The robot will now write the ads

Is it true? Can AI can really write better headlines than humans?

JPMorgan Chase hired Persado’s AI to write copy such as email headlines, SMS messages, and banner ads. (Vodafone, Air Canada & Dell use Persado too.)

In one example, the human wrote, “Access cash from the equity in your home,” and pulled 25 weekly applications for home equity lines of credit. The AI wrote, “It’s true — You can unlock cash from the equity in your home,” and got 47 a week.

AI for the win! An 88% lift!

Their results are impressive. But two details are worth noting:

1. This kind of copy is notoriously improved by A/B tests, whether it’s human v. human or human v. machine. That’s because it’s tricky to do, it’s context-dependent, and it’s a moving target. (And Persado's running thousands of experiments.)

2. The AI is learning effective copy principles, like, “Urgency + exclusivity outperforms urgency alone.” That sounds right out of a David Ogilvy playbook. Good copywriters know and use these principles.

It’s true — AI can write good headlines!

But so can good writers.

JPMorgan Chase taps AI to make marketing messages more powerful