Artificial Intelligence is spreading its roots in every sector, and there is no surprise that Advertising Technologies (AdTech) is affected by it. AdTech is still in the infancy stage but is growing as fast as the World Wide Web grew in the past. It is all possible because of online marketing content. AdTech completely revolutionizes the interaction between brands and their audience and advertisers and publishers.
Advertisers, publishers, and marketers are laying the foundation for the development of future online advertising techniques by focusing more on the intersection between big data and customer’s behavior. Data science, analytics, and new technologies are the three main aspects and at the core of any AdTech endeavor.
The rapid shift brought by AdTech has raised concerns regarding data privacy, IT law, and customer security. EU has issued rules and regulations addressing data privacy in the online world. AI will introduce new scenarios entirely change legal and industry standards. AI in AdTech will increase substantially in the future because companies crave more precise predictive analytics, effective online behavioral advertising campaigns, and consumer-centric algorithms.
The practical applications of AI-powered tools are ads positioning, network mediation, and hyper-personalization of online contents. AI cannot create change because it requires proper training, quality information patterns, constant updates, and data processing ethics. GDPR established design and default principles to protect individual’s rights and freedoms in a hyper-connected and machine-dominated world.
It is unclear whether GDPR and the future ePrivacy Regulation are fit enough to keep AI in AdTech. Online advertising is tricky from a data protection point of view. As AI is spreading quickly in the market, it is confident that it is the future of AdTech.
Algorithms that provide personalized content are present while commercial chatbots and virtual online assistants are increasing. Additionally, AI-based real-time bidding on ad networks will soon revamp the re-targeting and re-marketing partnerships. This raises a set of data security problems. AI-powered commercial technologies must be able to guarantee privacy and data minimization.
Privacy enhancing technologies, sound legislative initiatives, and data ethics could solve the problem. However, industry group initiatives and sector-specific standards are also on the rise. The intersection between AI and AdTech will become vital in the future because of global digitalization and a balance between data protection and deep personalization of nowadays’ internet browsing experience.
