Dear Google, You got it wrong. I love the Olympics. I’ve been watching it nonstop on the Peacock app. But far too frequently, I’ve had to suffer through your “Dear Sydney” commercial. Every time I see it, it makes my heart hurt. I’m sure your marketing folks thought it would be a brilliant example of your Artificial Intelligence technologies. But it has failed. As a donor relations professional, it makes me nauseous. What was supposed to be an inspirational story about a dad and daughter has turned into a huge lesson about what not to do in advertising. Apparently, I’m not the only one who was more than miffed by the advertisement. There are many new articles panning it and one look on ‘X’ will tell you all about the backlash. You even turned off the comments section on YouTube! Here's what I found wrong as well as how it applies to donor relations. Ever since AI became mainstreamed, I’ve heard all about how it can replace the sometimes more mundane fundraising tasks—such as emails to donors and thank you letters. And folks, I’m here to tell you it cannot. Nor should it! Part of our profession is practicing the act of gratitude, not just replacing tasks. This same thing is what’s wrong with the commercial, it suggests that instead of the young person physically sitting down with her dad and writing a letter, she should just let AI do that for her. Ugh. Yeah, no. It suggests that using a simply worded prompt is better than using the girl’s own feelings. The fact that this is compounded by suggesting that this black family is unable to do it themselves is even worse. Imagine having our donors feel the same way. Imagine our donors receiving an artificially generated, supposed sentiment of emotion in the place of true heartfelt gratitude. I say “no thanks” to that. Let’s teach our fundraising professionals how and why gratitude is an important sentiment, and not something to be farmed out to AI. This ire I feel was personified in this commercial – it’s clear that Google’s marketing department doesn’t grasp how people really feel about AI. The goal is for AI to help us enhance and grow our skills, not replace them altogether. For my fellow donor relations professionals, remember this the next time you see a post from a vendor that says they just ran a 100% AI fundraising campaign. They’re missing the point. Fundraising isn’t just a series of tasks, it’s about human relationships and emotion. Make sure you, your fundraising, and your marketing team understand this when you’re working on your next communication to donors. AI can enhance, but it should not replace our work. And to Google, I hope you’ve learned the same lesson from all this backlash: AI can enhance, but it should not eliminate our ability to uniquely express ourselves. Cheers, Lynne https://lnkd.in/gYHjs3Pq
Google + Team USA — Dear Sydney
https://www.youtube.com/
I won’t pretend to grasp all the possibilities and options, but I do get concerned at the notion of pushing private donor data into AI tools. Not seeing a lot of guidance/policy from institutions/orgs, it would not shock me if individuals are feeding this data into tools not realizing the open nature and data sharing happening with AI.
Fully agree. Goodness, AI can never replace human connections, and especially not child-like wonder and gratitude.
Positioning anything "artificial" alongside an act of gratitude by definition undermines what thanking anyone is all about!
AI should only improve the human experience, not replace it. Connection and emotion is what we all need and that cannot be replicated.
A short misspelled love letter from a kid is just what we all need! ❤️ No improvement necessary!
"Part of our profession is practicing the act of gratitude, not just replacing tasks." Thank you for putting words to something I have been feeling. Practicing gratitude is one of the aspects I love about my job, I don't want AI to take that away!
I sure wish I could heart this post a million times.
Agree 💯
Engagement Strategist
4moI just sent off 25 pages of insurance claim forms by mail because the first two faxes did not go through. Faxes! Because they don’t have a way to process claims online. In 2024. This small task has eaten up hours and hours of my life. THAT is where I want AI to step in, not for things like heartfelt letters from one human heart to another. The fact that Google and their ad firm thought that commercial was a good idea is disturbing!