Ethics and AI in marketing

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape the marketing landscape, CMOs at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face a critical challenge: how to harness the power of generative AI for greater efficiency and creativity, without compromising on ethics, accuracy, or data security.

In recent conversations with clients and prospects, a few consistent concerns popped up around the use of AI in marketing:

• Is it safe to input company data into AI tools?

• Can we trust the accuracy of AI-generated output?

• How do we ensure we’re not plagiarizing work?

These are valid questions. And every responsible marketer should be asking them. Here’s our 2 cents on navigating these concerns and using generative AI responsibly and effectively.

Free Report: the crisis of disconnection

Protect your data

Many marketers and entrepreneurs we spoke with worry about leaking proprietary information or customer data when using AI platforms. With new AI tools emerging every day, it’s really hard to know what platforms you can or can’t use if you want to keep your data safe. And we know for a fact that in many companies, many colleagues use AI without management’s approval or knowledge. That is an excellent recipe for a data disaster.

So consider this approach:

• Use secure, enterprise-level tools that explicitly offer data privacy guarantees. Not all AI tools treat your data the same. Read their terms.

• Avoid inputting sensitive information (e.g., financials, strategy decks, customer lists) unless you’re working with a private, company-owned AI instance or a tool that meets your industry’s data compliance standards.

• Educate your team on what types of data are appropriate to use when prompting AI tools.

Whatever AI tools you choose, set up internal AI usage policies and approval workflows for marketing teams to ensure consistency and safety. By having these policies and workflows, you can avoid data issues down the road.

Don't rely on AI for accuracy (yet)

AI can produce authoritative-sounding output at lightning speed. Also, when it’s factually incorrect. And it’s tempting to just copy and paste the output wherever you are going to use it. But doing so may cause more harm than you think: many people we talked to report inaccuracies that can have a big impact.

So don’t just absorb your AI’s output and do this instead:

• Always fact-check AI-generated content, especially when referencing data, trends, or regulations.

• Use AI for ideation, drafting, or rephrasing, but not as a final authority.

• If you’re writing thought leadership, layer AI output with your unique insights and lived experience. Your personal experience is what sets your content apart.

When using AI for content marketing, assign a human reviewer to any AI-generated content that will go live on your owned channels. Whatever gets posted on your channels, you are responsible for it, so don’t take it lightly.

Use AI to help you create, not to copy

If you use AI for content creation often, you already know: the output can sound repetitive, like it copied and pasted something from before. And you know what? That’s because it DID copy stuff. We tried it for a large series of blog posts, and quickly we noticed specific patterns in the output. Using AI for content creation is fine, but beware that if you take the lazy approach, you might not be creating, but copying someone else’s work.

So, put some thought and effort into your AI content generation approach:

• Use AI to build original content: don’t ask it to mimic or reproduce someone else’s article. Ask it to create something new.

• Run your content through plagiarism detection tools (many SEO tools offer this) before publishing.

• AI can help you develop structure, tone, and first drafts. But your tone of voice, expertise, and values should shape your final message.

When using AI-generated text or imagery, treat it the same way you would any third-party asset: make sure you have the rights and that it meets your brand standards. And again: check the output with a magnifying glass and make sure your content is original and meets your organization’s standards.

Lead with transparency

Your audience doesn’t need to know who or what created your latest blog post. Besides, these days, people will assume AI was involved anyway. But your internal teams and stakeholders do need to know when AI is involved. Ethical AI usage starts with being clear about its role in your processes.

If you’re using AI for customer-facing communication (like chatbots or email responses), let users know when they’re interacting with AI, and always offer a path to a human. A lot of frustration from your users has to do with not being able to reach anyone anymore. We all know companies that avoid all direct interaction by sending everyone to standard forms for everything. So yes, use AI, but be human too. And be clear about it.

Use AI to empower, not replace creativity

AI doesn’t replace marketers. Marketers who use AI replace marketers who don’t. AI  amplifies them. It is the same thing with marketing automation: use it to be more productive, not to replace creativity. We believe that the best results come when human creativity and strategic thinking work in tandem with AI’s speed and scale.

Think of generative AI as:

• A brainstorming partner for content ideation

• A helpful assistant for repurposing content across platforms

• A productivity booster for drafting emails, social posts, and reports

But the heart of your marketing, the strategy, empathy, creativity, and vision, should always come from your team. Also in times of AI.

Final thoughts

Using AI ethically for marketing isn’t about limiting your team. It’s about protecting your brand, respecting your audience, and building trust. As a CMO, you set the tone, not the AI platform you are using. You should also make sure your organization has a good understanding of the European AI Act. 

By implementing smart, ethical practices today, you empower your team to use AI not just efficiently, but responsibly. That’s when it becomes more than just a gimmick: it becomes a real ally in your efforts to grow your business.