What Businesses Can Learn from ColdFusion’s “AI Bubble” Episode
The buzz around AI for business marketing is growing fast — but is your strategy keeping up? Everyone’s talking about how it can save time, automate workflows, and cut costs but it’s not that simple. AI isn’t a magic fix, and when it’s used without a clear plan, it can create more problems than it solves.
I’ve seen this firsthand with many of my clients. They’re using AI to streamline their businesses — from brainstorming ideas to creating content and marketing materials. It’s helping them think faster and explore new directions, but the execution often falls short. That’s not their fault — AI is still a developing tool. It’s powerful, but it has real limitations.
This moment feels a lot like the early days of the internet. Everyone rushed to get online, but not everyone knew how to make it work. There were exciting successes and plenty of early missteps. The same thing is happening with AI — a wave of enthusiasm mixed with trial and error.
A recent ColdFusion episode, “The AI Bubble: Why Most Companies Are Failing With Artificial Intelligence,” highlights how even big brands are struggling to use AI effectively. It’s a reminder of what I’ve seen time and again with businesses: AI can absolutely enhance your business — but only if you understand its limits and apply it with purpose.
The Promise: AI Can Streamline, Create, and Inspire
When it comes to marketing and design, AI can be a fantastic creative partner. It helps spark ideas, generate first drafts, and simplify repetitive work so your team can focus on the big picture.
Where AI genuinely helps:
- Brainstorming campaign ideas or headlines
- Drafting marketing emails and blog outlines
- Creating variations of design concepts
- Analyzing trends and customer feedback
- Managing social media captions or schedules
Used wisely, these tools can make your process faster and more consistent. They’re great for getting unstuck creatively — but not for replacing strategy or design intuition.
Even global brands are learning this lesson. ColdFusion cites Taco Bell’s 2023 rollout of AI drive-thru ordering. It was meant to improve speed and accuracy. Instead, it introduced chaos — wrong orders, bizarre substitutions, and frustrated customers.
“Sometimes it lets me down, but sometimes it really surprises me.”
— Dne Matthews, Taco Bell CTO
AI can assist with content creation, but like drive-thru ordering, it still needs human oversight. Automation without context doesn’t understand your brand’s tone, audience, or intent. It just guesses — and guessing can be costly.
The Reality: 95% of Businesses Don’t See ROI
According to ColdFusion’s summary of a recent MIT study, only 5% of companies using AI actually see measurable profit. That means most are still struggling to make it work.
I’ve noticed the same in the marketing world. Many businesses adopt AI tools hoping to cut creative costs — then realize they’re spending more time editing than creating. The technology can suggest, but it rarely finishes.
“AI tools churn out ‘workslop’ for many US employees, but ‘the buck’ should stop with the boss.”
— Gene Marks, The Guardian
“Workslop” — that’s the new term for low-quality AI content. It looks polished but lacks depth, originality, or accuracy. I see this often when companies rely too heavily on AI-generated blog posts, social captions, or ad copy. It all starts to sound the same — and that sameness kills brand trust.
Marks makes an important point: poor AI results aren’t the tool’s fault — they’re a leadership issue. If teams aren’t trained to edit and refine AI’s output, the results will never rise above average.
AI doesn’t replace creativity; it expands it. But you still need a creative mind — and a marketing strategy — behind the keyboard.
The Hidden Danger: When AI Gets It Wrong
AI can sound confident while being completely wrong.
That’s the problem researchers call “hallucination.”
“By determining the relevance of each word and predicting the next, it just makes up stuff. Essentially, it doesn’t know what it’s saying.”
— ColdFusion
When you’re using AI to write product descriptions, social media posts, or ad copy, this can mean subtle errors — wrong facts, mismatched tone, or even off-brand phrasing that confuses your audience.
And those small errors matter. Imagine an AI writing a client testimonial or designing a banner with the wrong logo color. It’s not just a mistake — it’s a reflection of your brand.
For marketing and design teams, AI hallucinations translate into rework — proofing, fact-checking, rewriting. The time you thought you saved often goes right back into editing.
A Case Study in Overpromising: Builder.ai
One of the clearest examples of AI gone wrong comes from Builder.ai, a startup that promised an AI assistant capable of building apps from scratch.
In reality, much of the work was done by 700 human engineers in India — while the company marketed it as fully automated.
When that story broke, trust collapsed, investors pulled back, and Builder.ai went bankrupt.
The lesson for businesses using AI in marketing? Don’t oversell automation.
AI might help you brainstorm, organize, or create drafts — but if you claim it’s doing the work of your creative team, clients and customers will see through it.
Honesty about how AI fits into your process doesn’t weaken your credibility — it strengthens it.
The Human Factor: Why Replacing Creatives Backfires
AI can mimic tone and style, but it doesn’t understand emotion, culture, or nuance.
That’s what makes human creativity irreplaceable.
“Companies cutting people today in the name of AI will be the ones playing catch-up tomorrow.”
— Fortune (via ColdFusion)
A human designer can feel when something’s off. A human writer can hear the rhythm of a brand’s voice. AI can’t.
That’s why the smartest businesses aren’t replacing their marketers or designers — they’re augmenting them. AI becomes the assistant, not the decision-maker.
The best creative outcomes still come from collaboration — people shaping, refining, and guiding what the tool produces.
What Success Actually Looks Like
ColdFusion highlights that startups succeeding with AI are those that pick one clear goal and execute it well.
For marketing, that means using AI to enhance one stage of your creative process, not every stage.
Maybe that’s keyword research, first-draft writing, or resizing design assets — not strategy, brand voice, or client messaging.
A focused, intentional approach delivers results.
The MIT study backs this up:
- Working with specialized AI partners succeeds 67% of the time.
- DIY, build-it-yourself approaches succeed only one-third as often.
That difference reflects experience. And that’s where consultants like me come in — to help businesses test AI safely, apply it thoughtfully, and ensure it strengthens your message, not dilutes it.
The Bubble Warning
ColdFusion compares today’s AI boom to the dot-com era — when everyone rushed online without clear goals.
Back then, a website was enough to look modern. Today, it’s “we use AI.”
“Consumer generative AI will revolutionize productivity eventually, but for now, it’s possibly in a bubble.”
— ColdFusion
This wave of hype will settle, just like the internet did. The companies that succeed will be the ones that take a measured, strategic approach — building real value, not just joining a trend.
The Takeaway: AI Should Support Your Creativity — Not Replace It
AI is transforming marketing and design, but it’s still a tool — not a thinker. It can help you write faster, draft smarter, and design quicker, but the strategy, tone, and vision still come from you.
If you’re using AI without a plan, it’s easy to lose your voice in the noise. But with the right guidance, it can amplify what you already do best.
Let’s Talk About AI That Actually Works
If you’re curious about using AI in your marketing or design process — but want to keep it authentic, creative, and aligned with your brand — let’s talk.
I help businesses use AI strategically, so it speeds up workflows without flattening your voice. Together, we’ll figure out where it fits, what to avoid, and how to make it work for you — not against you.
Reach out to Sevens Creative Web & Print
Serving businesses across the Golden Horseshoe and beyond.
Let’s build smarter content — with the human touch that makes it yours.
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