Artificial Intelligence and creativity in marketing: A proposed typology and new directions for academia-industry collaborations

This chapter covers our investigation of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) impacts employee and business creativity. In particular, we addressed the key questions: (1) Which skills are required to support employee creativity, how does AI interplay with human creativity, and how can AI successfully complement human creativity? And (2) What are the current knowledge gaps and directions for future research on business creativity and AI? We found that AI, on its own, can handle some of the key skills required for employee creativity, such as intelligence, learning, and the ability to handle and process large amounts of data. In addition, AI can assist employees in other key skills required for creativity, such as design thinking, problem-solving, memory, and decision-making. However, there are still some key skills required for employee creativity - such as emotional intelligence, intuition, and empathy, among others - that cannot yet be handled by AI. Nevertheless, with the emergence of advanced technologies - such as quantum computing, generative AI, and super AI - we expect AI to be able to play an increasingly key role in the future of employee and business creativity. We provide directions for future research, which can have maximum impact if based on collaborations between academics and practitioners.