Yaniv Makover of Anyword: How AI Is Disrupting Our Industry, and What We Can Do About It

An Interview With Cynthia Corsetti

Take a Verticalized approach — Verticalized AI is much easier to adapt and time to market is much faster; there isn’t all of this customization in the back end. Rather than being loyal to just one AI platform, enterprises should incorporate as many AI tools as necessary into their tech stacks.

Artificial Intelligence is no longer the future; it is the present. It’s reshaping landscapes, altering industries, and transforming the way we live and work. With its rapid advancement, AI is causing disruption — for better or worse — in every field imaginable. While it promises efficiency and growth, it also brings challenges and uncertainties that professionals and businesses must navigate. What can one do to pivot if AI is disrupting their industry? As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Yaniv Makover.

Yaniv Makover is the CEO and Co-Founder of Anyword, an AI writing platform for enterprise marketing teams. Before Anyword Yaniv led technical teams at tech companies like Siklu Communications and Nokia. Yaniv has a MSc in computer science and information systems engineering from Ben-Gurion University in Israel.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

My career journey started at a very young age when I began playing around with coding. I was always fascinated by the potential of technology, especially in the realm of artificial intelligence. One of the earliest and most captivating areas for me was chatbots. Back then, they weren’t nearly as advanced as the LLMs we have today, but the idea of creating something that could understand and generate human language was like magic to me.

I was deeply interested in words and communication, and the concept of teaching a machine to interact through language was thrilling. It was incredible to see even the simplest chatbots attempt to mimic human conversation, despite their limitations. This early fascination with language and technology set the foundation for my career path. Over time, as technology advanced, my passion for AI and language models only grew. I was drawn to the endless possibilities of what could be achieved when combining the two, and it motivated me to pursue a career where I could explore and innovate in this space.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

What sets Anyword apart is our deep-rooted understanding of how performance data can transform content delivery and advertising. Our story begins with Keywee, a platform born out of my fascination with Facebook and its vast data ecosystem. I was intrigued by how Facebook fundamentally changed the way content was discovered and consumed. Instead of people seeking out content in a traditional newspaper, it was now finding them in their social media feeds. This shift was profound.

My background in LLMs sparked an interest in exploring how this change impacted the publishing industry. Keywee became a precursor to what would later evolve into Anyword. We spent two years developing an LLM that was significantly more intelligent and capable of understanding and generating human-like text.

One particular story that highlights our distinctive edge involves the immediate feedback loop in the advertising world. When we applied our technology to ad copy, the results were almost instantaneous. We could see right away if our technology was making a difference. This real-time validation of our technology’s effectiveness not only demonstrated our expertise but also reinforced our commitment to delivering tangible results.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Collaboration — One of the most important traits for a technical founder is the ability to build and plan projects with a team. During the development of Keywee, I realized the necessity of collaborating effectively with several teams across functions to bring an idea to fruition.

2. Innovation — Innovation has always been at the heart of our journey. With Keywee, we were constantly trying to figure out how to communicate more effectively with our audience. This pursuit of the “right way” to convey messages inspired the creation of Anyword. We built a feature in Keywee that analyzed different writing styles and determined which would resonate best with readers. Running a test, we found that this feature consistently outperformed traditional human-written content. This innovative approach laid the foundation for Anyword, enabling us to provide more effective communication tools for our clients.

3. Objectivity — Understanding and mitigating human bias has been a key trait that helps us succeed. Humans often have biases in determining what content will work best. We discovered that while you can create countless variations of posts, it ultimately comes down to choosing the right one to publish. Instead of relying on subjective judgment, we developed technology that could predict the best-performing post from the outset. This objective approach allows us to deliver more accurate and effective content, ensuring our clients achieve better results from the beginning.

Which specific AI technology has had the most significant impact on your industry?

It’s not the fanciest answer but ChatGPT has easily had the most significant impact in the marketing world. ChatGPT has introduced many to AI for the first time and made AI tangible and openly available to the general public.

Can you share a pivotal moment when you recognized the profound impact AI would have on your sector?

In 2019, I prompted an early fine-tuned LLM to write an ad for Toyota. The model’s response was “F*** Mazda, try Toyota.” The answer was unusable and rude, but the model had context and truly understood and generated human language. With refinement, AI could actually change marketing by producing contextually relevant and engaging content.

What skills do you believe will be most valuable in an AI-enhanced future?

1. Data Literacy — Understanding data is crucial. As AI relies heavily on data to function, being able to interpret, analyze, and draw insights from data will be a foundational skill.

2. Critical Thinking — While AI can handle many tasks, the ability to think critically and solve complex problems will remain uniquely human. Identifying the right problems and creatively leveraging AI to solve them will be crucial.

3. Adaptability — The pace of AI development is rapid, and staying relevant requires a commitment to continuous learning and adaptability. As AI evolves, new tools and techniques will emerge. Embracing a growth mindset and being open to learning new skills and platforms will be essential.

What are your “Five Things You Need To Do, If AI Is Disrupting Your Industry”?

1. Embrace the Change — There has obviously been a lot of hesitation about AI across industries, as people fear that it might replace their jobs. In my opinion, by embracing the change and getting educated on how AI can enhance roles, people will find a significant boost in productivity. In the marketing world in particular, AI allows marketers to focus more on creative refinement and strategic tasks.

2. Take a Verticalized approach — Verticalized AI is much easier to adapt and time to market is much faster; there isn’t all of this customization in the back end. Rather than being loyal to just one AI platform, enterprises should incorporate as many AI tools as necessary into their tech stacks.

3. Invest in Continuous Learning — AI is a rapidly evolving field, and staying ahead requires continuous learning. AI can be complex, and collaborating with experts can provide valuable insights and accelerate progress. We can leverage their knowledge and integrate cutting-edge techniques that significantly improve performance.

4. Navigate Regulation — As AI continues to disrupt industries, the question of how to regulate it will continue being a topic of discussion. However, currently, there is a misalignment on what exactly should be regulated. From my POV, the biggest concern should be regulating the distribution of content, not how it was created. After all, what’s the difference between someone writing something false from their apartment vs. AI doing it?

5. Become an AI Expert — AI isn’t going anywhere. Part of embracing this change is also familiarizing oneself with AI’s technology and updating technical skills. There is a lot of anxiety around AI potentially displacing workers. In some industries, businesses are using AI to automate routine tasks and contribute to the business’s bottom line, leaving workers with more time to focus on value-add priorities. Becoming an AI expert ensures team members can be key contributors to the tech-inclined growth of their company.

What are the most common misconceptions about AI within your industry, and how do you address them?

One of the biggest mistakes made by new AI adopters is that they jump too far ahead instead of taking the time to master easier tasks with AI. AI is changing workflows and processes and those take time to change. It’s better to start with the least amount of disruption to realize immediate benefits. If AI is adopted in a way that requires major process changes and buy-in from the team, reluctance and frustration will set in — and adopting more impactful processes late will be even harder.

Additionally, right now, big enterprise is being sold this vision about how AI will solve issues and make things easier. The investment is not easy, and it might take years to fully implement, with factors like security concerns and more. Companies want to see this in ROI.

Lastly, AI has an expectation-setting problem. People are assuming that all of the information from AI is and should be 100% right and this is a big problem. There is not enough education about how these AI assistants actually work. AI has shortcomings and there needs to be room for general error.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

“Stand in luck’s way.” To me, this quote means that you should work hard in order to be ready to seize opportunities that come your way. Before AI had its moment in 2022, the Anyword team was already deeply immersed in developing advanced language models and AI-driven content generation tools. We knew that the potential for AI to revolutionize marketing was enormous, even if the market hadn’t fully caught on yet.

We didn’t wait for the market to tell us that AI was the next big thing; we anticipated it and positioned ourselves to be ready when the opportunity arrived.

Off-topic, but I’m curious. As someone steering the ship, what thoughts or concerns often keep you awake at night? How do those thoughts influence your daily decision-making process?

There’s a delicate balance between knowing when to grind out a solution and when to pivot to explore a new direction. Knowing when to do one or the other is an art. Everyone is bound to make a wrong decision, but with each wrong turn, you risk falling behind your competition.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I believe that leveraging technology for positive change can have a profound impact on society. I would introduce financial incentives for non-sensational and non-divisive content to transform the way content is shared and consumed on social networks.

Social media platforms often reward content that generates the most clicks and engagement, which can lead to the proliferation of sensational and divisive material. This not only skews public perception but also contributes to societal polarization. By creating a system where high-quality, thoughtful, and constructive content is financially rewarded, we can encourage the spread of unbiased information.

How can our readers further follow you online?

Readers can follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaniv-makover-a8590b3/

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

About the Interviewer: Cynthia Corsetti is an esteemed executive coach with over two decades in corporate leadership and 11 years in executive coaching. Author of the upcoming book, “Dark Drivers,” she guides high-performing professionals and Fortune 500 firms to recognize and manage underlying influences affecting their leadership. Beyond individual coaching, Cynthia offers a 6-month executive transition program and partners with organizations to nurture the next wave of leadership excellence.