How Agencies and GenAI Actually Create Together

What really changes inside an ad agency when GenAI shows up? In this episode, Weila Cui joins us to unpack her Journal of Advertising Research article, “Exploring the Integration of Generative AI in Advertising Agencies: A Co-Creative Process Model for Human–AI Collaboration,” coauthored with Martin J. Liu and Ruizhi Yuan. Interviewed by David Ji, Weila walks us through a practical four-stage roadmap—readiness, co-creativity (co-inspiration → co-generation → co-calibration), validation (agency + client loops), and execution—that shows GenAI isn’t just speeding things up; it’s reshaping how ideas emerge, get refined, and make it to market.  We dig into what “good” looks like in real workflows: building team mindset and skills, structuring feedback loops, balancing rapid AI ideation with human judgment, and tightening cross-functional handoffs so AI-assisted concepts ship cleanly across channels. We also get candid about the bumps—creative resistance, unpredictable outputs, cultural and brand-fit issues, and evolving legal/ethical questions—and how agencies are documenting prompts, fine-tuning models, and codifying best practices to learn project by project.Read the full paper here:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00218499.2024.2445362Listen to the podcast here:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2250188And watch this and more content on our YouTube page:https://www.youtube.com/@journalofadvertisingresearchTo keep up to date on the latest JAR news sign up for our newsletter: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/mtD04QNAnd follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/82528291/admin/