AI Brand Strategy Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds enlists AI-powered ChatGPT in ‘mildly terrifying’ new Mint Mobile ad

By Webb Wright, NY Reporter

January 10, 2023 | 6 min read

You know it’s serious when our ascending algorithm-based overlords learn how to tell a joke in the voice of a major Hollywood actor.

Ryan Reynolds looks both impressed and alarmed after reading a script generated by ChatGPT. / Mint Mobile

Mobile network Mint Mobile has released a new ad featuring brand co-owner Ryan Reynolds reading a script composed by ChatGPT, a generative AI tool that has been making waves across adland. The results, in Reynolds’ own words, are “mildly terrifying, but compelling.”

ChatGPT, a program that uses natural language processing (NLP) to generate text-based dialogue, simulating human conversation, has been making headlines in recent weeks.

It’s being positioned as a tool that could potentially revolutionize (or at least complement) a wide variety of conversation- and text-based tasks, including creating marketing copy, translating one language to another, fielding customer service questions and even participating in therapy.

Launched in late November by OpenAI, many marketers are already excitedly gushing about how the new tech could transform their field and make their jobs easier. Others have concerns that it could rob their industry of some of its creative spark.

As Reynolds explains in the new Mint Mobile ad – which was posted on the brand’s official Twitter, Instagram, Snap and Facebook accounts earlier this morning – he instructed the program to: “Write a commercial for Mint Mobile in the voice of Ryan Reynolds. Use a joke, a curse word, and let people know that Mint’s holiday promo is still going, even after the big wireless companies have ended theirs.”

The script that the AI-powered program produced is definitely worth listening to.

You knew it was just a matter of time until we did this (extend the @MintMobile savings with @OpenAI, that is). pic.twitter.com/uf2jblpG2j
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) January 10, 2023

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Even as the broader economy struggles and some tech companies slash jobs, the emerging generative AI industry has been flourishing. A report from Acumen Research and Consulting, released last month, predicted that the technology will reach a market value of around $110.8bn by 2030.

"ChatGPT shows how far we’ve come with AI in such a short period of time," says Aron North, chief marketing officer at Mint Mobile. "It was intriguing to see similar language to what we use in our spots, but it didn’t quite capture the subtleties of humor - and honestly, I'm a little afraid to ask for a revision."

The new ad from Mint Mobile, a brand known for its playful and experimental marketing, is among the first to be created with the help of ChatGPT – though it almost certainly won’t be the last.

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