How artificial intelligence will change the future of marketing

Thomas Davenport, Abhijit Guha, Dhruv Grewal, Timna Bressgott

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1222 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

In the future, artificial intelligence (AI) is likely to substantially change both marketing strategies and customer behaviors. Building from not only extant research but also extensive interactions with practice, the authors propose a multidimensional framework for understanding the impact of AI involving intelligence levels, task types, and whether AI is embedded in a robot. Prior research typically addresses a subset of these dimensions; this paper integrates all three into a single framework. Next, the authors propose a research agenda that addresses not only how marketing strategies and customer behaviors will change in the future, but also highlights important policy questions relating to privacy, bias and ethics. Finally, the authors suggest AI will be more effective if it augments (rather than replaces) human managers.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)24-42
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science
Volume48
Issue number1
Early online date10 Oct 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Jan 2020

Funding

The authors thank Eric Colson (Stitch Fix), James Kotecki (Infinia ML) and Charu Kohli (CognitiveScale), who shared their time, materials and insights with the authors as this paper developed. Thomas Davenport and Dhruv Grewal dedicate this article to the memory of their dear friend and colleague, Dean Bala Iyer of Babson University.

Keywords

  • Artificial intelligence
  • Bias
  • Ethics
  • Marketing strategy
  • Privacy
  • Robots

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Business and International Management
  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Marketing

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