Re-Configuring Creativity through generative AI in the Advertising Industry (ReCREATIVE)

Project description

Generative artificial intelligence (genAI) is increasingly shaping everyday work in the creative industries. Systems capable of independently generating text, images, or even video sequences are fundamentally transforming creative practice – serving as sources of inspiration, automated support systems, or even as full-fledged content creators.

In the advertising industry, where creative output is shaped by the tension between economic efficiency and artistic ambition, this raises urgent questions: How are creative practices reconfigured by the integration of genAI technologies? What impact does genAI have on the working processes and how does it affect the professional identity of creative workers?

GenAI is not only transforming how creative output is produced, but also raises deeper questions about how creativity is understood and evaluated. It brings into focus not only the transformation of creative roles and practices, but also challenges the boundaries between human inspiration, technological innovation, and creative authorship.

The ReCREATIVE research project investigates this transformation through the case of a German creative agency. Using a mixed-methods design, the project combines quantitative data on genAI tool usage with qualitative interviews with creative professionals. By unpacking when, how, and for what purposes genAI is used, the project aims to understand, how genAI reconfigures creative practices and affects professional identities and the broader concept of creativity.

Theoretically, the project draws on perspectives from sociology, philosophy, and psychology to conceptualize creativity both as a social practice and as a normative ethical value. This interdisciplinary lens enables a nuanced exploration of the complex interplay between human creativity and machine-generated contributions. Ultimately, the project aims to enhance our understanding of what creativity means in the age of genAI.

The project’s findings contribute not only to the academic discourse on the transformation of work in the creative industries in the digital age but also offer practical guidance for creative professionals, agencies, and organizations. They are intended to support a reflective and responsible use of genAI in organizations – balancing efficiency, artistic integrity, and ethical responsibility.

Project team