McCann Erickson Japan has created and appointed the world’s first AI robot creative director, AI-CD β.

The robot, which will provide creative direction for commercials then evaluate and gain learnings, will attend McCann’s new employee welcoming ceremony on 1 April along other college graduates.

AI-CD β was developed by ‘McCann Millennials’ staff born between 1980 and 2000, and draws from a database of tagged and analysed TV commercials from winners of the All Japan Radio & Television Commercial Confederation’s annual CM Festival over the last decade.

“Our team didn’t have a creative director, so we thought, why not create one ourselves with artificial intelligence?” said McCann Millennials founder and McCann Japan creative planner Shun Matsuzaka.

“That’s how the Creative Genome Project got started. Our hope is for our AI creative director to work on many projects, gain experience, and to grow into a world-class creative director that will leave a mark in the advertising industry.”