Artificial intelligence in the context of digital marketing communication

Copyright Office Head Fired After Reporting AI Training Isn't Always Fair Use

Also among those "general observations," the Copyright Office wrote that "making commercial use of vast troves of copyrighted works to produce expressive content that competes with them in existing markets, especially where this is accomplished through illegal access, goes beyond established fair use boundaries."

The report seemed to suggest that courts and the Copyright Office may also be aligned on AI firms' use of pirated or illegally accessed paywalled content for AI training.

Judge Chhabria only considered Meta's torrenting in the book authors' case to be "kind of messed up," prioritizing the fair use question, and the Copyright Office similarly only recommended that "the knowing use of a dataset that consists of pirated or illegally accessed works should weigh against fair use without being determinative."

However, torrenting should be a black mark, the Copyright Office suggested. "Gaining unlawful access" does bear "on the character of the use," the office noted, arguing that "training on pirated or illegally accessed material goes a step further" than simply using copyrighted works "despite the owners' denial of permission." Perhaps if authors can prove that AI models trained on pirated works led to lost sales, the office suggested that a fair use defense might not fly.

"The use of pirated collections of copyrighted works to build a training library, or the distribution of such a library to the public, would harm the market for access to those Works," the office wrote. "And where training enables a model to output verbatim or substantially similar copies of the works trained on, and those copies are readily accessible by end users, they can substitute for sales of those works."

Likely frustrating Meta—which is currently fighting to keep leeching evidence out of the book authors' case—the Copyright Office suggested that "the copying of expressive works from pirate sources in order to generate unrestricted content that competes in the marketplace, when licensing is reasonably available, is unlikely to qualify as fair use."

How To Make The Most Of AI: 19 Low-Cost Solutions For Smaller Agencies

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AI isn't a game-changer only for big corporations; its impact is being felt in organizations of all sizes, in all industries and around the world. While smaller creative agencies may lack the deep pockets of larger firms, they are often quite resourceful and agile, having learned to turn ideas into action and move quickly to survive among their bigger competitors. By leveraging affordable AI tools to work smarter and faster and create better content, it is possible for lean agency teams to outperform large legacy agencies that may be bogged down by their sheer size.

With the right AI strategies, a smaller agency can hold its own among big competitors, securing more business and a strong reputation along the way. Here, 19 members of Forbes Agency Council share effective ways to harness the power of AI to fuel success at a small or medium-sized agency without hiring more people or blowing up the budget.

1. Reverse The AI Workflow To Amplify Human Creativity

Utilizing AI to shortcut content creation commoditizes that offering, diminishing the actual value that experts provide. Reverse the process: Use talented people to generate the idea and first draft, and then layer in AI to polish it up, handle the mechanics of finding research and data and do other tasks that would be time-consuming for a human storyteller—but which add to the content in a symbiotic way. - Josh Yudin, The Academy of Marketing

2. Use Creative AI Tools To Scale Production And Increase Agility

Smaller agencies are able to pivot quickly, driving efficiency through studio and creative AI tools like Runway ML or Adobe Sensei to streamline video editing, automate design enhancements and optimize creative assets. AI-driven motion graphics and automated asset production and content creation allow smaller agencies to compete with larger shops and manage programs with greater scale. - David Brown, Mindshape

3. Apply AI To Fill Research Gaps Big Firms Cover With Headcount

AI solves scaling issues, not talent issues. Large PR and marketing firms have entire teams dedicated to research and analysis, while smaller firms must rely on professionals wearing many different hats. AI can be transformative in providing the ability to research and analyze public data in seconds, which agency teams can then leverage for insights and context critical to informing effective strategy. - Thomas Faust, Stanton

4. Build A Custom GPT To Scale Your Expertise

Build a custom GPT using your own or your clients' proprietary data—including proposals, reports, transcripts and brand strategy. It becomes an internal AI assistant that drafts, summarizes and tailors outputs in your voice. It's a practical, low-cost way to scale expertise and deliver smarter, faster work. - Abigail Stuart, Day One Strategy

Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?

5. Use Off-The-Shelf AI Tools To Expand Creative Bandwidth

Small agencies can benefit from leveraging off-the-shelf AI solutions to optimize workflow. By speeding up processes like localization or content reviews, they can free up time to create strategies, embrace trends or deliver impactful messages. Expanding creative bandwidth is key to outpacing larger competitors and staying top of mind in a crowded market. - Nataliya Andreychuk, Viseven

6. Automate Social Media Management To Extend Your Reach

AI-driven social media management is a cost-effective solution. Tools can help automate content repurposing and scheduling and optimizing post times for peak engagement. This maximizes reach with existing content, saving labor costs, allowing smaller agencies to compete with larger competitors, and leveling the playing field without significant financial investment. - Frank Rojas, Miami SEM

7. Upskill To Maximize GenAI Integrations You're Already Paying For

Don't chase new tools—invest in upskilling your teams' use of GenAI add-ons like Gemini or Microsoft Copilot (you're probably already paying for them). This human-centered approach turns everyday tools into force multipliers across content, strategy and operations. - Jennifer Friese, Protiviti

8. Optimize Media Placement With AI For Better ROI

The best solution for smaller agencies to compete with larger players is to leverage AI media placement optimization, which will allow brands to place their creative content in the channels that work best at any given moment. Combined with an engaging landing experience and an effective newsletter routine, this approach ensures that media investments achieve the highest ROI possible. - Oksana Matviichuk, OM Strategic Forecasting

9. Use A Low-Code AI Platform To Automate Routine Content Tasks

A practical, cost-effective solution for smaller agencies is to use a low-code AI platform that streamlines routine content tasks. It automates research and draft creation, cutting manual work while boosting output quality. This approach empowers small teams to develop agile campaigns and repurpose assets efficiently, leveling the competitive field. - Vaibhav Kakkar, Digital Web Solutions

10. Boost SEO And Customer Service With Affordable AI Tools

Smaller agencies can leverage AI-powered SEO tools like Surfer or Clearscope to optimize content efficiently without a big budget. These tools analyze competitors, suggest keywords and improve rankings, helping agencies compete with larger firms. Additionally, AI-driven chatbots can enhance customer support, automating responses and improving engagement without requiring a large team. - Ajay Prasad, GMR Web Team

11. Tap Into AI Analytics Tools To Drive Smarter Decisions

A practical, cost-effective AI solution for smaller agencies is utilizing AI-driven analytics tools, such as Google Analytics or Semrush, to gain deep insights into audience behavior and campaign performance. These tools help agencies with strategies without the hefty price tag of a dedicated data team, allowing them to compete with larger competitors by making data-driven decisions more efficiently. - Robert Nikic, Why Unified

12. Reverse-Engineer Competitors' Strategies Using AI

Use AI to reverse-engineer your competitors' wins. Tools like ChatGPT with browsing can scan a competitor's backlinks, ad copy, press coverage and content changes, then summarize what's working for them. Feed that into a GPT-powered action plan generator tailored to your service niche. Instead of chasing trends, you'll be decoding real strategies and adapting them faster than bigger firms with lots of red tape. - Dmitrii Kustov, Regex SEO

13. Build Your Own AI Agents To Automate Repetitive Knowledge Work

If you learn to build your own AI agents, you can automate repetitive tasks easily. For example, my team has built an agent to assist with marketplace analysis, taking an eight-hour research task and turning it into a one-hour collaborative task—the AI-generated data now fuels a conversation, leading to more people's input and more creativity. - Lauren Crystal, Your Creative Agency

14. Leverage Agile AI Experimentation To Maximize Efficiency

Big agencies suffer from "big project syndrome." By making AI adoption into a big project, they will slow the process. Small agencies need to take advantage of their inherent agility and use a "test and learn" approach where they conduct many short experiments with AI. By doing this, smaller agencies will be able to quickly extract value from AI, while larger competitors might take months. - Mike Maynard, Napier Partnership Limited

15. Utilize AI Design Tools To Enhance Visual Content Creation

AI design tools are a huge time-saver for small teams. They handle tasks like resizing images, removing backgrounds and generating polished graphics for social, ads or thumbnails quickly. Some even suggest design tweaks or create visuals from scratch, letting you produce amazing content fast without needing a full design team. I can't tell you how many times I have used AI to make graphics pop. - Jason Hall, FiveChannels Marketing

16. Scale Personalization And Analytics With AI Integrations

We've always considered our agency to be small but mighty compared to the big agency holding companies. We level the playing field with tools like ChatGPT to dramatically scale time-consuming tasks such as personalization for massive email acquisition campaigns. We also use AI-driven analytics for digital content engagement and AI for dynamic messaging adjustments for specific audience segments. - Paula Chiocchi, Outward Media, Inc.

17. Take Advantage Of Free AI Trials To Minimize Costs

Most AI platforms offer free or introductory versions, giving users the opportunity to explore features and functionality before committing to a paid plan. Taking advantage of these trials allows you to test multiple tools and identify which platforms best align with your specific needs—whether it's content creation, data analysis, automation or customer engagement. - Jessica Hawthorne-Castro, Hawthorne Advertising

18. Develop In-House GPTs For Each Client's Needs

Create in-house GPTs to streamline meeting the content, messaging and creative needs for each of your clients' brands. Smaller agencies can create a library of task-specific GPTs to help speed up repetitive tasks like pinpointing scaling opportunities, creating case studies, optimizing YouTube descriptions and more. Your biggest investment will be the (minimal) time required to create and share your GPTs. - Bernard May, National Positions

19. Use AI To Draft First-Pass Copy And Save Time

Smaller agencies can get major lift just by using AI to draft first-pass copy. Whether it's emails, ads or briefs, starting from a solid AI draft saves hours. Then, it's all about adding the human touch—voice, nuance and edge. It's not flashy, but it's a timesaver that lets small teams punch way above their weight. - Justin Belmont, Prose

AI Chatbot Examples: 8 Ways Businesses Are Using AI In 2025

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