In 2015, ad agency McCann Japan's creative planner Shun Matsuzaka set himself a task he called the "creative genome project": he wanted to create the world's first AI creative director, capable of directing a TV commercial. And last week, Matsuzaka showed off his creation at the UK advertiser trade body ISBA's annual conference in London. The creative brief: The type of brand, the campaign goal, the target audience, and the claim the ad should make. Confectionery giant Mondelez was the first client willing to put the AI creative director to the test. McCann pitted the robot against human creative director Mitsuru Kuramoto to create an ad for Clorets Mint Tab that conveyed the message: "Instant-effect fresh breath that lasts for 10 minutes."

In 2015, ad agency McCann Japan's creative planner Shun Matsuzaka set himself a task he called the "creative genome project": he wanted to create the world's first AI creative director, capable of directing a TV commercial. And last week, Matsuzaka showed off his creation at the UK advertiser trade body ISBA's annual conference in London. The creative brief: The type of brand, the campaign goal, the target audience, and the claim the ad should make. They then assembled a database of deconstructed ads from all the winners of some of Japan's biggest award shows from the past 10 years -- mapping and tagging each of the elements of the ads to help determine what made them successful. Confectionery giant Mondelez was the first client willing to put the AI creative director to the test.

One of these commercials for Clorets mints is being billed as the first campaign from McCann Erickson Japan's new AI creative director. The other is the work of a human. One is about a flying dog. The other features a barefoot calligrapher. Mondelez brand Clorets Mint Tab is asking the Japanese public to vote on which ad is more effective, without telling people which one is the product of artificial intelligence.

The world's largest ad agency has hired its first artificially intelligent creative director – the rookie at McCann Erickson's Japan office is named AI-CD?. The move reminded me of an episode in the US TV series Mad Men. It is 1969, and the fictional ad agency installs its first computer, a room-filling IBM machine. "Why not let every client who sets foot in that door know that this agency has entered the future?" says one of the partners at the firm, proudly. The creative department stands grimly by, wondering if that future will include them. In 2013, Oxford economists released a widely cited projection that 47 per cent of jobs were at risk of automation.

McCann Erickson Japan has created and appointed the world's first AI robot creative director, AI-CD?. 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? 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."

Ad agency McCann Japan has appointed an artificial intelligence creative director who has the capacity to give creative direction on real client accounts. The AI, AI-CD?, will be in attendance at McCann Worldgroup's new employee welcoming ceremony on April 1, along with 11 new college graduates. According to a report from The Drum, AI-CD? was crafted by the agency under its'Creative Genome Project', the first in a series of projects undertaken by the agency's'McCann Millennials taskforce'. The McCann Japan creation will be the first logic-based creative assistant that's based off the historical success of TV ads, and has been built to respond to a product or message with the top commercial guidance based on previous data. The AI has also been designed so that it can analyse the results of campaigns it's directed in order to make it a more effective AI creative director. President & CEO of McCann Japan, Yasuyuki Katagi said, "Artificial intelligence is already being used to create a wide variety of entertainment, including music, movies, and TV drama, so we're very enthusiastic about the potential of AI-CD ß for the future of ad creation.

AI-CD beta will work for McCann Japan and was developed through the "Creative Genome Project," the first project undertaken by McCann Millennials, a taskforce launched last September by agency employees in many an advertiser's dream demographic. "Artificial intelligence is already being used to create a wide variety of entertainment, including music, movies, and TV drama, so we're very enthusiastic about the potential of AI-CD ß for the future of ad creation," said Yasuyuki Katagi, president & CEO of McCann Japan. "The whole company is 100 percent on board to support the development of our A.I. employee." AI-CD beta took six months to create and test and will write the creative direction for commercials on a piece of paper with a brush attached to its robot arm. When developing the A.I., the Millennials team deconstructed, analyzed and tagged TV commercials, including the winners of the All Japan Radio & Television Commercial Confederation's annual CM Festival (ACC CM Festival) awards for the past 10 years.

Flickr/Peyri HerreraAn artificial intelligence director (not this robot, but you get the idea.) Ad agency McCann Japan has appointed an artificial intelligence creative director, AI-CD?, who will be attending McCann Worldgroup's new employee welcoming ceremony on April 1, along with 11 new college graduates. AI-CD? was actually created by the agency under its'Creative Genome Project', the first in a series of projects undertaken by the agency's'McCann Millennials taskforce'. The artificial intelligence can give creative direction on commercials because the data that forms the basis of the algorithm includes deconstructed, tagged and analysed TV shows, as well as data on the winners of the All Japan Radio & Television Commersion Confederation's CM Festival. President & CEO of McCann Japan, Yasuyuki Katagi said: "Artificial intelligence is already being used to create a wide variety of entertainment, including music, movies, and TV drama, so we're very enthusiastic about the potential of AI-CD ß for the future of ad creation. The whole company is 100 percent on board to support the development of our A.I. employee."