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In case you haven't noticed, there's been an explosion in AI technologies lately. AI developers are scrambling to get a piece of the ever-growing AI pie, racing each other to be the first to bring new innovations to market.

With such tough competition, what are AI developers doing to stand out in this crowded field? And how are they marketing themselves differently?

Power and Capabilities

The obvious way that AI companies try to distinguish themselves is through power and capabilities. If you can design an AI tool that is somehow objectively better than the tools of your competitors, it's going to stand out in dramatic fashion.

Unfortunately, there are a few problems prohibiting companies from taking this route. First, there are already a significant number of AI innovators competing for this title. Even if you have significant expertise and talent in your favor, it's monumentally difficult to design a tool that's truly dominant in the market.

Second, even if you're in a position to create a tool that's more powerful or capable than any other tool on the market, it's probably not going to be long before someone copies you. Your competitors will analyze your approach however they can to get access to the innovative methods you used - and then seek to copy those methods.

Third, it's not always easy to convince the rest of the world that your tool is objectively more capable or more powerful. You might be able to include functional statistics or more bullet points describing how your tool performs, but this isn't always sufficient to persuade your target audience.

Accordingly, most AI developers and innovators do make a positive attempt to make tools that are measurably superior, but this alone is not sufficient to distinguish them in a crowded market.

Niche and Specificity

An alternative way for AI developers to stand out is by developing technologies designed for a specific niche that isn't currently occupied.

There are many AI platforms that are meant to serve general audiences, such as ChatGPT. These types of tools can be used by a large number of people for an almost unimaginable number of applications. But if you wanted to make your AI tool stand out, you might appeal to a very specific target audience, such as younger people, older people, or people with a certain educational background.

Industry

AI developers may also attempt to cater to specific industries. For example, there's a GPT-based product designed specifically for DNA. There are also AI tools designed for experts in certain professions, such as the legal field. Catering to these unique groups has the dual purpose of helping AI technology stand out from competitors and increasing the relevance of that tool for the people who need it. In other words, it both increases market appeal and decreases competition.

Application

Other AI tools are designed with very specific applications in mind. For example, many companies have developed AI assistants as supplemental resources for software platforms that already exist. You might find an AI assistant who can educate and train you on how to use a project management platform, or some other tool you use for your daily professional needs.

Packaging

AI tools can also be packaged and presented in ways that are uniquely appealing. Even if the "guts" of the tool remain relatively unchanged, you can present it slightly differently for different contexts.

Branding and Marketing

Perhaps even more importantly, AI development teams are investing heavily in branding and marketing as strategies to help them stand out. With the help of a fractional CMO, it's possible to get expert marketing advice and leadership in a flexible, scalable capacity. Fractional CMOs work very much like traditional CMOs, but on a flexible contractual basis.

Together with their marketing leaders, AI developers often focus on things like:

Identity

What is the core identity of the product and how is that identity going to be communicated? You may have a very similar AI product to a globally known competitor, but if you can somehow name and showcase your product in a dynamic way, you might be able to stand apart. Adopting a novel, fun, playful brand might help you appeal to a different target audience or simply make your brand more memorable when the two are compared. Additionally, your brand identity is going to function as the heart and soul of your overall marketing efforts, guiding the direction of your messaging.

Messaging

Speaking of messaging, your core messages in marketing and advertising play a heavy role in how people perceive your AI product, even if your product is functionally identical to one that's already on the market. It's a bit ironic, considering AI itself can be used to create advertising. What's important is that you have something original and relevant to say to a properly identified audience that you understand. There are many ways to persuade that audience, but successful AI companies distinguish themselves by finding a unique path forward.

Channels

Similarly, AI developers can distinguish their products by marketing them on different types of channels. There are countless prominent digital marketing channels, including SEO, PPC advertising, and dozens of different social media platforms. There are no right or wrong channels for your specific marketing strategy, but if you're going to stand out, you'll need the help of the right channels to do it.

Budget

In the world of marketing, you can always get more visibility as long as you're willing to pay for it. That said, novel products can gain considerable ground by making more effective use of free and inexpensive options. If you can't spend the money, at least be prepared to spend the time to find them.

The AI Plateau

It's worth noting that some experts speculate that we've hit a bit of an AI plateau. In other words, AI advancements are temporarily stagnating, evening out after a few years of explosive and unpredictable growth.

One critical limiting factor is the limitation of available data. For an AI system to be effective, it needs ample data for training purposes. But when mainstream sources of data have already been fully tapped and exploited, there's nowhere else to go.

Dependency on Prompts

Many of today's best AI tools are entirely dependent on the quality of the prompts that they're fed. If human users aren't sure how to ask the right questions or frame their prompts in the right way, they won't get the results they want. The next generation of AI will need to address this in some way, making it easier to get good results.

Hallucinations and Inaccuracies

There's no question that AI can be accurate in the right contexts. However, many AI platforms are currently struggling with hallucinations and other types of inaccuracies. Although there have been some advancements in this area, they have been very slow and very iterative, leaving the problem functionally untouched in the eyes of many users.

Recursive Learning

Generative AI has flooded the internet with mediocre content, which other AI platforms are now consuming as part of their training data. This recursive learning model has introduced a "snake eating its own tail" type problem, leading to the reinforcement of existing issues in AI.

Needless to say, the plateau is making it harder for even the best AI platforms to stand out.

What's Next for AI?

So what's next for the world of AI technologies and the developers trying to distinguish themselves in this field?

It's hard to say for sure, but plateaus and technology development almost always are temporary. In the near future, we'll likely see another, unique explosion in AI technologies - but we'll probably see the same strategies used by AI developers to stand out from the crowd when that happens.