The Data Says Your AI Hot Take Is Wrong

The one thing you need to know in AI today | AI Ready CMO

The advertising industry has been pretty clear on AI-generated ads: they’re soulless, they’re slop, they lack the ineffable craft that separates real creativity from machine output.

There’s just one problem with this consensus. It appears to be wrong.

New research from System1 and Jellyfish tested 18 AI-assisted video ads against their database of 123,000 traditionally produced spots. The AI ads averaged 3.4 stars on emotional impact versus 2.3 for the traditional baseline—a 48% improvement. Coca-Cola’s AI holiday ad, the one that sent marketing Twitter into collective meltdown over authenticity and “the death of craft,” scored a perfect 5.9 out of 5.9.

Consumers loved it. The industry hated it. Someone is out of touch here, and the data suggests it isn’t consumers.

Yes, the sample is small. Yes, seven of the 18 ads came from companies with skin in the AI game. But dismissing the signal because you don’t like what it says is exactly how industries die. Ask the Swiss. In the 1970s, Japanes…