Once a signifier of luxury or novelty, custom products and services are now within reach of the everyday consumer, thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence, algorithm-led platforms, and the COVID-era digitisation boom. Today, everyone wants to be the main character of their brand experience.

From decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) run on Discord to city-wide mutual aid groups, people are finding safety and optimism in numbers. For growing numbers of people, collective action is emerging as the only viable solution to compounding crises and deepening alienation.

In its recent campaign, Coca-Cola used Stable Diffusion to envision what the brand and beverages could look and taste like in the year 3000. However, with AI image generators getting backlash due to the risks they pose to artists, it’s difficult to say whether their efforts will resonate.

Coca-Cola’s partnership with Bain & Company and OpenAI asked digital creators to work with generative AI to create branded imagery. With interest and concern around AI technology swirling in equal measure, creative, personalised marketing content could be a low-stakes entry point for brands.

Fans are taking creation into their own hands, putting unique spins on their favorite movie characters and songs to create experimental, humorous, and cross-genre content. How will this impact the future of fandom culture from building communities to fostering parasocial relationships?

Adobe has launched a family of AI creative cloud tools called Firefly, trained with stock images to avoid copyright backlash. This innovation provides a new way of working for artists without technical expertise while avoiding the potential for plagiarism and questions around ownership.