AI usage is on the rise, especially in marketing. Data from HubSpot’s AI Trends in Marketing report showed that 74% of marketing professionals use AI for their work. With so many marketers using AI, it is important to acknowledge and solve for its known limitations, particularly the biases that are baked into it.

As an inclusive marketing strategist and consultant, I am trained to recognize bias when I encounter it. Whenever I review materials and campaigns for clients, I evaluate whether bias, cultural insensitivity, or inappropriate messages have crept into the communications.

But, most of the marketers I’ve come across either don’t yet have this skillset or are actively working on developing it. Many often don’t pick up on biases AI produces, which could prove detrimental to marketing efforts and brand reputation if published in the market.

To help you use AI more responsibly and effectively, I’ve created some prompts to help you cut out bias. Let’s dive in.

The Fundamental Question for Converting More Customers

Before we get into actual prompts, it’s useful to ensure you are grounded in the fundamental question consumers (especially those from underrepresented and underserved communities) are asking.

As consumers evaluate whether or not your brand is right for them, they are seeking to answer this question, either consciously or subconsciously: Is this product for someone like me?

Every part of your customer journey serves as an input to producing an answer to this question.

So, if any aspect of your customer journey features bias, you’re signaling to potential buyers that “this product isn’t for someone like you.” In most instances, that signal isn’t one the brand intends to send.

Now, let’s focus on how you can use AI to let your audience know that “this is for you.”

Joyann Boyce is an inclusive AI expert and founder of Inclued AI, a tool that helps marketers with inclusive communication. She told me that it is helpful to think of AI as a very well-trained puppy.

She explains, “It’s like someone has already house-trained the puppy. And, they’re going to give it to you, and you’re going to customize it to your home.”

Customizing your well-trained AI puppy means training it to ensure it communicates with your customers in a way that draws them closer to you, rather than pushing them away because of any bias.

Have a listen to the full conversation with Joyann Boyce on this episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast.

How to Get AI to Help You Identify and Remove Bias

While AI systems can inadvertently perpetuate biases present in their training data, they can also serve as powerful tools for detecting and mitigating bias in human decision-making processes.

By leveraging AI’s ability to analyze patterns and flag potential inconsistencies, you can create more objective evaluation frameworks and uncover blind spots that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Give the right context.

Start by providing your AI tool with clear context about its role and perspective. Specify exactly what persona or expert viewpoint the AI should adopt, and define the particular lens through which it should analyze your content when giving feedback.

Right from the beginning, I like to tell my AI collaborators that it is a highly skilled, inclusive marketing strategist.

That works from a general standpoint for reviewing content on the whole and for broader audiences. However, if you want to be even more specific about the type of feedback you are looking for, tweak the context for that point of expertise.

Let’s say you want to understand whether an ad has bias toward consumers over the age of 50. You can prompt your AI companion to review the content through the lens of a marketing expert who has expertise in that consumer base.

As an example, I asked AI to review a web page about anti-aging products. I asked it to act like a marketer who specializes in reaching consumers over 50. The AI could then use that foundation to give me helpful feedback.

Here is the first part of the feedback it produced about language that was ageist and lacked inclusivity:

Here are the recommendations AI gave for how to improve the copy to make it more inclusive:

The goal is to prevent publishing content that already has bias in it. However, there will be times when you’ll need to reevaluate and improve on something that is already in the market.

So, here is a prompt to help you when creating new content, and one to help you improve what has already been produced.

Prompt for Reviewing

You are an inclusive marketing strategist who specializes in marketing to consumers over the age of 50. Please review these headlines, and let me know if there is anything I should be aware of that would rub consumers who are interested in the product the wrong way. I’m particularly interested in anything that would be offensive, culturally inappropriate, or just not inclusive.

Prompt for Creating

You are a copywriter who specializes in marketing to consumers over the age of 50. Please brainstorm 10 headlines for this skin care web page that deliver on our product goals while making our ideal customers, including people over the age of 50, feel seen, supported, and like they belong with our brand.

Give it specificity about your consumer.

One of the challenges that many marketing communications face when it comes to being inclusive is that the brand hasn’t effectively defined its ideal customer.

For instance, a brand might say they are targeting “women aged 25-34 who are looking to advance their careers.” However, even though there is specificity about age, gender, and even aspirations, there is still so much context missing that could influence the way the consumer receives messages you create from them.

As such, when working with AI, avoid treating it like it is talking to a general market audience. Instead, provide your AI companion with additional details about who you want to communicate with. This will help it better tailor its messages to the audience you are targeting.

So, instead of saying you’re creating landing page copy for “women aged 25-34 who are looking to advance their careers,” add in details about their identities. That additional information will support your AI companion in crafting messages that have less bias.

Some of the identity-based details about your ideal customer to include in your prompt could be:

• Racial and ethnic identities.
• Sexual orientation.
• Religion.
• Family status (i.e., married, children).
• Economic status.
• Where they live, because regional differences can impact word choice.
• Includes people with disabilities and neurodivergence.

As such, a prompt to draft copy for a landing page could look like this:

Prompt for Creating

The audience for this landing page includes women 25-34 who want to advance their careers. This includes Black, Latina, and Asian women. Some are married. Some have young children at home. All have at least a Bachelor’s degree, and they live in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Mexico, and 30% of them are neurodivergent. Most of them don’t yet own a home. Please draft a landing page for them that takes their identities and needs in mind.

Prompt for Reviewing

Please identify anything in the copy of this landing page that would prevent people with [insert identities] from feeling seen, supported, and like they belong.

Be direct about the type of bias you want to stamp out.

Your target consumers have many identities, and you want to make sure each person feels connected to you’re offering. That means creating inclusive campaigns that avoid bias, and AI tools can help you get it right. You just need to tell your tools what type of content you don’t want to include in your messaging.

When I’m doing an audit for clients’ brands from an inclusion standpoint, some of the things I’m looking for include:

• Inclusive language.
• Power dynamics.
• Representation.
• Stereotypes.
• Identity-based friction in the customer experience.

Being this specific is especially important. If your AI tool is just focused on one area, you may miss out on other areas that are problematic.

In this example, I asked AI to evaluate a blog post for cultural bias. It missed some problem areas I would have flagged. When I asked it why it didn’t pick up on those problems, here is what it had to say:

Based on the specific type of communication you are having AI help you write, be sure to include specific instructions on elements you want to include or want to avoid.

Prompt for Creating

Please create some images we can use for this social media ad that are reflective of our ideal customers. Ensure adequate representation of the different identities of the consumers we serve that is free of common stereotypes and cultural biases.

Prompt for Reviewing

In this ad, please highlight any areas that would be considered problematic from an inclusion perspective. Take into account inclusive language (ex., Are there any AAVE included?). Are there stereotypes associated with any of the images we are highlighting?

It’s time to get rid of the bias built into your AI.

When your AI-generated content authentically reflects your brand values and speaks meaningfully to diverse audiences, it builds trust and connection with potential customers who might otherwise feel overlooked or misunderstood.

This inclusive approach not only helps you avoid alienating prospects due to unconscious bias but also demonstrates your commitment to serving all customers equitably. That can significantly differentiate your brand in today’s marketplace, where consumers increasingly expect businesses to be socially conscious and representative.

Re-training your AI tools to catch bias can help you connect with a larger audience. The sooner you make the switch, the faster you can grow.