Another Crazy Day in AI: Better Ads by Prompt
- Wowza Team
- Apr 7
- 4 min read
Hello, AI Enthusiasts.
Welcome to another week! If you thought AI would take a break over the weekend, think again—it’s been busy...
Ethan Mollick shares a study revealing generative AI often surpasses human creativity in marketing tasks. The upcoming paper compares AI-generated visuals to human designs. Who comes out on top?
In healthcare news, an AI-assisted study found that AI-generated diagnoses were rated equal or better than those from physicians. Who knew AI could play doctor too?
And Google’s AI Mode now supports image queries—time to snap and ask your way to knowledge!
Get ready for a rollercoaster week in AI.
Here's another crazy day in AI:
Can a prompt outperform a pro?
Can AI make better first calls in urgent care?
Google AI Mode now answers image-based questions
Some AI tools to try out
TODAY'S FEATURED ITEM: When AI Creates Better Ads
Image Credit: Wowza (created with Ideogram)
Is your next best-performing ad just a prompt away?
That’s the idea behind The Power of Generative Marketing, a forthcoming academic study by Jochen Hartmann, Yannick Exner, and Samuel Domdey, soon to appear in the International Journal of Research in Marketing. The paper explores how generative AI compares with professional human creatives when it comes to producing marketing visuals—and whether it can, in some cases, do even better.
The research team analyzed thousands of images generated using tools like DALL·E 3, Midjourney v6, and Adobe Firefly 2. These AI visuals were tested against professional stock photography and content designed by freelancers. Using controlled experiments, perception studies, and a real-world ad campaign, the researchers measured both the creative quality and the business results.
Wharton professor Ethan Mollick shared the study in a recent post, calling attention to how well generative AI performed. He noted that these tools aren’t just closing the gap with human creators—they’re starting to outperform them in specific tasks. “Generative tools are already producing superhuman performance for many marketing tasks,” he wrote. What’s striking, Mollick added, is that these aren’t projections. This is already happening.
What the study revealed about AI-generated marketing content:
AI visuals scored higher in visual quality, appeal, and how well they fit the creative brief.
In a live campaign involving over 173,000 participants, an image made with DALL·E 3 received up to 50% more clicks than the professional-designed version.
The cost of generating the top-performing image was just $0.04.
Even without knowing which was AI-generated, human judges consistently preferred the synthetic visuals.
The team also released GenImageNet, a new dataset to support further research on generative marketing.
The findings paint a clearer picture of where we are with AI in creative work. In marketing, visuals need to do more than look good—they have to communicate quickly, align with brand identity, and drive results. This study suggests that generative tools are starting to meet, and sometimes exceed, those expectations in controlled settings and real-world campaigns.
Of course, these results don’t mean AI is “replacing” human creativity. What they do suggest is that the creative process itself is evolving. Tools like DALL·E and Midjourney are giving marketers new ways to test, iterate, and experiment—often in a matter of minutes and at a fraction of the cost. For teams stretched thin or looking to scale content quickly, this opens up new possibilities. Still, strategy, storytelling, and brand context remain essential, and human oversight is what gives these tools their impact.
This research is one of the clearest signals yet that generative AI is becoming part of how creative work gets done—not as a gimmick, but as a tool that performs under pressure. As more studies like this emerge, the conversation shifts from if we use AI in creative tasks to how we integrate it meaningfully.
Read Mollick's LinkedIn post here.
Read and download the full paper here.
OTHER INTERESTING AI HIGHLIGHTS:
Can AI Make Better First Calls in Urgent Care?
/Dan Zeltzer, Zehavi Kugler, Lior Hayat, Tamar Brufman, et al. published on Annals of Internal Medicine
In a study of AI-assisted virtual urgent care visits, researchers compared AI-generated diagnoses and treatment recommendations with those of physicians. Surprisingly, AI recommendations were rated of equal or better quality in most cases—especially when it came to identifying critical red flags and adhering to clinical guidelines. While doctors excelled at adapting to evolving information during a consultation, AI held its own in initial decision-making. The results suggest AI could become a powerful decision-support partner in virtual care settings.
Read more here.
Google AI Mode Now Answers Image-Based Questions
/Barry Schwartz on Search Engine Land
Google is rolling out an upgraded AI Mode that now supports multimodal inputs—you can ask questions using images from your camera or uploads. Drawing on its experience with visual search and Google Lens, AI Mode interprets scenes, identifies objects, and understands context to generate richly informed responses. This update expands access to millions more users and hints at a future where search is no longer just typed text, but interactive and visual. Try snapping a photo and asking away.
Read more here.
SOME AI TOOLS TO TRY OUT:
Clockwise – Smart scheduling and calendar automation with AI.
Experiments – Turn personal challenges into loggable, trackable experiments.
Enconvo – Build custom workflows that connect all your favorite tools.
That’s a wrap on today’s Almost Daily craziness.
Catch us almost every day—almost! 😉
EXCITING NEWS:
The Another Crazy Day in AI newsletter is on LinkedIn!!!
Leveraging AI for Enhanced Content: As part of our commitment to exploring new technologies, we used AI to help curate and refine our newsletters. This enriches our content and keeps us at the forefront of digital innovation, ensuring you stay informed with the latest trends and developments.
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