Advertising and media are often at the forefront of new technology, and we have already seen augmented reality platforms showing content in the real world and a virtual reality advertising network for brands.

Now an artificial intelligence robot, AI-CD β, developed by Japanese advertising and marketing agency McCann Japan, is set to work on providing new creative direction for commercials. The AI will give input on projects, mining and analyzing creative databases of adverts to find the best commercials for products and messages.

The AI-CD β can work through far more historical adverts and commercials than any human advertising creative, and can therefore aid its colleagues in the development of ads for clients. But the robot is also being treated as somewhat part of the team at McCann, taking the title of “creative director” and attending the opening ceremony for new company employees.

McCann Japan CEO Yasuyuki Katagi said: “Artificial intelligence is already being used to create a wide variety of entertainment, including music, movies, and TV drama, so we’re very enthusiastic about the potential of AI-CD β for the future of ad creation. The whole company is 100 percent on board to support the development of our AI employee.”

How else could artificial employees be used to complement, rather than compete, with human co-workers?