AI Excellence Spotlight: Alex Brunori, VP - Brand and Brand Experience at G42, on the Creative Renaissance Unfolding in the AI Age "I will state the obvious: one year from now, the quality and the definition of the AI assets will be impossible to distinguish from the non-AI ones."
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"I have always been a tech early adopter, and artificial intelligence (AI) has been part of my interests since the adoption of deep learning as the way forward for AI, around 2014," says Alex Brunori, who is currently the VP Brand and Brand Experience at G42, an Abu Dhabi–headquartered global AI and tech firm.
A move to tech giant Google in 2015 offered Brunori a new opprotunity to learn more about the industry- in particular, its potential for creative expression. "When the first publicly available Intelligent Decision Models (IDMs) -among which Midjourney, of which I have quickly become addicted, generating over 100.000 images in the span of a few months- were introduced, I have been in several groups of Beta testers, and joining G42 has been the natural consequence of what had by then become a true passion/obsession for AI. I consider most of the work done at G42 in the last year as groundbreaking for Brands, especially the new Alpha Touchpoint – the world's first fully generative and conversational digital destination - that is now a few weeks away from going live."
As a globally acclaimed creative visionary, Brunori has played a pioneering role in the way technology, storytelling, and innovation converge—earning international recognition and numerous industry accolades along the way. On the sidelines of the first Dubai edition of /function1 -a two-day event at Dubai Festival City Arena that brought together AI industry experts, thought leaders and business leaders to discuss the technologies reshaping industries- we spoke exclusively with him to gain his insights on the creative empowerment unlocked by AI, the need for brands to earn trust from both humans and machines, and the shift toward AI-driven workflows that redefine competition and innovation.
With AI now able to incorporate elements of emotional intelligence, such as authenticity and intent in real time, how does that change the game for the future of customer experience across industries? What could this mean for brands in terms of building customer loyalty?
It is a massive disruption. Most of the studies around a customer's buying process need to be rethought, and the relative strategies and tactics rebuilt, mostly from the ground up: theoretical and behavioral models like the ZMOT, the Messy Middle and the Last Click Attribution don't make much sense in a world where we will take most of the buying decisions as a result of a conversation with a large language model, and where even the buying act itself may be agentic. This is why we should strategize separately for "reputation" and "brand": the first one, using trust in the infosphere as currency, is going to influence machines, the second one, using presence in real life as currency, is going to influence humans. A Brand, today, needs to be "trusted by machines and experienced by humans".
There is a lot of pushback from creatives/creative industries when it comes to using AI. From your perspective, how can AI enhance creative minds rather than quelling them entirely (which is the main fear)?
I have never met a real creative mind gripped in fear of something new. Quite the opposite: a creative mind feeds on innovation and experimentation. It constantly tries to break new ground as its modus operandi, and sees comfort zones as a dangerous and limiting form of stagnation. Since the biggest fear is that of the unknown, the first question is: how many of the creatives pushing back have really tried to understand the new AI tools, and use them to be more creative? Do they fear "AI" or "change" itself? As a creative myself, I am honestly exhilarated by how much AI makes it easy for me to go from vision to execution, and how much it amplifies my craft. It is like having superpowers. I don't want to dismiss fear and underestimate AI's potential and actual impact on individuals and categories, but historically the best way to face innovation has always been embracing it and managing change, rather than opposing it and trying to avoid it. We – especially as creatives - have features that AI is in no position to replicate right now (and probably for a long time): emotional intelligence, empathy, intuition and - above all - the unique capability of looking into the future, and design a different world as a consequence, which is something that AI models, that are trained just on what has already been done, cannot do. We should be honing what makes us special, rather than investing time on what could easily be replicated by a machine.
When it comes to brand storytelling, how can marketing teams ensure their AI-driven strategies still hold visceral human connection within them?
Storytelling is almost the essence of all that being human implies. I would encourage marketing teams to use AI to do what it does best, and have humans handle the rest. Research? Do it with AI, but let a human prioritize and validate the insights. Strategy? Ask AI, but ultimately own it, and change it, if you feel like it. Ideation? Trust the human instinct, augmented by AI. Execution? Can, and should, belong to both: only AI can allow real time marketing, as an example. Testing? Do it mostly with AI and use AI to iterate too. Media planning? Same. Reporting? Let AI do the heavy lifting, and a human analyze the implications.
Is there an emerging trend in AI-powered creativity that you believe is currently underestimated or overlooked? If so, why should brands pay attention now?
Yes, there are several trends that can be leveraged more than they are right now. Creatives should become better prompter and use AI as a creative sparring partner, and not as an intern to do the boring work for them. Brands should use AI to own the social media conversation, with a strategy that mixes carefully crafted campaigns with real-time marketing assets (embracing speed over perfection and safety) and they should create in-house agile teams, made of new-gen creatives who can design innovative workflows.
With nearly every other brand/firm coming up with their own iterations of an AI assistant, what is the NEW competitive edge for businesses? Also, how can business leaders ensure they keep innovating in this regard while being mindful of regulatory frameworks?
There is a common misconception, i.e. that AI can give you a "competitive edge". In fact, it doesn't get any more wrong than this. AI is the biggest point of parity the industry has ever known, because it gives anyone a Tier-1 level of consultancy that, before AI, was only available to Brand with a sizeable marketing budget. Yes, it is quite possible that the first movers, especially among the challenger brands, will have a field day by being early adopters, but it won't last long. If everyone is using the same AI tools and platforms, and everyone has access to the same third-party data, businesses should re-create a point of difference investing in their own first party and proprietary data. And invest more in the more authentically distinctive assets they can have. I haven't seen any AI being groundbreaking in the idea domain, or suggesting something truly brave yet. If you want to be different, be more human.
What non-financial metrics do you believe will become the barometer of AI-driven success for creative businesses and entrepreneurs moving forward?
That is an easy one: Trust, both in the infosphere to be chosen by machines, and in the real world (through experiences) to be chosen by humans. It is, in a way, the end of the so called "lovemark brands". The intangibles must become really tangible, and trust needs to be experienced, and not only suggested by storytelling.
Finally, what are some shifts/trends in AI that you anticipate in the next 12-18 months and how do you see them defining the direction of business globally?
12-18 months? In the world of AI, that is a very long period... One and a half year ago, as an example, there weren't many AI tools or platforms (if any) that could be used professionally, and people in the industry were mostly laughing about them, criticizing their clumsy results. Today, they all have reached the production level. I will state the obvious: one year from now, the quality and the definition of the AI assets will be impossible to distinguish from the non-AI ones. Workflows will become the new competition arena, and there will be platforms able to create full campaigns from just one prompt. Fashion and lifestyle design will see more and more genAI products on the market. The first AI blockbuster movie may take a bit more, sure, but not as much as people may think. Fasten your seatbelts: there has never been a better moment to be a creative.
