms being used by researchers to analyse and understand whale song and how these amazing creatures communicate with each other.

As mind blowing as that was at the time, who could have predicted some of the niche applications we’re now witnessing.

Publitek has been working with AI device companies for years, including Brainchip, Mythic and Groq, and to us the technology is not new, but it seems that AI is now in everything – our toothbrushes, our rubbish bins, we’re composing music with it, shopping, assessing our health and maybe even finding love. 

We’re obviously interested in the business cases for AI (although robots helping us to find a partner sounds fun). With so much media hype about AI, it can be difficult to figure out what the true value of it could be for your business. John Plender’s opinion piece in the FT offers a fresh perspective and highlights the ways AI can actually improve business performance. 

While we’re on the subject, generative AI is gaining more traction and becoming an essential part of some businesses. George C. Lee’s article for Fast Company outlines 5 key variables to think about when integrating AI into your business.

AI has been around for decades but the hype has accelerated in the last nine months (although not quite matching the explosion of Bitcoin in 2017). At Publitek, we’re also keeping a very close eye on the ethics of AI. As Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO says, “In no other field is the ethical compass more relevant than in artificial intelligence.” As we roll out our own generative, predictive and automation AI tools, we firmly believe in the careful and ethical use of AI and one that doesn’t perpetuate or accentuate inherent bias.

For more views on AI from inside Publitek, check out what our UK MD, Simon Krelle, has to say about the changing role of Artificial Intelligence in his most recent blog "Adopting AI in Deep Tech B2B marketing".

In case you missed it...

In June we announced the acquisition of SAMS Network in Germany ("B2B communications agencies Publitek and SAMS Network merge to form electronics powerhouse"), to create a new powerhouse in the European electronics and industrial sectors. We can now combine a wealth of contacts developed over decades with proven expertise across embedded, IoT and IT.

As a long-standing partner of Engineers without Borders, our team were thrilled to be involved with launching their new Global Responsibility Competency Compass. Our video "Introducing the Global Responsibility Compass" is being used as part of their launch campaign on social media and beyond to explain their new educational tool designed for professional engineers, helping them to create awareness and generate engagement with this new platform.

Finally, as part of our celebration of Women in Engineering Day, we invited our very own Dulcie Elliot for a conversation ("Celebrating Women in Engeering - Interview") about her experience working in engineering and the importance of recognising achievements women have accomplished in this industry.