The Hype Cycle: Vol. 9
You’re getting a double-shot because a lot is going on, and I felt like it deserved another Hype Cycle. Plus, you’ve got enough meat and carbs to digest tomorrow without me feeding you another big, single-topic newsletter… 😉🍗💤
Three Things, My Thoughts.
Some topics from this week — with my own 🔥 (or 🥶) takes:
AI Hallucination Protection Becomes Big Business
The enterprise AI market is seeing a surge in "AI guardrail" startups raising serious capital. Companies like Robust Intelligence and Patronus AI are building tools to protect against AI hallucinations in business contexts. Even Azure and AWS are rolling out native hallucination detection features.
My Take: This is a seemingly natural evolution of new technology adoption – first comes the “gold rush,” then comes the safety equipment. This means we'll finally be able to confidently use AI for customer-facing marketing content without constant human verification. The winners will be those who find the sweet spot between AI acceleration and brand safety. Think of it as spell-check for the AI age. 💫
Social Commerce Gets Ambient
Pinterest's new AI shopping lens and Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses are early signs of what's coming: commerce integrated so seamlessly into daily life that the "buy button" disappears entirely. We're moving from explicit shopping moments to constant purchase potential.
My Take: The line between content and commerce is about to get very blurry. Marketers need to start thinking about "ambient availability" – how to be present without being pushy in these new AI-powered shopping moments. The old funnel is dying; long live the sphere of influence. 🔮
The Privacy Paradox Peaks
As first-party data becomes marketing's new oil, we're hitting a fascinating inflection point: consumers are simultaneously more protective of their data and more willing to share it for personalized experiences. Google's latest privacy sandbox stats show this dichotomy in action.
My Take: 2025 will be the year marketers finally crack the value exchange equation. The winners won't be those who collect the most data, but those who create the most compelling reasons for consumers to willingly share it. Think Netflix's "watch together" feature, but for everything. 🎯
Two Good Resources.
I found a couple of recent 📚 I found to be particularly good:
AI Accelerator: 🚨SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT🚨This is my new workshop to help marketers and marketing teams level-up with sharper AI skills and workflow integrations that reduce time spent on bull and re-allocate it to creative, critical thinking. It goes beyond basic prompting and dives into how to create brand-safe, marketing-specific AI workflows. I’ve designed it to be interactive and customizable to a particular company or team’s objectives and projects. Referrals are appreciated!
Cal-Berkeley’s MADS Certification: The team at Berkele’s extension program has completely revamped their analytics certification for the AI age. The new curriculum blends traditional analytics with practical AI applications such as a module on predictive analytics for consumer behavior. It appears well worth the investment.
One Great Quote.
I leave you with some words of wisdom as we approach a new year:
"The best way to predict the future is to create it, but first you must understand the present moment completely."
— Ray Kurzweil
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/the-hype-cycle/pl.u-MeXquYmXG9
