Transforming advertising in the age of generative AI: exploring advertising professionals’ perceptions of human-AI value co-creation

This exploratory study examines the adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) in the advertising industry through 34 semi-structured interviews with professionals in related fields. Drawing on the service-dominant logic and the value-based adoption model, this study aimed to gain insights into how GAI is transforming the workplace through various functions, as well as professionals’ perceptions and evaluations of human-AI value co-creation and co-destruction in the GAI era. Findings suggest that GAI can serve as a quasi-stakeholder in the creative process that augments human capabilities across analytical, creative, technical, and communicative functions. Such augmentation fosters opportunities for value co-creation while simultaneously posing risks of value co-destruction when misaligned with human oversight or ethical standards. These insights contribute to emerging discussions on human-AI collaboration and provide practical implications for managing AI’s evolving roles in the advertising workflow.