The IPA is launching a new, free thought leadership platform to help agencies navigate the fast-moving and increasingly complex world of Generative AI.

The new IPAi Forum has been designed to move beyond AI hype and instead provide grounded, real-world insight into where AI is adding real value to the industry beyond the headlines. To this end, the free to access forum will delve into how to best build the skills and capabilities the industry needs. In addition it will include practical guidance on training, legal and regulatory considerations.

The IPA has a strong track record of being on the front foot when it comes to supporting the industry in embracing the opportunity of technology. In 2018, trailblazing IPA President Sarah Golding set a progressive agenda for the industry, urging the industry to utilise ‘the magic and the machines’. An agenda that was set well before GenAI entered the mainstream. That call for curiosity, experimentation and confidence in working with emerging technologies is central to the ethos of the IPAi Forum.

Paul Bainsfair, Director General of the IPA, explained: “IPAi Forum is based on the maxim that all of us are smarter than any one of us. By sharing the many different ways our industry is already using AI, we hope to provide something valuable for everyone, whatever stage they are at on their AI journey.”

Karen Martin, IPA President, added: “AI has injected fresh energy into our industry, accelerating experimentation, expanding creative ambition and unlocking new possibilities. At its most powerful, it acts as a partner to human creativity, amplifying our judgment, care and perspective. I truly believe that the strongest work comes when human imagination and technology move forward together.”

The Forum features interviews with some of the industry’s brightest practitioners working at the forefront of AI. The first issue will focus on ‘AI as a creative collaborator and is available to view here.

In the introduction to the first issue, the IPA’s Bainsfair underlines the tightrope that creative leaders face. As he writes: “We all know that AI is evolving at breakneck speed, reshaping how we work, create, collaborate and compete. But with rapid change comes uncertainty. As ever, we need to hold two truths at once: technology tends to be over-estimated in the short term and under-estimated in the long term: Amara’s Law in action.”