How many of you have been using ChatGPT in your work? Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is the hottest buzzword in the world right now, and for good reasons. Machine Learning, or ML, and AI have been around for a long time, but with the release of ChatGPT and other large language machine learning models, the uses for AI have increased exponentially. AI has been built into almost every software platform we use, but generative AI is changing what was once a predictive model to this new language model, with use cases that promise to increase productivity and ROI. We recently held our second LinkedIn Live on Artificial Intelligence, named The AI-Driven Channel.

We’re definitely using things like ChatGPT and large language models like that to support things like content creation, partner segmentation, partner analytics, and even some predictive modeling for things like lead gen. And we’re arming our salespeople with better insights into opportunities that they and our partners may have, which is where it gets really interesting. – Jeff Taylor, WW Channel Marketing Leader, Lenovo

Generative AI models like ChatGPT use neural networks to identify the patterns and structures within existing data to generate new and original content. The advantage of these new systems is their ability to understand language and modify it to the parameters given in the query.

We enable partners with our ChannelGTP the simple steps to take this email, take this campaign, take this social content, and personalize it to their target market, incorporating their message into that, to add their value proposition. Some partners want to take the branding out of the campaign initially and make it a solution-based campaign instead of a product-based campaign. – Daniel Nissan, Founder & CEO, StructuredWeb

The possibilities for the future of channel management are great. Much of our discussion centered around ideas for how to improve PRM by adding AI functionality for faster results and better ROI. One example was improving deal registration:

The frustration that I hear from partners around Deal Reg usually centers around time: taking too long to get the deal approved. And there’s a human element attached to that process. At the end of the process today, somebody must approve or decline the request for deal protection. What changes with AI is time. Instead of days, or in some cases weeks, it could be minutes or seconds for the approval. And assuming the data sets are where they need to be, you can eliminate or greatly reduce the need for human approval. In an AI-driven process, everything is data-driven. – Jeff Taylor

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But everything is not perfect with AI: there is the element of accuracy and trust. These new platforms are built on data sets and are not search engines. Humans must still be involved to check the accuracy and ensure privacy and data protection for partners and customers.

The other important aspect is the security and the privacy of customer data, what data could be pushed out or not pushed out, and validating what works well must be first. You need to be sure you’re not revealing too much of your client data out there by also having the guardrails. We don’t want people accidentally exposing some of the customer data into the data that’s kept. So, tightening up the prompts you can ask the system, and having those guardrails, making that available to the partners, that’s the key. – Harbinder Khera, CEO & Founder, Mindmatrix

I believe that the human element is critical to all business interactions, and trust is the key element in partnerships of all kinds, which is why we built the Partnering Quotient Index (PQi®). PQi® is the first-of-its-kind, scientifically verified psychometric assessment that measures how and how well we build trust, the foundation of all partnerships.

The last piece around trust is these AI tools are pretty cool, and I know we’ve all played with them, but there’s a human element that’s missing. There’s no emotion, there’s no contextual framework around these models yet. And so, it’s not prudent for anybody to go out and take content that’s generated out of this technology without layering in some human elements to it.  This isn’t replacing people. The machines can’t replace the manner in which we build relationships and communicate with the people we want to communicate to. – Jeff Taylor

We all have a great opportunity to benefit from AI and to shape the way AI is used to improve both our work and personal lives. We must also make sure that we check the accuracy of the output we get from AI and put protection around private partner and customer data. And we must never forget the value of personal communication in our partnerships.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on AI and how you see it working in your role and with your partners.