Artificially Creative Intelligent

Technology has always played a role in the development of advertising campaigns, but creativity has always been considered a human domain. With the increasing use of GAI in the advertising industry there is discussion whether this is still the case as GAI continuously seems to get closer to human ‘creative’ capabilities. While existing research mainly focusses on the application of GAI in advertising design, research linking the application of GAI to the earlier phase of concept development is limited as is research on GAI’s impact on the advertising professionals perceived creative identity. This research aims to fill that gap and answer the following research question: How do advertising professionals perceive generative artificial intelligence (GAI) as a tool for concept development and its effect on creative identity within their professional role? To answer this question, first existing research on concept development, GAI and creative identity is reviewed. Subsequently, 13 semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts were conducted to delve deeper into advertising professionals' perceptions of GAI in concept development and its effect on creative identity. Through thematic analysis, it was found that GAI as a tool for concept development was met with a nuanced attitude mentioning threats and benefits where they are applicable and not necessarily in contrast with the other. Advertising professionals recognized GAI as an inevitable part of the industry and acknowledged that it may cause tensions where their creative identity is concerned. It was found that if GAI serves the advertising professional practically, and if it does not mentally interfere with their creative identity, they are more willing and inclined to use GAI. However, if the creative identity of an advertising professional is perceived to be badly impacted by GAI, the creative professional may look for another outlet for their creativity. Although, the results do not rule out the possibility that, given the rapid development of GAI, finding added value for advertising professionals will become increasingly difficult in the future, at the time of this study the advertising professionals still perceived their creative identity as adding value to the advertising industry. Ultimately, GAI is seen as an almost human companion in concept development that, through its differences with human creativity, shows how valuable the individual creative identities of advertising professionals are.