What is the impact of emotional AI in marketing and advertising?

Imagine sitting by a bus stop, and the screen next to you demands your attention with a perfectly lit ad. You take a look and instantly grimace with disapproval. The camera behind the screen registers your reaction and immediately changes the displayed advert to something that you might approve. After two rounds of instant feedback, the system has appended the feed with enough information to predict your mood correctly and shows you an advert you enjoy. Adapting to visceral reactions to a promotion is just one way to explore the interplay between artificial intelligence and human emotions. Moreover, it recalibrates our focus in the context at hand when discussing the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in marketing and advertising.

Are marketers, though, trained to fully understand the features and ethical implications of the new technologies afforded by AI and machine learning? How do we move past the dystopian notions of new technologies in mainstream culture that sip into creative work? How can we embrace nuanced perceptions of AI and machine learning that will prepare us for the moral ambiguity we intend to bestow on the machine? Are we ready to investigate how artificial intelligence will change the future?

With context and consent at the heart of the debate around ubiquitous and seamless uses of AI in the creative industries, the panel discussion here attempts to untangle the numerous threads deriving from the questions above. Ultimately, it asks for pause and reflection when considering the design of new interfaces and iteration of technologies capable of reading and responding to the subtleties of human behaviour.

Interested in learning how to design better experiences with human behaviour and emotion at their core? Then, sign up for our one-day digital workshop in London, Creating Emotion in Digital Experiences.