Generative AI is the hottest new thing in hundreds of industries at the moment. Marketing is no exception. But is it a marketer’s dream or a curse?

The power of this new technology to generate blog posts, email campaigns, social media captions, and even campaign images can’t be underestimated. But neither can the security risks it presents.

A VPN can help mitigate some of these risks. If you are wondering, ‘what is a VPN and why do I need it?’,  you’ve come to the right place. Let’s take a look at the opportunities and risks of generative AI. Then we’ll see how you can protect your clients and your business.

AI for Business

It’s estimated that businesses spent $235 billion on AI in 2024, and that number is only going up. Meanwhile, big companies like Meta, Google, and X are pouring billions into the technology.

Platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and others are making their way into marketing departments around the world. Because for a marketer, they have a lot of uses.

AI can help you generate marketing content faster and cheaper than ever before. It has the potential to replace entire teams and boost productivity at every level of your organisation. Plus, it allows small marketers to compete with the big names in marketing and advertising.

Here are a few ways it can help:

Content Creation

AI tools can generate content far faster than even the most experienced human. Current AI models can generate in-depth articles, blog posts, social media content, status updates, marketing emails, and just about anything else. They can also generate campaign images and branding. They can even make customised videos using an advanced AI video generator or text to video AI tool.

One or two people can now do what used to require an entire marketing department. A marketer can create personalised experiences for a target audience to increase engagement, faster and cheaper than ever.

Predictive Analytics

AI is fantastic at analysing data. It can identify patterns, segment audiences, and predict customer behaviour. AI can generate propensity and churn scores, forecast demand and lifetime value, and surface emerging micro-segments in near-real-time. With these insights, you can time offers, personalise creative, and allocate budget to the highest-likelihood conversions while reducing wasted spend. This capability lets you target your campaigns more effectively at specific market segments, maximising your impact.

Campaign Optimization

In marketing, you need to stay agile. AI can continuously monitor your campaign performance, observing user interactions and making recommendations to optimise it. It can test creative variants, adjust bids and budgets in real time, and flag underperforming segments before they waste spend.

AI and Security

This probably all sounds great, and in many ways, it is. But in the rush to harness the power of AI, the security risks it poses are often forgotten.

Here’s what you need to consider when using AI as a marketing tool.

Data Security

AI seems human. It’s easy to forget when prompting that you’re dealing with a computer that may not be secure. In fact, there have been many instances when careless prompting caused a security breach. For example, Samsung accidentally released confidential customer information while prompting AI.

Regulatory Compliance

AI systems are often black boxes; their inner workings are opaque even to the people who build them. Even they aren’t always sure how they work.

There have already been cases of AI violating local regulations like GDPR. Using AI could cause you to violate rules you need to follow without even knowing it.

Using AI Safely

The potential security risks don’t mean you have to give up on using AI completely. But they do mean that you should have robust policies for using it.

Here’s how to do that.

Establishing Clear Policies

Anyone who uses AI needs to know its limitations. Specifically, they need to be aware that they should never share confidential information in a prompt. Customer names, financial details, and trade secrets should never be shared with an AI model, because you never know what they will do with them.

Using a VPN

A Virtual Private Network, or VPN, protects your online traffic. It encrypts your data and hides your location even from your internet service provider. It also hides that information from AI.

This is especially useful on public Wi-Fi networks. These days, marketing often takes place outside the office. A VPN helps you stay safe on any network.

A good VPN can also help you avoid phishing sites and other security risks. AI may direct you to compromised sites, and a VPN is your best defence against them.

Balancing Risk and Benefit

It’s easy to see why AI has become so popular. Its ability to enhance productivity and streamline your processes can’t be ignored. Especially for smaller companies, which can get a real boost from this emerging technology.

But as AI becomes a bigger part of all our lives, the security risks it brings also grow.

Following strict internal guidelines, being mindful of what information you include in prompts, and using a top-of-the-line VPN are all great ways to protect yourself. Follow these guidelines, and you’ll be able to use AI safely.