It’s hard not to be impressed with how rapidly artificial intelligence is advancing. From eliminating time-intensive manual tasks such as organising business diaries to crunching enormous quantities of data in record speed, it’s clear that AI has an important role to play in the future of B2B business operations. 

However – it’s not going to be unregulated. As of March 2024, the European Parliament has now approved the EU AI Act, the very first framework for limiting the risks of AI in business. It is vital that all businesses operating within the European Union, B2B and B2C alike, understand this new legislation. 

Click here to read the EU AI Act in full. 

Understanding the EU AI Act 

The growth of artificial intelligence is unprecedented, so the new EU AI Act addresses the need for a robust regulatory structure to ensure the safe, transparent, and ethical development and use of AI technology within the European Union. This is particularly important in areas of marketing collateral and copywriting, where being clear and transparent on where content is artificially generated, is essential. 

As AI continues to permeate various industries and becomes a powerful day to day tool for B2B businesses, this legislation aims to mitigate potential risks associated with AI systems.  

At the heart, the EU AI Act creates a more robust definition of AI as machine-based systems designed to operate autonomously with varying levels of intelligence. Importantly, the legislation categorises AI systems based on their risk levels, ranging from minimal risk to high risk. High risk categories are set to be AI models that could become a risk in terms of discrimination, infract on privacy laws, or are seen to unfairly influence human will. 

Importantly, the act will obligate users of certain AI systems to disclose where outputs are artificially generated. For B2B businesses, particularly those with in-house marketing teams, the EU AI Act, its risk-based system and structure, holds significant implications in how AI should, and should not, be used in areas such as content creation. The act will prohibit the use of AI practices that pose higher risk levels, that will be governed at both a European and national level. 

Enforcing this will be the European AI Office, established in February 2024. This office will oversee the enforcement of the AI Act for businesses operating within the European Union and will determine penalties for infractions. Non-compliance is expected to attract fines of up to 7% of global turnover, depending on business size and severity. 

Key actions for B2B marketing teams 

The time is now for B2B businesses to create an AI governance strategy to fully lay out where AI technologies are being used and for what purposes. From here, potential risk areas can be identified ahead of full EU AI Act rollout.  

For some SME businesses, AI tools have been used to create shortform content, such as web pages. However, the EU AI Act is expected to penalise content that is AI-generated – similar to the latest Google Algorithm updates that also seek to tackle the prevalence of AI content and put the focus back on clear, transparent human knowledge. A useful action for B2B brands to take is to audit existing marketing collateral and content to find the definitive origin. 

It’s expected that digital copy and web content that is determined to be AI-generated will be penalised in search algorithms, which makes it considerably less valuable in terms of Search Engine Optimisation. B2B businesses that have used AI tools to create on-page content, social media, blogs or landing pages, would be well advised to replace this with human-generated content, which is where PHD Marketing comes in.  

Elevating brand voice in a changing world with PHD Marketing 

One of the core reasons that successful businesses choose to partner with specialist B2B marketing teams like PHD Marketing is that our experienced team of marketers understands the product and the market and can create compelling content that connects the two.  

As impressive as artificial intelligence systems are it remains a content aggregator rather than a true marketing tool. It can only ever be as good as the data it learns from and cannot replicate the spark of inspiration that a dedicated marketing partner can offer.  

What’s more, AI tools such as ChatGPT or Google Bard tend to create the same style of content regardless of the business using it. This results in vast amounts of business-critical content becoming the same homogenous mass. AI often falls short in capturing the unique voice and essence of individual businesses, which is a missed opportunity in the hyper-competitive B2B world. AI-generated content tends to adhere to a predetermined style and tone, lacking the nuance and authenticity that human writers bring to the table. This is amplified in markets such as print, packaging and technology, where technical expertise and nuance make all the difference. Consequently, B2B businesses risk blending into a sea of indistinguishable content, without a distinct identity in the market.  

At PHD Marketing, we believe that there’s an exciting future ahead for using artificial intelligence in areas such as planning and collating data – but that future doesn’t lie with content and marketing. B2B customer engagement and commercial impact hinges on authenticity. Businesses that are delivering communications in a clear voice, and invest in crafting content with care, attention, and a human touch with partners like us, stand out for their credibility and relevance. 

Looking to stand out in your market? 

Get in touch today – our team of communication and PR specialists helps businesses to retain the essential human touch in an AI-driven world. 

Click here to contact our team.