The Journal of Interactive Advertising cordially invites researchers to submit contributions to a special issue dedicated to exploring the transformative roles and impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as technology empowering persuasion agents, including but not limited to, the AI-powered virtual influencers, chatbots, social bots, AI assistants, voice recognition speakers, and/or conversational agents/assistants, in the context of advertising, marketing, and strategic communication.
The rapid integration of AI technology has revolutionized various facets of human existence in the realms of advertising, marketing, and strategic communication (Huang and Wang, 2023). AI plays significant roles in these areas, particularly as persuasion agents, replacing the roles that used to be owned and fulfilled by humans. AI-powered persuasion agents are successful at taking over human roles thanks to mentalization – a phenomenon that occurs when consumers encounter a certain persuasion agent, they have an innate tendency to understand the mental state and mind of the agent (Lee and Ham 2023). Recent years have witnessed a significant surge in research attention devoted to AI, unveiling potential roles of AI for advertising (Ford et al., 2023). This accelerated growth continually reshapes the landscape of AI-powered persuasion agents, encompassing its definitions, roles, impacts, and applications in advertising, marketing, and strategic communication.
AI-powered persuasion agents adeptly recommend various products and services to their followers, as evidenced by the works of Campbell et al. (2020), Franke, Groeppel-Klein, and Müller (2023), and Thomas and Fowler (2021). For instance, AI-powered influencers, described as «digitally created artificial humans associated with Internet fame, utilizing software and algorithms to perform tasks akin to humans,» have significantly bolstered opportunities for growth in influencer marketing (Thomas and Fowler 2021, 12).
The rapidly evolving phenomenon of AI-powered persuasion agents and its social and behavioral impacts necessitate a state-of-the-art overview to propel future research. This special issue aims to solicit research contributions that enhance our comprehension of the continually evolving roles of AI-powered persuasion agents in the context of advertising, marketing, and strategic communication.
Topics:
This special issue welcomes theoretical, conceptual, empirical, and critical research that focuses on any transformative role of AI as persuasion agents in advertising, marketing, and strategic communication.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- The roles of AI empowering persuasion agents, such as AI-powered virtual influencers, chatbots, social bots, conversation assistants, and shopping assistants in advertising and marketing communications.
- Consumers’ cognitive and emotional responses to AI-powered persuasion agents.
- The impact of deepfakes as persuasion agents.
- Human versus AI-powered persuasion agents and their effects on advertising and marketing communications.
- Collaboration between human and AI-powered persuasion agents in advertising and marketing campaigns.
- Impact of AI- generated advertising on creative work.
- Psychological motivations of following and interacting with AI-powered persuasion agents.
- Overview of the impact of AI-powered persuasion agents on advertising research.
- Methodological approaches for studying AI-powered persuasion agents.
- Challenges, difficulties, and opportunities in investigating the roles of AI-powered persuasion agents in advertising, marketing, and strategic communication.
- Ethical and social issues related to AI-powered persuasion agents including age, gender, ethnicity, and/or socioeconomic status.
- Addressing social and ethical concerns related to gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status related to AI-powered persuasion agents.
- Status and recommendations for government regulations in the roles of AI-powered persuasion agents.
- The role of AI-powered persuasion agents in social activism.
- Exploration of the roles of AI-powered persuasion agents in diverse consumers across generations, gender, culture, ethnicity, and marginalized groups.
