The Human-Centered Algorithm: Marketing in the Age of AI

In this episode of AMS Illuminations, host Brad Carlson talks with Dr. Stefano Puntoni, the Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School and Co-director of the Wharton Human-Centered Technology Initiative, about what AI means for marketing, consumers and the future of work.

The conversation moves beyond AI as a productivity tool to explore larger questions: How will consumers respond as algorithms begin making more decisions on their behalf? What happens to trust, identity and consumer wellbeing in increasingly automated markets? And how can marketing scholars help organizations build AI systems that are not only powerful, but human-centered?

Puntoni also discusses the role of creativity, the future of branding, the changing value of human expertise and why the most important question may not be whether AI can automate something, but whether it should.

Episode Guests:

Stefano Puntoni

Stefano Puntoni is the Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing at The Wharton School. Prior to joining Penn, Stefano was a professor of marketing and head of department at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, in the Netherlands. He holds a PhD in marketing from London Business School and a degree in Statistics and Economics from the University of Padova, in his native Italy.

His research has appeared in several leading journals, including Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Nature Human Behavior, and Management Science. He also writes regularly for managerial outlets such as Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. Most of his ongoing research investigates how new technology is changing consumption and society, including how humans are adopting and evolving with AI.

Brad D. Carlson, Ph.D., Host

Brad D. Carlson, Ph.D., is a professor and James J. Pierson Endowed Chair in Marketing in the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business at Saint Louis University, as well as the current president of the Academy of Marketing Science. Renowned for his exemplary teaching, research, and service, Brad has earned numerous accolades throughout his career. His research, which has appeared in prominent journals, including the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, focuses on practical and theoretical aspects of marketing that resonate both in academia and industry.